Judge Dredd (1995) and Dredd (2012) Double Feature Retrospect Minisode

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. Coming aboard Judge Dredd, coming aboard Dredd, did you have any knowledge of the character before going in?

[00:00:16] I had some knowledge of it. I read it as a teenager and to me that was, I guess, one of the aspects about being involved in this project that was really rewarding because I not only sort of reconnected with those stories I read and responded to as a teenager, but then I discovered a whole lot of new stories that had been written subsequent to my stopped reading them.

[00:00:41] And what I discovered was this real kind of wonderful depth and maturity that had evolved in Wagner's writing. And I think that was a real gift. And Olivia, I guess you didn't really... I had knowledge of the comics, but certainly no acquaintanceship with them until my first real introduction to the world of Dredd was reading the screenplay.

[00:01:08] And then, of course, from there, after I was lucky enough to get the job, then I kind of dived into the comics themselves. And it was your first action movie, I guess, right? Well, kind of after The Darkest Out. Yeah. It was actually right after. I was in Moscow and then home for one week, like six days, and then I went to Cape Town. It was a whirlwind.

[00:01:33] And physically, for both of you, I suppose, it must have been a really demanding film, right? Just the fight choreography and stuff. How did you handle that? It was physically demanding for a lot of reasons. I mean, for me personally, I spent about 14 weeks training before I even got to Cape Town. And then we had about a two or three week training session with these British military guys who taught us the tactical stuff.

[00:01:57] And then from there, really, just every day was a challenge. Just wearing that uniform, you know, the leather motorbike uniform and the body armor and shooting a film in the middle of summer. It was a huge challenge. In the southern hemisphere. Yeah. It was, yeah, I mean, the suit is very tight. And so there's just resistance on every movement that you make.

[00:02:19] So even something like walking up a flight of stairs or I remember, you know, a time or two having to hold my gun up for, you know, entire takes and just kind of just dead at the end. When they call cut, you just kind of drop the gun. You don't really drop the gun. But, you know, it can be really exhausting just wearing the suit. Now, I'm sure, I mean, you guys both know that there was obviously that there was another Judge Dredd movie, the Stallone version.

[00:02:47] But this, yeah. But to me, this is obviously. That's what everyone keeps talking about. Kind of recaptures, though, a bit of the whole, the satire or the attitude of the original books. And it's much more, you know, the first one was kind of a straight ahead action film. But this one, as I was saying to Alex, is not doesn't feel lowbrow. It feels like there's some social commentary in there the same way that the comics was about Thatcher England. It feels to me that Dredd is kind of about our own time. Right.

[00:03:16] And was that something that drew you guys to the project? No, not overly for me. What drew me to the project was the characters. Yeah, because what Alex had done is he'd written a fun, action packed film. But at the heart of this film, it's about the characters, about the relationship between Anderson and Dredd and the evolution of that relationship. And to me, you know, if you get the human element right, then that's what's going to engage an audience. And beyond that, also, the humor.

[00:03:45] It's like you actually pointed out, there was a wonderful dry sense of humor in the comics. And Alex also managed to capture that and inject that into the film. How difficult was it, not having your eyes, basically, acting without them? It was. It was a challenge. But I guess the interesting discovery really was just having faith that if you think the thought and feel the emotion, that the audience will too. And, yeah, so, but, no, a huge challenge.

[00:04:15] And you guys took this to Comic-Con, and so far the reaction's been great. I hear it's about 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. So you guys looking forward to showing it to the Midnight Madness crowd tonight? They're usually pretty enthusiastic. Yeah, I am, actually. I think it's really going to go off. With pictures presents, Judge Dredd. Gene Shallon of the Today Show says, Take that, Batman. Judge Dredd is the real thing. I am the law! It's a visual eye-twirling triumph.

[00:04:43] A loaded action express adventure. And a cascade of special effects. Sylvester Stallone is Judge Dredd. Let me crush him, Paul! Does that come with a fork? Rated R. Now playing at a theater near you. This is Dredd. Judgment time. To betray the law. To betray the city. The sentence is death.

[00:05:23] Purps were uncooperative. Dredd 3D. Made at R. Starts September 21st. We missed. We loaded. We edited. Sometimes we get so deep into conversation that we have separate segments worthy of their own place in the sun. Here is a reshuffled mini-episode.

[00:05:52] I'm going to leave just...

[00:06:37] Any thoughts you guys want on the Judge Dredd movies? Oh, that's a weird thing. I love Dredd. Judge Dredd is camp nonsense, but it's fun. That's what's just so funny. It's nothing like the property it comes from. Oh, I also have the art book for that movie on my channel. And of course it goes against the comic book. Oh, completely. It goes against the comic book with Stallone constantly taking his talent off. Yeah. Him in his Liberace

[00:07:06] fucking judge outfit. Oh. Fantastic. Other than that... And you're a clone of me. No. Even better. It's a junky fun movie, but you're like, it shouldn't even be Judge Dredd. It should just be Demolition Man 2. Check this shit out. I think Demolition Man came out first. Yeah, but that's why I'm saying it should be Demolition Man 2. And I thought, is this supposed to be kind of like Judge Dredd in a way? Judge Dredd has an alternate scene in it for the UK and Australia release. In that one,

[00:07:36] Pizza Hut wins, not Taco Bell. I'm not kidding. I love it. I've heard about that. Yeah. It's like, they'll dub it over and it's like, why are they so... No, they didn't dub it over. They completely edited the whole thing. I mean, the best thing about that movie is Armand Asante. He is hamming it up. The way he's just like, oh! And Hans, although I agree, the movie sucks. The early episodes, or however you want to think, on the early issues of 2000 AD

[00:08:06] where Judge Dredd is pretty campy. It is a bit silly. It was in a very, very British. But, like, yeah, because to the, the Judge Dredd comics are satire and campy, like it's supposed to be... Some, they go over the mouth. But like you guys say, this is a good... For the most part, they're supposed to be that. For a lot of people that like that... Hold up. This is kind of like a good illusion new Starship Troopers. Stallone doesn't get it, but the comic book writer does get it. He's making fun

[00:08:35] of the justice system in a Blade Runner-type future, you know? That's what's so funny is like you got all these different forces, no pun intended, you know, misinterpreting the concept, which should be very simple, you know? These are judges who are... Well, it's kind of funny the second movie... The second movie, Dredd, came out. They see IP, and they're like, yeah. Right. And it was more liked, I guess. It was more... Dredd is fucking awesome. And it was a simpler story. It was basically like

[00:09:05] just him in a building. It's so good. It's very much the Raid. I wish they had adapted the Judge Dredd storyline where he's stranded out outside of the city, and he ends up... You find out that he's gay. He's with... I forget who it is, but feel free to look this up. He stays the night with the gentleman, and they make allusions to it, and it's semi-canonically true that he's at least bisexual, and I think that that's awesome. But they were going for so much machismo, I can understand why they didn't really

[00:09:34] allude to the storyline. That's a fantastic comic. My favorite one is when he's in the bath, but he still has his helmet on. I like the crossover with Batman. That one was pretty good. It's a good show. Oh, we were just doing a big crossover one. That's amazing. Yeah, he knocks Batman out with one punch. Who does that? Yeah. He gets a lot of crap, and he deserves a lot of crap. He deserves it all. He's like a right-wing luna take. Hack. Yeah, but at the same token... I'm still waiting for him to be funny. Who's that?

[00:10:04] Yeah, he's not funny. He's not talented. He's not anything. Rob Schneider. You gotta say like South Park. Yeah, he's a right-wing grifter now, because that's what you do when you're a hack, and you can't... You actually... Worst part about the Judge Dredd movie, oh my god. What? You don't remember him? Yeah, I remember him. I remember him like... That was actually probably his best role, honestly. I don't know, man. He was alright in that. Come on, do you speak? Well, there was so much about that Judge Dredd movie that was off the rails, he didn't really harm it.

[00:10:35] I... Well, yeah, it was already dangerous. Well, yeah, it was bad, that's why, like, even he... I like the art book for it, though. I have fun with it, but it's a terrible adaptation and a junky script, but I can at least watch what it says. Weirdly... It has some weird bits where it's very, very faithful to the source material, but... Yeah. But yeah, it's bad. Like the hillbilly cyborg, maybe? Yeah, that part was bad. Like, they touch on... The aesthetic is, like, right on. Like, Dredd is way better.

[00:11:05] Oh, it's just the... It's not really a... The way they introduce it is bizarre. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. It's a crazy movie. I mean, Armand Asante is just a dog... The law! Oh! That head snap. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. So, are you saying Kevin Smith should try doing... I mean, he'd probably make a good Dredd. He understands comic books. Well, you know... This is true. A while back, he tried to do a script for the Bionic Man.

[00:11:35] Yeah. And he couldn't get it sold. They said it was too much like a comic book, so he made a comic book out of it. Yep. Oh, man. Yeah. And actually had the artist, Phil Hester, which he's a guy who lives here in Iowa. Okay. Just to wrap up the Judge Dredd chat. I know we just got into the thick of it. Again, you can definitely enjoy both versions for different reasons. You know, one was a Hollywood Disney Pictures production. I would often see parts of it on the movie channels

[00:12:04] when I was too young and I was like, man, this is one violent movie. So rare to see a movie where it didn't get that rating for sex or language. It's just gruesome for a few minutes each. You watch it on TV, it's harmless, it's practically PG, but there was just like a few scenes of the robot, you know, taking people's arms off, but it's better than it actually is. It's just, it's one of those too many cooks in the kitchen, Stallone basically

[00:12:34] bullied the director and from what it sounds like, it sounds like he unofficially directed this one as well. But again, it has a neat soundtrack by Alan Silvestri and I do feel like genre favorites William H. Wisher and Stephen E. D'Souza, best known for their contributions to the Die Hard franchise. And you know, Wisher also was the, one of the minds behind the first two Terminators. so it has a lot of those same elements in Blade Runner cities,

[00:13:03] but it's wild how Alan Silvestri's score has been used in other blockbuster films like, you know, just like I'm talking movie trailers, like you hear part of that score in the one he uses for Eraser as well as in the trailer for Starship Troopers. So yeah, it's wild how that worked, but the 2012 one, it has a total EDM, you know, electronic, you know, somewhat even trance kind of, well no, not trance,

[00:13:31] but it goes hard and it's enticing in its own right. Like you don't have to even see the film to be like, man, that's a score that slaps. And yeah, I, I, I just, I dig it so much. It's really a lot of just rare fun in this grim, seemingly grim world. We can always trust that there's some judge that is a future cop who's actually doing his job.

[00:14:01] And I mean, I dig the 2012 dread so much more because you kind of see its influence in other stuff like even the Robocop remake where they actually introduced corruption into the picture while the first, you know, the original adaptation was just, it got the mild Wikipedia outline, but didn't go deep enough, but could still be enjoyed as a fun clone, cloning movie and over the top 90s film. And the 2012 one is the better version,

[00:14:31] but it is amazing how, again, despite so much competition, it just did not find an audience. I barely knew about it. I barely saw any trailers when it first came out, but I heard it was good. And again, contrary to popular belief, it was filming before the raid, but that's okay. They're both diehard homages, except dread is actually good unlike the raid. So I'll just leave it there. You'll return after these messages.

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