First, go watch Dredd. It’s fantastic. A cult science fiction classic that actually deserves to be a science fiction classic without the cult.
Now after watching it you’ll note that Peter Travis directed it, and you’ll wonder how a director whose best known for his ability to not be best known for anything made this movie. The truth is he really didn’t. Alex Garland wrote and produced Dredd, and its one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood that he actually directed it too, with Travis and him almost sharing a co-director credit after producers disagreed with much of what Travis was doing.
The PR machine has always said that the two directors worked together, but Karl Urban, speaking on a Dredd sequel basically said that wasn’t so true.
“I would love to have the opportunity to play Dredd again, but if it doesn’t happen then I’m happy with the fact that we’ve made a film that has become a cult classic and that people have discovered over time. A huge part of the success of Dredd is in fact due to Alex Garland and what a lot of people don’t realize is that Alex Garland actually directed that movie.”
Garland, of course, went on to direct the stunning Ex Machina and now the compelling Annihilation. He and Denis Villeneuve are ushering in a new heyday of science fiction, and now we know that that heyday actually started with Dredd. Sadly the director has recently been saying he doesn’t want to revisit Dredd so it doesn’t look like that he’ll direct a sequel in the very unlikely occurrence that we do get one.
EXC: KARL URBAN SAYS ALEX GARLAND DIRECTED DREDD & UPDATES ON REPRISING ROLE [JoBlo]
