Karl Urban is no stranger to sci fi/fantasy type roles. He made big impacts as Eomer in The Lord Of The Rings Movies and more recently as Dr "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek. Now in about ten weeks Urban will head to South Africa to shoot the new Judge Dredd movie, simply titled: Dredd. Talking exclusively to Empire, the Kiwi actor explains how this new take will differ from the previous Stallone effort..
"I think somewhere along the line Stallone's film was a missed opportunity. As soon as he took his helmet off the enigma was blown. Our film is going to be darker in tone, and we've got the benefit of modern filmmaking and technology to help us."
So with the darker tone, can we expect a bit more of the comics satirical edge?
"I'm hesitant to define it before it's actually been made [but] Alex Garland has done a fantastic job of writing a script that's faithful to the world Wagner created, yet completely fresh in its execution."
And how does he think he will fare going through the entire movie without taking off Dredd's iconic helmet?
"You're taught as an actor that if you take away the eyes you have to think about what you're left with - there's the voice; there's body language. How a character does what he does speaks volumes. So those are the tools I will have to employ."
Garland's plot has been described as a kind of futuristic
16 Blocks. I'm not sure I like that comparison very much! But I'm still very optimistic that Urban will knock it out of the park as old stoney face.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.