One of the movies that’s already had a huge impact at Comic-Con 2012 is Pete Travis’ Dredd 3D, a new movie based on the 2000 AD comic book anti-hero introduced way back in 1977. Lionsgate decided to kick-off Comic-Con with a free preview screening that was well-attended and received by the fans who were able to get in. (You can read some of our thoughts on the movie here.)
Actor Karl Urban is no stranger to ComingSoon.net/SuperHeroHype readers, having appeared as part of the cast of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, co-starred with Vin Diesel in The Chronicles of Riddick and in the comic book adaptation RED, which we spoke to him about at Comic-Con two years ago.
The day after the Dredd screening, we sat down with Urban for a post-movie interview. Before we rolled, Karl told us how Lionsgate offered to set up a private screening of the movie for him, but he really wanted to see it for the first time with an audience so he waited until he could watch it with the Comic-Con audience on Wednesday night.
In the video interview below–where we accidentally stated he was from Australia even though he’s from New Zealand (oddly, he didn’t correct us)–we discussed:
* His awareness of Judge Dredd before accepting the role
* Playing a character who wears a helmet most of the time and how that affected his performance
* How he prepared and trained for the role
* The very specific voice required for Dredd and how Dirty Harry influenced the comic character (though not Urban’s interpretation)
* Talking about the sets, working with director Pete Travis and writer Alex Garland
* How Dredd was made independently rather than as a studio movie
* How Garland collaborated with Judge Dredd creator John Wagner
* The reference they took from the comics
* Whether he’s run into Sly Stallone yet and how it’s different (Stallone’s movie The Expendables 2 is also at Comic-Con this year)
* The possibilities of a sequel to Dredd
* We ask him about the “Gary Mitchell slip-up” and his response (which you may have read about here)
* He reveals that he will be in RED 2 but couldn’t say much about it
* He talks about working with the late Ernest Borgnine in RED
And more!
Dredd 3D opens on September 21.
