Karl Urban Interview For ‘Dredd 3D’

In ’Dredd,’ the future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One – a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets.  The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner.  Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge – a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of “Slo-Mo” experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed.

During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation.  A heinous crime calls them to a neighbourhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture- a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her ruthless clan.  When they capture one of the clan’s inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound’s control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire.  With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival. ‘Dredd’ is brought to life by the endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland (28 days later, Never Let Me Go) and acclaimed director, Pete Travis (End Game, Vantage Point). Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Deobia Oparei, Wood Harris, Jason Cope and Domhnall Gleeson, ‘Dredd’ is out now in the UK and is set for release in the US on September 21st. My previous interview with Karl Urban for the film can be read here.

The first time you watched the full completed movie was at Comic-Con with an audience, how was that experience?

Karl Urban: Yeah. The first time I saw ‘Dredd’ was at Comic-Con in San Diego. It’s a fun film and it was received so well, and I think that’s all you can ever hope for when you make a movie – that an audience has as much fun watching it as you had making it. And they did, they absolutely loved it, and I think that’s the testament of the hard work of a lot of people. And particularly Alex Garland and Anthony Dod Mantle, the cinematographer – because ’Dredd’ is a very visual film. And if you’ve got to see it, you’ve really got to see it in 3D. He done an amazing job.

What was the experience of shooting ‘Dredd‘ like for you? I read that Alex Garland, the films writer, was on set the whole time. That’s a rarity.

Karl Urban: Definitely. The experience of making ‘Dredd’ was a really good one. I think that to my mind it was one of the most creatively rewarding experience that I’ve had. As you said, our writer Alex Garland was on set the whole time, and for me as an actor that was a luxury. Whenever I would have a question about what was on the page, I could just turn to the guy who actually wrote it. So from that standpoint it was fantastic. And then of course having the opportunity to work with the likes of Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey – and I really think their work is partly what makes this film so appealing. It’s not usual in a film to have two strong female archetypes, and two played so brilliantly well.

What was it like getting John Wagner’s stamp of approval for ‘Dredd,’ particularly as a fan of the character he created?

Karl Urban: That was great. Alex Garland is a long term fan of Judge Dredd and I think that he felt a huge obligation to not only the character, but also to John Wagner, the creator of Judge Dredd. An obligation to get it right. So Alex collaborated with John in the early stages of writing the script and incorporated his ideas. There were a few things specifically that were important to John, one of which was to have at one point a citizen of Mega-City One thank Judge Dredd – because Dredd is there to protect and serve the people.

Speaking to the crew of ‘Dredd,’ they were telling me about the extensive training you done for the film to help inform the character….

Karl Urban: There was extensive training for ‘Dredd.’ We trained with ex-British Military in Cape Town. And that was really interesting, they put us in as live a situation as you’d ever want to get. We were given these semi-soft air pistols that were built to be exactly like the “Lawgiver” guns we used in the films. We would tactically go through the actual set and what they did was actually hide a couple members of the stunt team in there and we would engage with real fire fights with them – well, as real as you’d ever want to get. That was really interesting, just to inform you about what the endgame was. So there was that, and there was also riding the “Lawmaster” which I thoroughly enjoyed (laughs). We put a bit of time and energy into that. And also for me there was the physical aspect of the character, I trained for about 14 weeks to get into shape.

What is it about this character of Judge Dredd that really intrigues you?

Karl Urban: The thing with Judge Dredd is that he’s not a superhero, he’s an ordinary man. And I think what appeals to me about the character is the fact that his brand of heroism is defined by the fact that he’s the guy who’s going into these dangerous situations when a normal person is running in the opposite direction. And he’s a highly trained individual, he’s trained to keep his emotions in check. So there’s a kind of stoicism there. But that being said, what really humanises Judge Dredd are things like a sense of humour, he has a wonderful dry sense of humour. And he delivers those great one-liners that you come to expect from this sort of a picture – but they’re grounded in reality, they’re treated in the right way.