It’s been a little while since we’ve seen anything new from the upcoming Dredd, having got our first official look at Karl Urban in the titular role last summer, followed by some great images a few days later of Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, and more of Urban in action.

But with film due out later this year, we’ve now got four excellent new images to share with you, via 2000 AD and ComingSoon.net, giving us a few more looks at Thirlby and Urban opposite each other.

Dredd will be directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point) and written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later), and will star Urban (JJ Abrams’ Star Trek) in the eponymous role, Thirlby (Juno) as the rookie Judge Anderson, and Lena Headey (300) as the villain, Madeline Madrigal. The plot is currently being kept under wraps, and the few details we have so far look a little something like this:

“DREDD takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot – if necessary. The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland and the frenetic vision of director Peter Travis bring DREDD to life as a futuristic neo-noir action film that returns the celebrated character to the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s revered comic strip.”

Fans of the 2000 AD comics will no doubt be happy to know that this new adaptation is completely unrelated to the 1995 film, Judge Dredd, which wasn’t quite so well received. On this adaptation, they went to creator Wagner himself to discuss the film and what it should be, which certainly sounds like a good sign.

And these new images would definitely cement that, bringing us even more awesomeness. I’m a really big fan of Thirlby’s work, and am glad she’s getting the chance to take on bigger roles like this.

Dredd is set to be released in 3D on 21st September over in the States, and though there’s no word yet on a UK release, let’s hope that we’ll be getting it around the same time. Still quite a few months to go before it comes, but the pictures so far are giving us plenty to look forward to. Here’s to hoping that we’ll be treated to the first trailer before long. For now, enjoy these great new shots of Thirlby and Urban, and as usual, you can click to enlarge. Very much looking forward to that first brain-exploding shot.

Following on from the awesome new image Vin Diesel shared with us just at the end of this week, we’ve now got a brand new photo from the set of the upcoming third film in the Riddick series, Riddick.

Diesel himself, in keeping with his sharing of the project so far (all of which you can catch up on here), has put the image out through his Facebook page, and with it gave the following description:

“The Furyan left for dead…

GRRRR…

P.s. A Riddick production still, from this week’s filming.”

He looks pretty damn menacing in this new photo, and I definitely wouldn’t want to be the one he’s coming after. With the latest image we got this week came an updated official synopsis for the film, which looks a little like this:

“The latest chapter of the groundbreaking saga that began with 2000′s hit sci-fi film Pitch Black and 2004′s The Chronicles of Riddick reunites writer/director David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, The Fugitive) and star Vin Diesel (the Fast and Furious franchise, xXx). Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick, a dangerous, escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy.

The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he’s encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.

The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won’t leave the planet without Riddick’s head as their trophy.”

Writer-director David Twohy returns to helm the project that he and Diesel have spearheaded for years to get into production. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m so glad that it’s finally coming together nicely.

Along with Diesel, Karl Urban will be reprising his role as Vaako from the second film, The Chronicles of Riddick, with a host of new characters joining the project, including:

“Jordi Molla (Bad Boys II, Colombiana) as Santana, the arrogant captain of the mercenary ship; Matt Nable (Killer Elite) as Boss Johns, a man looking for answers; Katee Sackhoff (TV’s Battlestar Galactica) as the Nordic mercenary Dahl; and Bokeem Woodbine (upcoming Total Recall) as bounty hunter Moss. Rounding out the cast are Dave Bautista (The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption), Conrad Pla (Immortals), Raoul Trujillo (Apocalypto), Nolan Funk (TV’s Aliens in America) and two-time Grammy Award-nominated singer Keri Hilson.”

Twohy and Diesel have both said that the film will be more in keeping with Pitch Black, sticking with a similarly low budget that they made the first film on, and will be making the film R-rated for the American ratings system, which means we can look forward to plenty of action and no taming down just to secure a younger audience.

Essentially, this is going to be awesome. No word yet on when we can expect a release date, but it’s good just to know that the film is currently in production. As always, we’ll be bringing you the updates as soon as they come. And as usual, you can click this great new image to enlarge. Riddick looks set on revenge.

In the past few weeks, Vin Diesel has treated us to the great first and second images of himself on the set of the upcoming third instalment in the Riddick series, Riddick. Continuing his kind stance of sharing the project with us every step of the way (all of which you can catch up on here), he’s treated us to the third image from the set, and it’s a great one.

Giving us a close-up of his face, we can see him wearing his trademark goggles from the first two films, Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, lying close to the ground, and looking pretty roughed up.

Writer-director David Twohy is returning behind the camera for the third film, which has been in development for many years. Collider also have the official updated synopsis for the film, which you can read in full beneath the great new image. It comes with the full press release, with the synopsis emboldened for your reading pleasure.

Whether or not it’s been altered much of course remains to be seen. Along with Diesel, we can expect a return from Karl Urban reprising his role as Vaako, with Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Mollà, and Nolan Funk expected to be joining the cast too.

Sharing the image through his Facebook, Diesel had this to say:

“First time I posted about Riddick was back in 2009, Facebook was fresh…
They were asking me to come to the headquarters to talk about this new concept of communicating with fans. I was proud to lead that wave, yet all I was doing, was opening up about my passion – film.

So this picture of Our 2012 production of Riddick, is a cool victory for all of us… it shows that studios can be influenced by your voice.

P.s. Proud of Our Riddick team.”

I don’t think I could be more excited about this if I tried. Diesel’s done such a good job with the Riddick character to date, and I can’t wait to see him return to it. What we’ve seen so far has looked brilliant, and this bloodied close-up (which you can click to enlarge) only cements that awesomeness. As always, more as we get it.

Universal Pictures, One Race Films and Radar Pictures announced today that principal photography has begun on the action-driven, sci-fi thriller Riddick. The shoot will take place in Montreal.

The latest chapter of the groundbreaking saga that began with 2000′s hit sci-fi film Pitch Black and 2004′s The Chronicles of Riddick reunites writer/director David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, The Fugitive) and star Vin Diesel (the Fast and Furious franchise, xXx). Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick, a dangerous, escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy.

The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he’s encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.

The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won’t leave the planet without Riddick’s head as their trophy.

Riddick also sees the return of Karl Urban (Star Trek, The Bourne Supremacy) as Vaako and introduces to the series Jordi Molla (Bad Boys II, Colombiana) as Santana, the arrogant captain of the mercenary ship; Matt Nable (Killer Elite) as Boss Johns, a man looking for answers; Katee Sackhoff (TV’s Battlestar Galactica) as the Nordic mercenary Dahl; and Bokeem Woodbine (upcoming Total Recall) as bounty hunter Moss. Rounding out the cast are Dave Bautista (The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption), Conrad Pla (Immortals), Raoul Trujillo (Apocalypto), Nolan Funk (TV’s Aliens in America) and two-time Grammy Award-nominated singer Keri Hilson.

The film is produced by Vin Diesel (upcoming Fast & Furious 6, Fast Five) and executive produced by Samantha Vincent (Fast Five, Fast & Furious) for One Race Films. Ted Field (The Last Samurai, Pitch Black) produces for Radar Pictures, while Mike Drake (Dream House, A Nightmare on Elm Street) also executive produces.

Twohy is joined on the film by a talented behind-the-scenes team, including director of photography David Eggby (Pitch Black, Mad Max), production designer Joseph Nemec III (A Perfect Getaway, The Hills Have Eyes, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and editor Tracy Hall (Limitless, A Perfect Getaway, The Flock).

The Riddick franchise has also produced two popular video games: The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. As well, Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released the anime DVD The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.

Riddick, which is shooting in Montreal, Canada, is a One Race Films production. The film will be released by Universal Pictures in the U.S., and Lionsgate is handling international sales.

If you’ve been following the progress of Vin Diesel’s return with writer-director David Twohy to the world of Riddick, you might have seen the fantastic first photo from the set of the upcoming film that the actor put out just over a week ago.

Diesel has been really great with the development of this film in the past few months, treating us to concept art (which you can catch up on here), and he’s given us our second photo from the set, via his Facebook, in which he seriously looks the part. He plays the role of Riddick so well, and I cannot wait to see him return to it.

“Being king has its perks… yet an alpha Furyan, must return to his primitive state… that animal side.

(low rumble)
GRRRRR…

P.s. An early pic from the set of the new Riddick film.”

If you’ve seen either of the first two films, Pitch Black or The Chronicles of Riddick, then you’ll know that the character is a dark one, and it’s one that Diesel makes look easy to pull off, though of course it can’t be. The third film, which has been known as Riddick, but has also recently been referred to as The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking, has been a very long time coming, and it’s so good to see with these first set photos that it’s actually finally coming together.

Karl Urban is thought to be joining Diesel again, reprising his role as Vaako from the second film, with Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Mollà, and Nolan Funk all set to join the cast too. No word yet on when we can expect to see it on the big screen, but after quite a few years of waiting, during which time the possibility of a sequel became less and less likely, I’m more than happy to be patient and wait for whenever it comes. Just the knowledge that it is coming is good enough for me.

No doubt we can look forward to more updates from Diesel throughout the course of shooting and beyond, so be sure to keep an ear to the ground for more updates. We’ll be bringing them to you as and when he puts them out. For now, here’s the great new image of him donning his character’s trademark goggles. As usual, click to enlarge.

For those of you who, like me, have been long awaiting the follow-up to 2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick, itself the sequel of 2000’s Pitch Black, you’ll no doubt be well aware that the past year has seen some brilliant progress for the project. Diesel and director David Twohy have been working hard to get this into production, and though it has by no means been an easy road, with production even being shut down in the past few months because of financing issues, it looks like things are finally and most definitely on.

Vin Diesel, a particularly active social networker amongst the Hollywood community, has treated us to plenty of great concept art in recent months (which you can catch up on here), and now he’s given us something even better: the first image of him returning as Riddick on the set of the film. And man, does he look awesome.

The first film in what will become the Riddick trilogy was impressively successful, taking its $23m. budget and turning it into more than $50m. at the box office, which doesn’t often happen with sci-fi thrillers. The second film was a little more problematic, with Universal throwing a huge budget at the film of just over $100m., and it came up about even at the box office.

Importantly, though, regardless of the box office performance of the second film (which no doubt will have turned a substantial profit upon home video release), the films have garnered a big cult following, and with good reason. The Riddick character is like few others, and Diesel’s performances of him have been stellar. As a fan of both the original films, I naturally can’t wait for this to come out.

Karl Urban should be reprising his role as Vaako too, with Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Mollà, and Nolan Funk all in talks to join the cast.

As of about a year and a half ago, the plot looks a little like this:

“Betrayed by his own kind and left for dead on a desolate planet, Riddick (Diesel) fights for survival against alien predators and becomes more powerful and dangerous than ever before. Soon bounty hunters from throughout the galaxy descend on Riddick only to find themselves pawns in his greater scheme for revenge. With his enemies right where he wants them, Riddick unleashes a vicious attack of vengeance before returning to his home planet of Furya to save it from destruction.”

But there certainly could have been some changes to the script in the months since then. The title, too, is still pending. It’s been tentatively known as Riddick for some time, and more recently been referred to The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking as well, so we’ll have to await official confirmation on that one too. Whatever it’s called, and whatever it’s about, I can’t wait for it to come out. Here’s the brilliant first image of Diesel back as Riddick. As usual, click to enlarge.

Star Trek 2 is gearing up for principal shooting to kick off in the new year, which is welcome news. The reboot of the franchise was desperately needed and JJ Abrams’ first instalment was a sensational shot in the arm for a series that had become bogged down since the high water mark of First Contact.

What is not especially welcome news is that Abrams is looking at shooting the sequel on film and then post-converting it into 3D. Obviously the “shooting on film” bit is not of concern, it is the dreaded “post-conversion” which is troubling, given the poor application of the technique up until now.

JJ Abrams is no mug and has certainly proved himself a steady and dependable pair of hands so far, but this does very much feel like a step in the wrong direction. At a time when (at least here in the UK), 3D ticket sales are on the wane, it seems unnecessary to gear up for a post-conversion.

 Having said that, it might yet prove to be an astute move. Prior success or not, Abrams is as susceptible as anyone to studio pressure and may have therefore negotiated a deal to post-convert, hoping that either 3D will have fallen out of favour by then and he won’t need to, or that the technology will have improved, leaving the results more impressive. Either way, that is a massive leap of speculation on my part and in no way grounded in any sort of information or insight.

JJ Abrams also wants to shoot some of the film in IMAX format, which he is thoroughly enthusiastic about, though he remains predictably tight-lipped about story arcs, characters, villains and the like, all of which will no doubt unfold in due course.

MTV have this story, together with a few more quotes from Abrams regarding his aspirations for the sequel.

Karl Urban (Star Trek), Ben Barnes (Stardust) and Emilia Clarke (Games of Thrones) are in talks to star in action pic Overdrive.

Overdrive centres on two adventurous siblings who find more trouble than they are looking for in the South of France.

Antonio Negret (Seconds Apart) is attached to direct from a script by screenwriters Derek Haas and Michael Brandt.

Filming is set to begin in Marseilles on October 29.

Overdrive has been in development since 2009, ever since scribes Haas and Brandt took a trip overseas in November 2008. Several actors, including Matthew Goode, Alex Pettyfer and Garrett Hedlund, have been attached at various points.

Source: THR

For a little while now, Vin Diesel has been sharing concept art for the upcoming third instalment of the Riddick series through his Facebook page, and if you’ve missed out on what he’s given us so far, you can catch up on all things Riddick-related here.

He’s now sent out a new piece showcasing one of the Necromonger armour designs, and it’s looking pretty menacing, as expected.

After the success of the first film, Pitch Black, a huge amount of money was thrown at the film – the budget increased from $23m. to north of $100m. – and sadly the studio didn’t quite see the return it was hoping for.

As such, this third film, currently titled simply Riddick (I’m loving the name), has been a long time coming. It’s set to be on a budget more in keeping with Pitch Black, which is good news, because it no doubt allows writer-director David Twohy and leading man Diesel more freedom to make the movie they want to make. One that’s going to be R-rated, as Diesel’s been looking forward to as he’s said in his posts online.

This latest image is accompanied by this text:

“One of many Necro-armor designs… Haha, I had to share.

It takes hundreds of artists to make a movie… I am excited about the work Our “Riddick” crew of artists, are doing right now in Canada. Their contributions is what will make this film.

P.s. Riddick starts principal photography in weeks… much to do, much to do… especially since it’s “R”…

GRRR…”

It’s that second-last line that catches my attention most. Riddick starts principal photography in weeks! Which is just awesome. I think a lot of people, no doubt at times including Twohy and Diesel, were a little sceptical, or at best quietly optimistic, about the possibility of another sequel. But over the past few months especially, it seems to have been shaping up nicely.

Most recently, we’ve been hearing word that Karl Urban might be returning to reprise his role from the second film, The Chronicles of Riddick, as Necromonger Commander Vaako, which would be pretty interesting. Back in May, Diesel said that he hoped filming could get underway for Riddick in the summer, and it looks like that initial schedule was very close to spot-on, with filming now imminent.

It could well be early 2013 before we get to see the final product, but already I can’t wait. Game on. Until then, and without further ado, here’s the new concept art to enjoy. As usual, click to enlarge.

Worrying news from the LA Times today as they have a report that Pete Travis has been asked to leave the movie Dredd, following creative differences as the film enters the edit stage.

The Times claim that writer and producer on the film Alex Garland is leading the project in the absence of its director with reshoots possible before the scheduled release in September of next year.

What this means for the film is unclear but two, fairly dismal, options present themselves. The first is that the producers were so unhappy with the way the film was shot that they showed the director the door and scrambled to salvage the film in the edit or that Garland was such a strong presence in the first place in his dual role that Travis was unable to make the film in his image therefore walking as the struggle continued.

Either way this is disappointing news for fans of the character who were served up a howler* sixteen years ago with Sly Stallone removing his Judge’s helmet which acted as a metaphorical opening of a Pandora’s Box of Rubbish.

The casting of Karl Urban in the lead role was seen a positive move and generally welcomed, Alex Garland’s work with Danny Boyle on The Beach, 28 Days Later and Sunshine as well as his celebrated adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go for director Mark Romanek gave his involvment in the project an instant air of expectation. However he hasn’t directed a film before and if, as the Times asserts, he applies for a Co-director credit on the film there is no telling how the film will end up.

We’ll wait for an official announcement to confim the Times’ article and cross our fingers that this one will make it to the big screen intact. If only Duncan Jones had said yes…

*the word ‘howler’ is English for ‘really, really terrible’.

As puzzling as a third film of the Riddick franchise heading into production seems (the decidedly STV titled, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking) Bloody Disgusting bring news that co-star from the previous film, Karl Urban, is also heading back to the world of the Necromongers.

Reprising his role of the villainous Commander Vaako, Urban is set to return alongside main star Vin Diesel and director of the previous two instalments, David Twohy.

Fast & Furious 5’s surprise success has undoubtedly reinvigorated Diesel’s stock in Hollywood, and enabled him to get this film off the ground, but Urban is a different story. Winning plaudits for his role of Bones in 2009’s much-praised Star Trek reboot, and due to grace cinema screens next autumn as the lead in another high-profile sci-fi feature (Dredd), Urban is almost A-list material, making his return here a little confusing.

Maybe a promise of sharing top billing alongside Vin tipped the scales?

After months of speculation, JJ Abrams has finally gone ahead and confirmed what we were all expecting anyway: he’s going to direct Star Trek XII. Or II. Whatever it’s going to be called, he’s directing it.

Despite the phenomenal success of 2009’s critically acclaimed reboot the Star Trek sequel has faced a number of delays, not least of which was the fact that Abrams was himself committed to directing this summer’s Super 8 as well as producing the forthcoming Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol. On top of that, co-writer Alex Kurtzman has been working on his own directorial debut, Welcome to People, meaning that Star Trek’s so-called ‘supreme court’ has been stretched pretty thin of late – so much so, in fact, that Paramount had previously confirmed that the film would not meet its already announced release date of June 29th 2012, a spot that has now been taken by G.I Joe 2: Retaliation.

Still, the stars are finally aligning for the new crew of the Starship Enterprise; work on the long in development script will reportedly be complete by the end of this month with shooting beginning sometime during the winter (most signs suggest a January stardate – I mean start date; sorry). The studio has already exercised its options on the cast, meaning that Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin will all be returning to the roles they first played in the 2009 film.

Look for the Star Trek sequel to warp into cinemas anywhere from Christmas 2012 to summer 2013.

Our first official look at Karl Urban as Judge Dredd in the anticipated comic book movie, Dredd, came last week, and now Empire’s latest issue sports the man himself on the cover as one of the heroes of 2012.

Collider have a set of scanned images taken from inside the issue, which comes out on Thursday this week, and we get our first look at the brilliant Olivia Thirlby starring opposite Urban as Judge Cassandra Anderson.

Dredd will be directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point) and written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later), and will star Urban (JJ Abrams’ Star Trek) in the eponymous role, Thirlby (Juno) as the rookie Judge Anderson, and Lena Headey (300) as the villain, Madeline Madrigal. The plot is currently being kept under wraps, and the few details we have so far look a little something like this:

DREDD takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot – if necessary. The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland and the frenetic vision of director Peter Travis bring DREDD to life as a futuristic neo-noir action film that returns the celebrated character to the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s revered comic strip.

What’s nice to see is one of the quotes on one of the images by Andrew Macdonald (28 Days Later), who’s producing Dredd, that reads,

The first thing we did was go see John Wagner and talk with him about how the film should be.

Getting Wagner, the creator of the Judge Dredd comics, on board and working with him to develop the film sounds like exactly the right thing to do. As far as I know, Wagner didn’t consult on the 1995 Judge Dredd film, with Sylvester Stallone in the lead, and that film wasn’t received very well by the fans. But now, with Wagner working with Travis and his cast and crew, it definitely sounds like Dredd is going to be one 2012 comic book movie to look out for. And that’s really saying something, given that we have The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Avengers to look forward to next year as well.

These new images show us Thirlby’s rookie Judge for the first time, and she looks like she’s playing the part pretty well. You wouldn’t be quite as afraid of her pointing a gun at you than Dredd just staring you down, but she may well gain more confidence through the course of the movie. We also get our first look at Headey as the villain, also known as Ma-Ma, and she’s sporting some short and spiky hair with what looks to be a pretty menacing scar beneath her right eye. Not someone whose bad side you want to be on. And of course, we get some more great images of Urban as Dredd, kicking down doors, running from explosions, and just generally looking awesome.

We’ve got to wait until September next year to see Dredd, which we’ll be getting in 3D, but it really looks and sounds like it will be worth the wait. Without further ado, here are all the new images, followed by the limited edition, subscribers-only cover of Empire’s next issue and the general cover on the shelves. As usual, click to enlarge.

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/07/26/new-images-from-dredd-show-first-look-at-olivia-thirlby-as-judge-anderson/feed/ 1 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/07/18/first-official-image-of-karl-urban-in-dredd/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2011/07/18/first-official-image-of-karl-urban-in-dredd/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:00:09 +0000 Kenji Lloyd http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=97756

We got our first look at Karl Urban as the well known comic book character Judge Dredd last November, and now Bleeding Cool have the first official image released for the upcoming film, titled simply Dredd, coming out on 1^st December this year.

Just taking a look at the picture, you can tell Judge Dredd is not someone you want to be on the opposite side of the law from, and it gives us a feel for the darkness we can expect in Dredd.

Urban, best known for his roles as Bones in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek and Eomer in the second and third The Lord of the Rings films, is a great actor who can bring a brilliant level of intensity to his roles, which is exactly the kind of thing Judge Dredd’s going to need. Reading the film’s synopsis and seeing this first official image of Urban as Dredd is definitely getting me excited for that December release date:

“DREDD takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot – if necessary. The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland and the frenetic vision of director Peter Travis bring DREDD to life as a futuristic neo-noir action film that returns the celebrated character to the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s revered comic strip.”

As a character from the British comic anthology, 2000 AD, it’s nice to see that both writer and director for this remake are British too. Pete Travis’ main experience as a director has been for British TV, and he made his feature debut with Vantage Point back in 2008, which went to number one at the US box office and took $150m. worldwide. Dredd is set to be a really different style to what Travis has worked on before, so it will be interesting to see him take on the challenge.

Writer Alex Garland is well known for the horror film, 28 Days Later, and more recently wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Never Let Me Go; clearly a writer of many talents. His impressive work writing 28 Days Later and executive producing the sequel, 28 Weeks Later, definitely suggest he’s the perfect man for the job to bring Dredd to life as both writer and producer on the project.

Starring alongside Urban will be Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey. Thirlby is best known for playing Ellen Page’s best friend in Juno, and she also starred opposite Josh Peck and Sir Ben Kingsley in one of my favourite indie films, The Wackness, in which she was absolutely brilliant, so I’m really looking forward to seeing her in this. Headey is most recognisable for starring as Gerard Butler’s wife, Queen Gorgo, in Zack Snyder’s 300, as well as starring in TV series Game of Thrones this year as Cersei Lannister and as Sarah Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Having a recognisable, but perhaps lesser known, cast has allowed the budget to be kept down to $45m., which I think means we can look forward to having an epic vision of Mega City One without being an enormous and risky budget for the studio, countering films like this year’s Green Lantern. As one of a few English-created comic book characters popular on both sides of the Atlantic as well as elsewhere across the globe, hopefully Dredd will have a fan-base already in place waiting to receive this film well, and all signs so far look to me as though it will do and be much better than 1995 film with Sylvester Stallone in the titular role. Without further ado, here is the great new image of Judge Dredd. As usual, click to enlarge.

Well, let’s immediately stop you – this may very well turn out to be a fan made creation. There’s nothing official from Lionsgate to confirm or deny if this is the first look at the teaser poster for Dredd, the Pete Travis directed big screen adaptation of the 2000 AD anti-hero, but for my money it looks pretty spot on. Not official mind you, but it’s a decent poster either way.

If you were going to tease the Karl Urban Dredd movie then using perhaps one of the most iconic images from the source material is a good start, though the blood splashes are a little out of place and really put me in mind of Watchmen initially – which is strange as the tagline ‘Justice is Coming’ was used for the iPhone game for the Watchmen movie.

Anyhoo – this is meant to be an ‘advance’ poster to whip up interest, and who are we to argue until there’s word from the studio.

Here’s the poster – click to judge for yourselves.

This came to us 2000AD.Wordpress via Bleeding Cool

If there was ever a film which could serve as the perfect example of a Frankenstein-like stitching together of every past popular fantasy genre film from the last thirty years or so, the unholy genre mash-up that is Priest would fit the bill.

Beginning with a stylised animated sequence (the material itself is based on a series of Japanese graphic novels) which reconfigures earth’s history and presents a place where vampires and humans have supposedly waged war against each other for centuries, we’re then introduced to a post-apocalyptic world and a rigid, theocratic state governed by men of the cloth and preceded over by Monsignor Orelas (Christopher Plummer, adding his usual gravitas to proceedings). The surviving humans here are housed in a huge walled city, where the inhabitants line up for a daily routine, ready to divulge their sins in huge metallic, industrial-looking confession booths. Priest (Paul Bettany), a former warrior in those battles with the undead, is forced out of retirement (much to the disapproval of his superiors who believe that such an act suggests treason towards the church) to save his 18 year-old niece who has been kidnapped by a pack of remaining vampires in the outside desert world.

Priest then hooks up with her boyfriend and local sheriff (Cam Gigandet) and a former member of his team who has been charged with tracking him down (Maggie Q). Together they embark on a rescue mission and quest to take down the mutated vampiric horde, who are led by a former padre and member of Bettany’s crew who has now pledged his allegiance to the dark side (Karl Urban).

Although it’s chock-full with moments of pseudo-religious nonsense and is also highly derivative, against all odds, Priest never fails to entertain. It hits all those familiar action beats you’re seen numerous times before (all slow-mo attack lunges and head-to-head video game-inspired clashes) yet somehow it manages to succeed despite an overriding sense of déjà vu almost everywhere. Some of this must be attributed to Bettany, who cuts a surprisingly lean and badass figure as Priest, complete with a laconic, Eastwood-esque drawl and fighting skills which are part kung fu (and in a seemingly arbitrary development later on) part gravity-defying superhero. He plays it thoroughly straight throughout, as does everyone else, adding to the ridiculous and fun atmosphere. Jim from Neighbours and now fully-fledged denizen of US TV land, Alan Dale, crops up briefly as one of Plummer’s cronies, momentarily taking you out of the picture, but again, his po-faced delivery is a welcomed presence.

We’re also presented with a fantastic-looking fantasy world, which is an intriguing mix of western iconography and archetypes (there’s even a travelling medicine man, played by genre fave Brad Dourif), alongside a more recognisable dystopian futuristic landscape. A powerful and sweeping score by Christopher Young really helps to build an epic sense throughout too, and the sight of Priest and his companions roaring through a vast and desolate desert on huge enhanced motorcycles, which look like they’ve been drafted in from Mega City One (the film shamelessly steals from everything and anywhere it can) is one of the many thrilling sights on offer.

Another surprisingly successful addition here is the 3D work – achieved via the post-conversion process. Where a film like Thor benefits little from the enhancement (once again making you question the studio’s unethical and exploitative handling of the medium), the quality on display here is much superior, and many should be fooled into thinking that the film was shot using that format.

Priest will never sit amongst its cribbed-from predecessors and achieve the longevity enjoyed by many of those (mainly) superior features, but it’s a fun and undemanding yarn, and will provide its intended audience with an adequate fix before what looks like an oversaturation of similar material during the summer blockbuster season.

Whatever the box office outcome, the makers appear to be wholly confident they have a hit on their hands. The film sets up the intended further escapades of Bettany & Co in such a self-assured way, you half expect to be greeted with a title card at the end which reads ‘short intermission’ before being thrust back into the action once again.

***~~ (3/5)

Over the weekend, we joined together with four other UK movie blogs to chat with Karl Urban about his new movie, Priest 3D which hits cinemas this Friday, 6th May. In the interview we talk about the movie in hand but also do our best to get some info out of him for the forthcoming movie Dredd, based on the Judge Dredd comics.

Priest also stars Paul Bettany, Cam Gigndet, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Steven Moyer, Brad Dourif, and Christopher Plummer. It’ll be with us 13th May but scroll down to view the new trailer below.

Synopsis: A Vampire western about a warrior priest who disobeys church law by teaming with a young sheriff and a priestess to track down a band of renegade vampires who have kidnapped his niece.  Based on the graphic novel by Min-Woo Hyung.

This interview was conducted in conjunction with four other great blogs including Film Shaft, The Hollywood News, Flicks and Bits and Live For Films. I’ve placed our questions top followed by the others below…..

——————-

Vampires are very common in movies today. What sets Priest apart? HeyUGuys!

The vampires in our film are not the vampires that we’ve become accustomed to, they’re creatures. They’re closer to elements that you’d find in The Lord of the Rings. I think it’s refreshing that they’re not the vampires that you take home to meet mum. These creatures are scary, which is refreshing after we’ve had a raft of these sexy, pretty boy vampires. We’ve taken the thing a bit more in a direction which is grounded in horror and fantasy.

We will see you soon as the new Judge Dredd. Dredd, like Priest, came from a comic book – are you staying faithful to the source and are the two projects at all similar? HeyUGuys!

I think on some levels there are definite similarities between Dredd and Priest. The Priest lives in a walled city and there’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland around it outside. He rides a motorbike too and I’m sure there are more similarities.

The character of Black Hat seems more ambiguous than your generic movie villain – how does it compare to a ‘good’ character like Judge Dredd? HeyUGuys!

I guess the aspect that appealed to me about the character – as I approached him -  was that there is wonderful element of tragedy about him. He’s a fallen hero, a Warrior Priest who’s job was to protect mankind from this plague of vampires. In the course of doing his job he falls in battle and gets transformed into the very thing that he’s been fighting. That’s an amazing starting point. To suddenly be on the other side of that bridge and have no choice about it. It was really interesting – a question of where do you take it from there?

————————-

Did you have to do any training for the ass kicking antics in the film, if so did that help you with your character? Flicks and Bits

Yeah, the physical aspect is definitely a part of it. The vampire is endowed with superhuman strength and ability. Paul Bettany and I trained for about 4 or 5 weeks with a martial arts team. We get to do a lot of physical action in the film. I think it’s great. It really stacks up.

Are you big on comics or was joining the film a reaction to the script, character or project in general? Film Shaft

I do enjoy comics although I don’t get much opportunity to read them these days. But certainly a few years ago there were a few favourites. Frank Miller’s Dark Knight was one of my favourites all time comics along with the Judge Dredd series. I guess my first point of contact for Priest was not the comic. My first point of contact was the script, which I read and found to be very interesting. I guess I was drawn to the characters. And upon reading the script I met with director Scott Stewart and found myself to be quite in sync with him. The way he outlined his vision for the film was loaded with references that I understood and respected. He was talking about Blade Runner, Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood and films like The Searchers. It was clear to me that he was very specific in his vision and what he was attempting to achieve had a truly epic quality to it. So I figured when you encounter someone like that it’s a good idea to go with it.

The film is a mash-mash of many genres; it’s post-apocalyptic, it’s futuristic, it’s got horror elements, western elements… how would you describe it? Flicks and Bits

(Laughs) Well that’s exactly how I would describe it! That’s actually how I have been describing it. ‘A post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, vampire, western’. I also believe that there is a tinge of fantasy in there.

How was it handling the fight choreography? Any accidents? Flicks and Bits

Yeah there were a few. I accidently crushed Paul Bettany’s fingers in one scene. There was another time when we were rehearsing a fight sequence on gravel. Some error of co-ordination and my fist ended up in Paul Bettany’s face – which I was most apologetic about!

How was working closely with Paul Bettany as your nemesis? The Hollywood News

I had a great time working with him, he’s just a class act. He really is. He’s a fun, funny guy to be around. The great thing about Paul is that he comes to the set with such a positive attitude. He’s so genuinely happy to be there that it’s infectious – a great chap. The entire cast and crew became one big family. You can tell that you’ve had a great time making a movie when on the last time of filming you are genuinely sad that it’s over. You feel like you could continue with these characters.

Have you seen the finished film yet? Live For Film

Yes I have, I loved it and 3D is the way to see it. Don Burgess, the cinematographer, has done an incredible job. They really come at with a lot of energy and the 3D conversion is fantastic too.

Do you have a favourite line or moment from Priest? Live For Film

A favourite line? I just loved everything about it but I thought Lily Collins was extraordinary as were Maggie Q and Paul and Cam. Just really strong performances. The fact that you enjoy spending time with these characters I think is a good sign. When you get to the end of the film you want to know what happens next.

So the Priest comics may have taken some inspiration from Judge Dredd and 2000AD comics? The Hollywood News

Everything is some way shape or form is derivative. I mean Judge Dredd was inspired by Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry in creating the character so it has it’s own point of genesis.

Are you a fan of the Stallone version of Judge Dredd? Film Shaft

The interesting thing about the Stallone version was that there were some elements that were faithful and some that were not. I was a fan of the Judge Dredd comics before the Stallone version came out. Even though on some levels I felt the film was not exactly honourable to what John Wagner had created, it was still Judge Dredd and I still enjoyed seeing that world up there. I think the most telling admission that’s come out recently is that Stallone said himself that he felt his Judge Dredd was a missed opportunity.

Priest 3D is at cinemas on Friday 6^th May

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/PriestUK

The cutting of a film trailer – a good film trailer, is a fine art.

The quality of the choices you make, the shots you select, how you use the music and the decision to tease or to throw your best shots at the screen – all of these must be faced and for a group of London students the decisions they made had some very important consequences.

Forty-one film students were given the chance to re-edit the recent Priest trailer (which you can see here) and give their own spin on the world Scott Stewart and Paul Bettany have created.

Once the tast was completed three of the students were chosen to fly out to Los Angeles and show their new trailers to the film’s stars and director who then had the task of selecting their favourite.

It’s a fascinating story as its one thing to spur on film students to learn part of the filmmaking process by creating something new and exciting, but its quite another to have their work shown to established filmmakers themselves.

Having seen the trailers it’s testament to the creativity and understanding of the chosen three that they made such varied choices which resulted in the three distinct visions.

You can see the story unfold, and the reaction from the director of Priest, in the video below and we’ve got an exclusive look at the three trailers chosen – check those out beneath the next video.

A longer version of this story is available to watch here.

Trailer 1:

Trailer 2:

Trailer 3:

Yahoo have just released the second full-length theatrical trailer for Paul Bettany’s new movie Priest. This movie reunites him with the director of Legion, Scott Charles Stewart but let’s hope this movie is better than that was. Adam got to see a sizzle reel for it last week at Sony and it seemed quite positive. This trailer is actually more like a clip with 50% of it being dedicated to showing us how one of the enemy is brought down by Bettany along with some nifty weapons.

Priest also stars Cam Gigndet, Maggie Q, Karl Urban, Lily Collins, Steven Moyer, Brad Dourif, and Christopher Plummer. It’ll be with us 13th May but scroll down to view the new trailer below.

Synopsis: A Vampire western about a warrior priest who disobeys church law by teaming with a young sheriff and a priestess to track down a band of renegade vampires who have kidnapped his niece.  Based on the graphic novel by Min-Woo Hyung.

Here at HeyUGuys we’re suckers for a fun-looking, sci-fi/horror/western hybrid, post-apocalyptic shoot em’ up and yesterday we got a little taster of a feature that could potentially satisfy this yearning.

The film in question was Priest, and judging from the scene and extended trailer we were provided with, it would appear to tick all those fantasy boxes. Starring Paul Bettany in the titular role, this tale of a combat-savvy man the cloth who sets out on a quest to rescue his niece from a pack of vampires (the species have a monopoly over the planet) has a epic look and feel which extends beyond the Mega City One-esque vibe of the huge, fort-like human city, to the striking desert landscape beyond it’s walls (which featured one impressive shot of Bettany and his crew roaring thorough the sand on some souped-up, industrial-looking motorcycles).

Although a post-conversion 3D effort, the scene we were shown of the Priest taking out a pack of predatory vampiric creatures (which features the greatest use of a bible for combat we’ve ever likely to see on cinema screens) looked a cut above any previous features to use this process. A lengthy post-production time must be accountable for the quality here, and it really looks like the makers were intent on getting it as good as possible.

You can judge for yourself if their time and effort was worth it when the film is released in the UK on 11th May.

Here’s a nice new high res poster for Paul Bettany’s new movie, Priest. Tomorrow, Adam is off to see a 10 minute preview of the movie and report back.

Priest stars Paul Bettany, Cam Gigndet, Maggie Q, Karl Urban, Lily Collins, Steven Moyer, Brad Dourif, and Christopher Plummer and is directed by Scott Stewart.  Stewart and Bettany previously worked on Legion together and we’re all hoping that this movie is a vast improvement on that! Unfortunately from one of these images, it looks like it could be more of the same but I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Synopsis: Priest is set in a world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. Paul Bettany is Priest, a legendary warrior priest during the last Vampire War, who now lives in obscurity among the other human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities controlled by the Church. But when his 18-year-old niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires in the desolate wastelands outside, Priest breaks his sacred vows and ventures out to find her and seek vengeance upon those responsible, especially their brutal leader (Karl Urban). Priest is joined on his crusade by his niece’s boyfriend, Hicks (Cam Gigandet), a local outpost sheriff, and Priestess (Maggie Q), a member of his former legion of vampire-killers who has otherworldly fighting skills.

Priest is released in the UK 13th May. Click the poster images below to enlarge.

Source: ShockYa