Judge Dredd screenwriter Steven E. de Souza on the film’s violence and marketing

A few years ago, director Oliver Harper made a documentary called In Search of the Last Action Heroes, which was described as “a comprehensive retrospective of the ’80s and ’90s action film genre.” One of the people interviewed for that documentary was screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, who was a major contributor to the action genre in those decades, working on the likes of 48 Hrs., Commando, The Running Man, Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Hudson Hawk, Ricochet, Beverly Hills Cop III, and Street Fighter, among others… with one of the others being the much-maligned Sylvester Stallone comic book movie Judge Dredd. In a moment that didn’t make it into the final cut of In Search of the Last Action Heroes, de Souza discussed the issues that Judge Dredd ran into, including bad marketing and a struggle to secure an R rating. Harper has been kind enough to share that deleted scene online, and you can check it out in the embed at the bottom of this article.

In this clip, de Souza reveals that he had written Judge Dredd with a PG-13 rating in mind, having no idea that director Danny Cannon intended to make the movie “as gritty and violent as possible”. So acts of violence that de Souza wrote to take place off screen were actually filmed, complete with bullet squibs and arterial spray. Because of this, the movie had to be recut and re-submitted to the MPAA multiple times before the ratings board would even let it pass with an R rating. And due to that R rating, Judge Dredd lost its toy line deal and the promotional deal it had set up with a fast food chain.

Michael De Luca and William Wisher Jr. share writing credit on Judge Dredd with de Souza. The film has the following synopsis: In the crime-plagued future, the only thing standing between order and chaos is Judge Joseph Dredd. His duty: police the violent metropolitan sprawls that crowd the decaying earth, and kill criminals on the spot if necessary. The tables are turned, however, when maniacal ex-Judge Rico frames Dredd for murder. But, as his opponents soon discover, not even a prison sentence can stop Dredd from doling out his signature brand of justice.

Stallone plays the title character and is joined in the cast by Armand Assante, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Jürgen Prochnow, Max von Sydow, Joanna Miles, Joan Chen, Balthazar Getty, Ian Dury, Mitchell Ryan, Bradley Lavelle, Scott Wilson, Christopher Adamson, Ewen Bremner, Phil Smeeton, and James Remar, with some voice acting from James Earl Jones and Adrienne Barbeau.

What do you think of the 1995 film version of Judge Dredd? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.