The newest image of Lena Headeys antagonist Madeline Madrigal, aka Ma-Ma, from the forthcoming "Dredd" has now hit the internet. Headey, currently starring in HBOs Game of Thrones as Queen Regent Cersei Lannister, plays the matriarch of an organisation that deals in a reality-altering narcotic, known as SLO-MO. Headey describes Ma-Ma to Hero Complex:
Shes a prostitute who then kills her pimp and takes over his drug-running business 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. Shes ready for it. In fact, she cant wait for it to happen. And yet no one can get the job done. Shes an addict, so shes dead in that way, but that last knock just hasnt come. This big, fat, scarred shark moving through the sea and everyone flees and shes like, Will someone just have the balls to do it? Please?
The film stars Lord of the Rings and Star Trek actor Karl Urban who will don the helmet as Judge Dredd, and Juno co-star Olivia Thirlby as rookie Judge Anderson. The film will take place in Mega City One, a vast urban environment in a post-apocalyptic future, and specifically in Peach Trees, an enormous apartment complex that houses Heady and her terrorist organisation. The film was written by Alex Garland, who has also written the post-apocalyptic "28 Days Later" and sci-fi "Sunshine", and will be directed by Pete Travis, who helmed "Vantage Point" and "Endgame". The film is said to be a faithful, gritty adaptation of the source material, comic book anthology series 2000AD. There were rumours of production troubles, with Travis being kept out of the editing process and Garland taking over, but appear to have died down. The character was previously onscreen in the 1995 adaptation Judge Dredd, with Sylvester Stallone as the titular Judge, though it was a critical and commercial failure, and made changes to the story that did not sit well with the fans, including removing Dredds helmet for large parts of the film (in the comic series, Dredds whole face has never been visible in its entire run). The new film is said to be unrelated, which can only help its chances. "Dredd" will be released on 21 September 2012.