Dredd (2012)
- The original script for Dredd was written over a decade before production finally began in 2012.
- Pete Travis originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
- Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a hidden easter egg referencing Pete Travis's previous film in the background of the opening scene.
Dredd is a 2012 British-American science fiction action film directed by Pete Travis. Karl Urban stars as Judge Dredd, a law enforcement officer in Mega-City One β a vast, violent, irradiated metropolis stretching from Boston to Washington D.C. in a post-apocalyptic future β who serves simultaneously as judge, jury, and executioner. When Dredd and his psychic rookie partner Judge Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby, respond to a triple homicide in Peach Trees, a 200-story slum tower, the building's drug lord Ma-Ma, played by Lena Headey, locks down the entire structure and orders its residents to kill the Judges.
Karl Urban delivered the entire performance from behind Dredd's signature helmet visor, never once showing his full face β a commitment to the comic's portrayal that 1995's Stallone version had abandoned. The film's R-rated violence was stylishly executed, with the drug "Slo-Mo" providing a narrative justification for elaborately beautiful slow-motion photography. Dredd earned only $41 million worldwide on a $45 million budget but became one of the most celebrated cult action films of the decade.
