Karl Urban is the New Judge Dredd

A few weeks back, there were murmurings out of Comic-Con that the new Judge Dredd had been cast and that it would be none other than New Zealand’s own Karl Urban (“Bones” McCoy from Star Trek with upcoming comic movies Red and Priest). Empire Online has gotten confirmation from the film’s producers Andrew MacDonald and Allon Reich, who were asked about it during a Q ‘n’ A at BFI’s Movie-Con III, currently taking place in London. MacDonald confirmed the casting reported as a scoop by Bleeding Cool‘s Rich Johnston last month.

Here’s what else MacDonald said about the project during the Q ‘n’ A:

“The main thing about Dredd is that it’s a fantastic comic that was completely messed up 20 years ago. Our idea is to make a very hard, R-rated, gritty, realistic movie of Dredd in Megacity, so we’ve got to get the tone right. He’s not going to take off his helmet. His bike is going to feel real. He’s going to hit people and it’s going to feel real. There’s been a change in comic-book movies; they were treated unseriously and now they’re treated seriously.”

Director Pete Travis (Vantage Point) will begin shooting Judge Dredd in Johannesburg, South Africa with the same people who made Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 later this year.

You can read the full article over on Empire Online.