Lena Headey may look lovely on GAME OF THRONES as Cersei Lannister, but not so much as Madeline “Ma-Ma” Madrigal in DREDD.
A close-up shot of the actress in character has surfaced today. Check out those gnarly scars! She looks rough. The character of Ma-Ma is supposed to though. She was once a prostitute now gang leader, who could probably put a hurtin’ on someone.
In an interview with Hero Complex, Headey gives some insight into her character. Let’s start by painting the overall picture: “In a world scorched and sickened by radiation wars, Mega City One is one of the last pockets of civilization but it tests the bottom limits of the word. Madrigal is the fierce gang leader who rules Peach Tree City Block and that puts her squarely in the sights of the film’s title character, Judge Joseph Dredd (Karl Urban).”
Headey started with this, “She’s a prostitute who then kills her pimp and takes over his drug-running business. And Ma-Ma is a bit of a man-hater.”
She continued to talk about how she envisioned the character, “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?‘”
Madrigal was originally conceived as a woman in her 70s, but Headey won over screenwriter, Alex Garland. The actress thought of her as a middle-aged woman with a lot of mileage.