Judge Dredd Remake Director Booted, Is No Longer The Law
The line "I AM the law!" might yet still be spoken in Lionsgate's 2012 Dredd, the Karl Urban-starring remake of the gloriously cheesy Sylvester Stallone vehicle about a decorated officer wrongfully accused in a dystopian future, but it looks like director Pete Travis won't be uttering any iteration of that forceful declaration of authority. According to the L.A. Times, Travis has been booted from the remake, which is currently in post-production, while screenwriter Alex Garland steps in to make such significant changes that he might even seek a co-director credit.
According to the report, Travis (Vantage Point) and the producers of the film clashed over "creative disagreements" and now Garland (whose scripting credits include The Beach, 28 Days Later..., Sunshine, and Never Let Me Go) is editing Travis's footage, with the possibility that more reshoots may occur.
Meanwhile, the saddest line of all: "A separate person involved in the film maintained that although Travis is no longer involved in postproduction, he is keeping up with progress via the Internet and has not been pushed aside."
"Keeping up... via the internet?" What, by reading blog reports? Doesn't seem terribly not-pushed-aside from the sound of it.
Here's a hypothetical idea of how is all shook down, as re-imagined from a scene from the original film using the L.A. Times' example of Prince of Persia's unseated director Mike Newell.
Mike Newell: What are you doing here?
Pete Travis: I was convicted of a [creative disagreement]. Wrongly convicted.
Newell: Really? That's kinda weird! What are the odds? Two wrongly convicted guys sitting right next to each other?
Travis: You received the sentence the law required.
Newell: [Terrible reviews and an opening weekend behind Sex and the City 2], just for saving my own ass? That was a mistake!
Travis: The law doesn't... make mistakes.
We'll see about that when Dredd hits theaters next September.
• Director drama heats up on 'Dredd' [LA Times]
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Comments
What's more disturbing: That you recycled an exchange between Stallone and Rob Schneider from Judge Dredd for that imagined conversation, or that I recognized it without a moment's hesitation?
😉 Happy Friday!
As Judge Dredd, Karl Urban should be a hardcore badass like Liam Neeson in Taken.
Karl Urban must say the following lines in Dredd:
“I am the law!”
“I knew you’d say that.” (in five scenes)
“I knew they’d do that.”
“Full auto. Rapid-fire.”
“Armour piercing”
“Double whammy.”
“Signal flare!”
I look forward to seeing the following villains in future sequels:
Angel Gang, Mean Machine Angel, President Booth, Oola Blint, Judge Cal, Dark Judges, Judge Death, Rico Dredd, Armon Gill, Judge Grice, Morton Judd, Kleggs, Judge Kraken, Stan Lee, PJ Maybe, Nero Narcos, Sov Judge Orlok, Shojun the Warlord, Judge Sinfield
I hope in this film series, they will include the following Judges:
Beeny, Buell, Galen DeMarco, Dirty Frank, Edgar, Chief Judge Fargo, Francisco, Giant, Goodman, Griffin, Hershey, Janus, Karyn, McGruder, Mechanismo, Niles, Rico, Shenker, Silver, Solomon, Volt
I hope in this film series, they will include:
Chopper, Vienna Dredd, Fergee, Yassa Povey, Jacob Sardini, Otto Sump, Walter the Wobot
I hope one of the following recognisable actors with comedic experience plays Fergee:
Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Ricky Gervais, Simon Pegg, Eddie Izzard, Steve Coogan, Jeremy Piven, Paul Rudd
The exchange after Travis showed the studio his first cut: Lionsgate "This film is horrible." Travis "It's Judge Dredd. What did you f*cking expect?"
As anyone who's read Garland's unbelievably godawful script ("Die Hard" in a helmet) knew from the get-go, then saw the jaw-droppingly el-cheapo set and prop shots coming out of South Africa, this movie is going to be a turkey of such stellar proportios, people will be scratching their head wistfully "Ah...you remember the original movie? Hon, that was pretty good."
They ought to have dusted off the old Judge Death script "Hellboy" co-writer Peter Briggs wrote for the original. Now, man. That one was pretty freakin' sweet.
How would you know Brigg's script was good, you've never read it?