A couple months ago we heard from Alex Garland that ‘Dredd 2‘ is “dead in the water” and in a recent interview he is confirming that his view on the next installment hasn’t changed. While at SXSW for his directorial debut of ‘Ex Machina,’ Garland was asked about the film and gave plenty of details on why it wouldn’t happen as well as his appreciation for the first one.
When talking about how he felt about ‘Dredd,’ Garland stated:
“The Dredd thing is a surprise. It’s a really complicated set of emotions. I have a lot of regret about how things worked out with Dredd, but it’s very gratifying. The regret it—you do a kind of transaction, particularly with the creators of it, which is that we want to do this thing and honor what you did, and try to do it properly, and then the film will reward that trust. That act of faith and trust and decency. And I think that the film rewarded them in one sense, but no in another. I do believe it rewarded them creatively, unless they’re lying to me about that. But I think it has created this thing of this movie that fails. The story of Dredd is that of a failed movie. Both times, for fuck’s sake. And to be party to that, when that was exactly the intention—to not do that—is kind of difficult.”
When talking about ‘Dredd 2,’ Garland actually said that even voting for a sequel with money by having more of the original film purchased was just a waste of money at this point:
“And I also feel a sense of responsibility because I know there are these people who do this stuff like they’ve got money and they spend money on a DVD to try and up the chance of a sequel getting made. Because I don’t have an online profile or persona or anything like that I can’t speak to these people directly, but what I want to say is that’s so good of you, and thank you, but keep your money because the people who make the decisions don’t get moved by that kind of thing. They’re moved by other stuff, other equations, other algorithms.”
Honestly, if someone wants a copy for themselves I can’t imagine that being a waste of money so this seems a little more harsh than need be. I’m actually pretty sure we’ve all seen that a movie making enough money tends to be one of the highest motivating factors of a film being made. Or, you know, these other equations apparently. Still if another ‘Dredd’ film is to happen it most likely won’t be a sequel to the one that so many of us have enjoyed.
“How can I say this without being soppy? It’s touching. It means something that these people support the film in that way, but the thing people want, which is a sequel, I don’t think is going to happen. I think it will happen (let me rephrase that) I don’t think it’s happening with me and the people who made the last one.”
I think most of us had already given up on any real chance of a ‘Dredd’ sequel ever happening. At the very least, if one is somehow in the works it sounds as if Garland is completely out of the loop on it.
Would you be happy to hear about another ‘Dredd’ being in the works or are you done with the current take on the film at this point? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Collider
