Lena Headey talks about the dread Dredd

She may be more well known right now for her scheming ways in Game of Thrones as the vile Cersei Lannister, but that doesn’t mean that Lena Headey isn’t averse to getting physical in her films.

While filming has wrapped for Dredd, which was shot here in sunny SA mind you, she’s begun talking more about the film, and her particularly tough onscreen counterpart, Ma-Ma.

Dredd is a film that is looking to once again remind the world about a certain mean, gritty, stoney-faced law enforcer, in a manner that is edgey and 100% Rob Schneider free.

The film hasn’t been without some controversy, due to issues surrounding editing and credit discrepancies, leaving the project and any info on it, in the dark.

Headey however, feels that the film will still be quite impressive on screen.

“The world feels really British, and I don’t know if that’s because it’s so dirty and dark,” Headey said to Hero Complex.

And it’s… violent. Just in terms of gunplay, they’re not afraid to show blood and gunshot wounds. And it’s set up in this concrete sort of shanty town — it’s shanty but they’re blocks — concrete favelas.

So that’s why they chose Cape Town to film in, I guess. Headey says that her character, Ma-Ma, was originally pegged to be an older women, but she won the part and had the role aged down when writer-producer Alex Garland took a liking to her.

“I think of her like an old Great White shark who is just waiting for someone bigger and stronger to show up and kill her,” Headey said.

She’s ready for it. In fact, she can’t wait for it to happen. And yet no-one can get the job done. She’s an addict, so she’s dead in that way, but that last knock just hasn’t come.

This big, fat, scarred shark moving through the sea and everyone flees and she’s like, ‘Will someone just have the balls to do it? Please?‘

Dredd stars Karl Urban as the helmeted Judge, alongside Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson, and is due out in September. I don’t have high hopes for the film, but it still sounds like an above-average action flick at least.

Last Updated: May 8, 2012