The Making of Judge Dredd: In the Future, One Man is the Law

by David Chute

A lavishly illustrated, full-color chronicle traces the making of the sixty-million-dollar science-fiction action film starring Sylvester Stallone, due to be released in the summer of 1995. Original. Movie tie-in.

Genres: Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Art

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A behind the scenes look at the Stallone version of “Judge Dredd” from 1995, this is split into six parts - 2000AD, development, production, post-production, storyboards and credits - and the writer clearly had full access to the production, which she uses brilliantly. Reading this directly after “George Lucas: A Life”, which details his disdain for non-creative executives making nonsense decisions about film, this highlights the problem completely, with executive producers, development executives and lots of other people commenting on scripts and design concepts without apparently knowing what they’re talking about. The writers struggled, being pulled this way and that and then Steven DeSouza’s shooting script contained scenes and characters the director actively disliked from the very start but still had to film. Various department heads comment that they were given the go-ahead to do one thing, did it properly and were then told it wasn’t right and this appeared to continue throughout production and beyond. The post-production section mentions that Stallone involved himself in the editing (since time was tight) and that after Danny Cannon had delivered his directors cut, they all realised there was still some way to go. I can only imagine that Lippincott (the producer who launched the project, as well as a writer here) was so annoyed at how the other producers had taken over, he didn’t attempt to censor Ms Killick from laying out starkly what a troubled time this film had, which does go some way to explaining why it’s such a lost opportunity. Fascinating reading, though for probably all the wrong reasons.

[Elliot Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. There's a good level of detail on the production, from concept to finish, which I always like. It might have been nice to cap it with a few cast and crew interviews too. That said, never mind that the film is good or bad, if you're into film and particularly production, then this is an interesting read.

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though the film was a big flop, the creative direction and visual effects remain one of the best futuristic visions ever translated onto the screen, Canon's Megacity One is so layered and believable you're instantly transported into Dredd's world.

Transitions from green screen sets to digital mattes are prefectly seamless in these early days of match-moves. So creatively, this remains one of my favourite film art books, chock full of development sketches and production art.

Detailed prop photos show how craftsmen produce their works of art and its one of the first art books to feature a whole section of actual storyboards. Not to mention Gianni Versace's costume designs for all judges.

This review was first published on parkablogs.com. There are more pictures and videos on my blog.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice to see an insight to a bad movie, wished the movie was better...even though the story line was good