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Sunshine's Alex Garland is Writing the Judge Dredd Remake

by Brandon Lee Tenney
September 9, 2009

British screenwriter Alex Garland, the man behind 28 Days Later and Sunshine, two of my favorite screenplays of the last ten years, is, according to Empire via British comics artist Mark "Jock" Simpson's Twitter, currently writing a fresh adaptation of Judge Dredd. Now, Judge Dredd, as you may recall, was brought to life by Sylvester Stallone in the 1995 film directed by Danny Cannon. You may also remember, that that movie was ~~terrible~~ ~~awesome~~ by most accounts a failure. But with over 30 years of source comics from 2000AD, the dystopian police-state satire is set to see the screen again (as we first reported last year).

With Judge Dredd under the umbrella of Danny Boyle's DNA Films, it's no surprise that the writer most often associated with Boyle, Alex Garland, is spearheading this project. Mark Simpson, who's worked on the art for Judge Dredd comic strips as well as the concept art for this new adaptation said this of the art and Garland: "Working through script visuals for Judge Dredd movie. Alex Garland writes a great script." That shouldn't be any surprise, it sure isn't to me. Garland certainly has what it takes to bring a thoughtful, yet tonally accurate Judge Dredd satire to theaters. His past genre screenplays should be proof enough of that.

Filed under Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

Garrett Harer

Very excited for this.
zibo fricka

niiiiice
mandarin

I liked the costumes on the stallone movie, the story was sort of meh
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2408/blackbabyjesus.gif Crapola

The only thing good about the last film was the ABC Warrior, and he's not even from the Judge Dredd world. Plus they showed his face, which they don't do in the comic. I suppose for most cinema goers you have to spell things out in kiddie writing because they have mental health problems, either that or film makers think their audiences are retarded. Who knows. Saying that Alex Garland writes some amazing books and Boyle makes some pretty good movies so it might not be the bumsauce it could be...
tankmaster

Ugh really!!! The first one was okay at best...actually let me take that back some of those shoot outs where pretty good! haha
Brad

I liked the robot and the crazy cannibel dudes as well as the shootouts but the costumes and lame PG-13 sucked...
Spider94

i have the 1995 movie on vhs and it says its rated r not pg-13 < if they get a r rating for this it might turn out kool
jasonmd2020

The costumes in the 90's film were dead on but the acting...well it's Stallone. Whaddya expect. The fact that Garland's writing this gives me hope. Especially since Dredd was created in the UK, a Brit should be writing it. On a comic geek note: Any mention of Judge Death? Or should they save that for a sequel if that works out?
beavis4play

judge dredd remake????!!! THAT MOVIE WAS BEYOND "HORRIBLE"! what the hell is going on in hollywood?
jasonmd2020

Easy Beavis. They're not remaking the movie. They're adapting the comic the right way this time. Kinda like Nolan taking on Batman after the nipples went on the batsuit.
http://www.internapse.com Internapse

Alex Garland also wrote the first draft of Halo, though budget reasons and other things put that movie into Development Hell. Judge Dredd should be right up his alley.
subcelsious5g

i liked Judge Dread. The Angel family were cool and the lawgiver was an awesome weapon. Its cgi was good. Especially the overhead view of Mega City on the map table and the motorcycle was ok, not to mention the ABC Warrior. Stallone was cool , some of the other actors wee lame but Diane Lanes a hottie. And Armand Asanti was awesome definately an underated actor. i think alot of people liked this movie when they saw it on tv but didn't give it a chance at the theaters. Just my 2 cents.
Vold

The original was good for it's time. I certainly enjoyed it.
TediusTed

If there ever was movie that needs a damn good overhaul its Judge Dredd, the potential for the "success" of this remake will hopefully open interest in the other 2000 AD characters like Nemesis
Spider

This COULD be cool. I like the original Stallone flick with Rob Schneider hammin' it up. I'm putting it on my Netflix queue for this weekend. I'm sure the new one will be vastly better--great screenwriter aboard.
Sabes

I like the original. It's good for laughs. A remake, if done well, could be good.
sambo

if it looks like a turd, and it smells like a turd, then.......IT PROBABLY IS A TURD! Why oh why do they waste good money on remaking sh*t that didnt fly the first time around and hasnt a prayer of being any better the second...I could really use some of that money if they havent anything better to do with it than that....geeezzz....
ConnachtFan

Sambo you are so wrong, Alex garland will be perfect for JD,needs a Brit to set the tone,,as long as they are true to the comic ( not like that abortion that was Constantine for example, excellent comic, shite movie) then it will rock, there are so many excellent JD story lines, would love to see Scarlett Johanson as PSI Anderson!!!!
Steve O

Yeah, since when did remaking a film make it better?? Hmm, what? The Thing? Scarface? Oh, umm... The ABC Warriors ARE a part of Dredd's world (Golgotha storyline) so Hammerstein's appearance in the original is fine, as is the Angel Gang's (although criminally underused). Personally I didn't like the use of all the Chief Judges in one council and I really disliked Assanto's version of Rico. Garland could actually produce a version that keeps everyone happy - including the studio. Then maybe we can look forward to a Slaine movie or maybe Strontium Dog.
TIR NAN NOG

This could be a great trilogy,take out the humour of Stallones one and make it like the comic,very dark and grim.The comic was brilliant.Now,who's directing?
Mega Jet Jaguar

I am a Judge Dredd fan. I thought the Stallone movie was pretty damn good. I am excited that they are working on making another one. I just wish it wasn't a remake, because I'd really like to see The Death Brothers in the movie, or at least Judge Death. That would make for a great action/horror/thriller movie. But, if all goes well for the remake, then maybe there would be hope for a sequel which could eventually tell the story about the dark judges.
rodeoho

I started reading 2000ad in the early 80's & it got me through! Now.., Judge dredd is, was & always will be a stone cold bastard with a uniquely dark & sardonic sense of humour. He reflected the troubles that were going on in the UK at the time. There are so many strong charcters, just from the dredd world - PSI Anderson, Giant, Chief Judge McGruder & Silver, Chopper, Death, Fear, Fire & Mortis, the list goes on. It'll be very interesting to see which characters will be included in Garlands script. Looking forward to it. As for Cannon's film - pure arse gravy! But it was't his fault, blame the septic studio execs. Come on, I mean, Stallone! He's only made two decent films, Rocky & First Blood. I really hope interest will be peaked at the release of this new version, might make some room for other 2000ad films - Nemesis, Strontium Dog, Halo Jones, Rogue Trooper, blah, blah, bluh, blaaah ,blah!!!!