The Judge Dredd movie had been in production and actually entered the editing process on it’s way to completion but today we’re learning that creative differences between Director Pete Travis and producers have led to his dismissal from the final stages of the film.
Source: L.A. Times
Although he completed shooting the picture earlier this year, Travis has not been involved in the current editing phase of the movie, after creative disagreements with producers and executives in charge of the film reached a boiling point, said three people with knowledge of the production who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about the situation publicly. Instead, the editing room is now being run by a writer-producer on the film, the screenwriter Alex Garland, the people said.
In fact, so involved are Garland and two other producers, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich, that Garland may seek a co-director credit on the movie. Although he’s made no decision on whether he’ll seek that credit — a petition would need to be filed with the Directors Guild of Great Britain — the fact that the possibility is even being considered is unusual. Garland is a novelist and screenwriter who did not shoot the movie and has never been credited with directing a picture before. Representatives for Garland and Travis did not respond to a request for comment.
…Although the specifics of the disagreement that led to Travis’ dismissal are up for debate, two sources said it arose when Travis and producers and executives in charge of the production did not see eye-to-eye on footage Travis was delivering. A separate person involved in the film maintained that although Travis is no longer involved in postproduction, he is keeping up with progress via the Internet and has not been pushed aside.
Wow. Haven’t seen something like this happen in a very long time but if the producers aren’t happy with the footage then I guess I can see where they’re coming from with not wanting him involved in the editing. I’d been apprehensive about this movie for quite some time as I have yet to wash away any ill-regard toward the Sly Stallone film of the 90’s but I had hoped that this reboot would be just the thing to cure my ailment. Travis had previously directed Vantage Point which I enjoyed a lot and made me look forward to seeing more of his work.
Karl Urban is portraying the titular Judge Dredd in the film and after seeing his work in the LoTR trilogy, The Bourned Supremecy, and more recently the Star Trek movie I’d been pretty anxious to see how this one turned out and there’s no telling what direction the producers will take with this film as the movie isn’t even expected to hit theaters for almost a year from now. I’ll keep an eye out for more news and I guess I’ll be providing more Jude Dredd coverage moving forward.
