Olivia Thirlby Joins JUDGE DREDD

 

Variety reports Olivia Thirlby (Juno, The Wackness) has been cast in the reboot of Judge Dredd, directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point).

Thirlby is the second cast member to be confirmed for this project, following the announcement that Karl Urban ("Bones" McCoy in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek) is taking on the lead character from Sylvester Stallone, who first portrayed the futuristic cop in the 1995 film of the same name.

The movie has a relatively small $45 million budget, but with the talent they are accruing for this project, I think this has potential to be a surprisingly good low budget blockbuster. (Remember, District 9 was made for only $30 million!) Thirlby is a very talented actress and Urban stole all of his scenes in Star Trek, so I'm interested to see what this team-up will look like on camera. In Judge Dredd, Thirlby will play Cassandra Anderson, "the telepathic rookie who shadows Dredd."

After reading the script by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine), Dredd creator John Wagner said that the reboot will be better than the original:

While I can't go into detail about the content I can say that it's high-octane, edge of the seat stuff, and gives a far truer representation of Dredd than the first movie. I hated that plot. It was Dredd pressed through the Hollywood cliché mill, a dynastic power struggle that had little connection with the character we know from the comic.

Things seem to be shaping up for this project, and I hope it's at least as good as this fan film.

What do you think about the potential of Judge Dredd?

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