Karl Urban Says Alex Garland Actually Directed DREDD

For the past few years, one of the more enduring, low-key Hollywood rumors has suggested that it was screenwriter Alex Garland, and not Pete Travis, who actually directed 2012's Dredd. This was the kind of thing that would inevitably arise whenever Dredd (or, more increasingly, newly-celebrated director Alex Garland) came up in casual conversation. But, like any piece of fringe Tinseltown gossip, we assumed the truth would never be confirmed one way or another. That's just how these things tend to go.

Enter: Dredd star Karl Urban, speaking on the record to JoBlo.com:

“A huge part of the success of Dredd is in fact due to Alex Garland and what a lot of people don’t realize is that Alex Garland actually directed that movie ... I just hope when people think of Alex Garland’s filmography that Dredd is the first film that he made before Ex Machina. You think about it in those terms; it goes Dredd, Ex Machina, Annihilation.”

So, what actually happened here? Until someone steps up to the plate and hashes out the particulars, we really don't know. The rumor's been so prevalent that one has to assume there's some degree of truth to it, but how much? Firm details have been hard to come by in the past, but with Urban out here blowing up spots (as one associate put it: "Someone's about to get an angry phone call from the DGA"), we're guessing we might actually get some clarification.

What do you folks make of this? Think Urban's out of line? Happy he's speaking his truth? On a scale of one to ten, how amped would you be if Garland were to direct the long-demanded Dredd 2?

Sound off in the comments below.