The Law Returns. This Time With His Helmet On! Judge Dredd!

[Starkers]

Make her blonde and she certainly looks the part, as for her acting ability, well haven't seen her in anything so will just have to trust the producers judgement.

I see the film is now called simply Dredd

[Admiral_Young]

I'm assuming that they will dye her hair blonde...can't remember her description from the script now but I'm pretty sure Anderson was blonde. I saw the title change. At least it's not "Judge Dredd Origins".

[Starkers]

Anderson has to be blonde. I think "Dredd" will look good on the posters.

[Reverend]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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I'm assuming that they will dye her hair blonde...can't remember her description from the script now but I'm pretty sure Anderson was blonde. I saw the title change. At least it's not "Judge Dredd Origins".

Actually, there is a fairly recent JD story with that name.
Just be glad they're not making that into a movie. Not that it was bad or anything, it was actually quite absorbing but if there's one comic book character that shouldn't need an "origin" movie, it's Judge Dredd. It's be like a sequel to the Dollars trilogy where you see the 'Man with No Name' growing up. Characters like Dredd works best with only a vague history IMO.

As for Anderson, yeah, the character has always been a blonde and portraying her otherwise would be like having Mary-Jane as a brunette.

[Christopher]

^Hey, Smallville gave us Lana Lang as a brunette. And some screen Supermen have had brown eyes rather than blue. Harvey Dent in the comics is Caucasian with dark hair, but he's been played onscreen by the African-American Billy Dee Williams and the blonde Aaron Eckhart.

And what about the fact that neither Norman nor Harry Osborne onscreen had the trademark weird hairstyle of the comics' Osborne clan?

[Reverend]

And by all accounts the Lana Lang on Smallville was never exactly well received, so not what I'd call a prime example.

As for the others, Dent's physical characteristics were never really significant in distinguishing him, rather it was his horrific scarring. As for the Osbornes...well that is a weird hairstyle and it'd be a bit hard to translate into live action so that was a fair choice.

The thing with the Judges, unlike the superhero/villain types that usually populate comic books is that they all wear the same outfit and when they have their helmets on can be a bit hard to distinguish beyond skin colour and gender (probably why they have name tags!) In the case of Anderson I imagine the long blonde hair was at least in part a way of making her stand out batter and perhaps distinguishing her from Hershey too (or visa-versa, I forget which character came first.) Not that I'm saying her being blonde is "vial" to the character, but it would be odd if she wasn't and it's a pretty easy thing to do so I can't see why they wouldn't.

[Christopher]

Reverend wrote:

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And by all accounts the Lana Lang on Smallville was never exactly well received, so not what I'd call a prime example.

Non sequitur. I've heard people complain about Kristin Kreuk's Lana, but never on the basis of her hair color. (And for the record, some of us thought she did a great job as Lana. Just because the critics of a given thing make a lot of noise on the Internet, that doesn't mean theirs is the only point of view that exists.)

And frankly, Kirsten Dunst never made a convincing redhead anyway. Her hair color changed in every movie and her appearance never really said "Mary Jane Watson" to me. So I might've been happier if they'd just gone with her natural hair color. Or if they'd cast someone more MJ-like to begin with.

Not that I'm saying her being blonde is "vial" to the character, but it would be odd if she wasn't and it's a pretty easy thing to do so I can't see why they wouldn't.

Okay, that's fair. But Olivia Thirlby is a striking brunette, and in my opinion, a natural brunette going blonde is never an improvement.

[Reverend]

Non sequitur. I've heard people complain about Kristin Kreuk's Lana, but never on the basis of her hair color. (And for the record, some of us thought she did a great job as Lana. Just because the critics of a given thing make a lot of noise on the Internet, that doesn't mean theirs is the only point of view that exists.)

I honestly never really watched the show, all I know is whenever I happen to skim a discussion n the net or someone mentions the show, someone else almost invariably brings up how bad she was. Not that it really matters as I was actually being a little ironic and so help me if you come back with another hair splitting comment, I shall brain you.

As for Dunst, I never had much of a problem with her in the first two (only got about 20 mins into the third) but then since I'm not so familiar with the source material, I'm ill equipped to know if her characterisation was off. Literally, all I knew about her prior to watching the film was what I recall from the old 90's cartoon; which was basically 1) She was a model/actress 2) she spent a lot of time getting kidnapped and 3) She was a ginger.

[Christopher]

^No thanks, I already have a brain.

Unless you mean you're going to ask me if I'm pondering what you're pondering...

[Admiral_Young]

Dunst was more Gwen Stacy than Mary Jane in her performance of the character in the trilogy while I thought Bryce Dallas Howard had a little 616 MJ in her. Nevertheless fans are fickle and protective of their favorite characters actually looking and acting like the characters they're taken from with regards to adaptions. There are scenes where Anderson has her helmet off so this is a relevant discussion if you're a Judge Dredd fan. I'll have to go back and look but I'm pretty sure that she was described as being blonde which is also a contrast to Dredd's character in the film.

[Christopher]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Dunst was more Gwen Stacy than Mary Jane in her performance of the character in the trilogy...

Yep. I've always thought of her as a Gwen/MJ composite, kind of like how the DC Animated Universe's Tim Drake was a Jason Todd/Tim Drake composite.

Nevertheless fans are fickle and protective of their favorite characters actually looking and acting like the characters they're taken from with regards to adaptions.

For me, it depends on the execution. Looking right is preferable, but if they cast someone who doesn't look right but does a great job, I'm fine with it. I love redheads, but Kristin Kreuk is one of the most stunning women on the planet, so I didn't have a problem with the change. And while Michael Clark Duncan doesn't impress me too much as an actor, I doubt there's any other decent actor out there who could've come physically as close to the Kingpin's build and presence. On the other hand, I've never felt that Hugh Jackman was really right for Wolverine, since I just don't find him convincing as a savage, tormented wild man, and thus I'm less inclined to excuse the fact that he's way too tall and good-looking for Wolverine.

[Reverend]

Christopher wrote:

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^No thanks, I already have a brain.

You seam to lack the part that should tell you when to shut up. Seriously mate, almost every other post I've seen you make you're either correcting someone, splitting some insignificant hair or coming back with some sarcy comment when you've been contradicted. It's gone way beyond tiresome.

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Dunst was more Gwen Stacy than Mary Jane in her performance of the character in the trilogy while I thought Bryce Dallas Howard had a little 616 MJ in her. Nevertheless fans are fickle and protective of their favorite characters actually looking and acting like the characters they're taken from with regards to adaptions. There are scenes where Anderson has her helmet off so this is a relevant discussion if you're a Judge Dredd fan. I'll have to go back and look but I'm pretty sure that she was described as being blonde which is also a contrast to Dredd's character in the film.

I'm pretty sure she manages to loose the thing pretty early on so she should be helmetless for pretty much all her scenes. Which is consistent with the comics, Anderson and indeed most of the Judges spent most of the time while not out on street duty with the helmet off. Dredd's the only one that has it permanently stuck there.
Of course the artistic reason is it makes it a lot easier to tell uniformed characters apart when you can see their faces (aforementioned nametags notwithstanding.)

[Admiral_Young]

I'm interested in seeing concept designs for this film.

[Reverend]

Some concept art has been released. Looks like they're developing a very Blade Runner like tech-noir aesthetic.

[Admiral_Young]

Wow. Mega City One looks a lot darker and foreboding that I thought...and I like the Judges. I think I'm going to be completely satisfied by this film.