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By Chris Nashawaty
Chris Nashawaty
Chris Nashawaty
Chris Nashawaty is a senior writer for EW, and author of EW.com's DVD Insomniac column

Don't blame Apollo 13 or Batman Forever for Judge Dredd's dreadful box office take. After all, even before their big-budget comic-book flick opened in fifth place, earning $17 million, star Sylvester Stallone and director Danny Cannon were pointing fingers elsewhere — directly at each other.

''This is a big thing to bite off the first time out,'' Stallone said before the release of the film, 27-year-old Cannon's first studio project. ''It's a matter of experience, that's all.'' But Cannon, who says he brought in Dredd on schedule and within Disney's $70 million budget, describes Stallone's ''I am the law'' attitude as the bigger obstacle. ''It's tough. In the comic book he has green boots, Sly wanted green boots. Talking him out of that one was weeks,'' says Cannon, who grants that Stallone was a great Dredd but says working with him was like ''putting your head down and slamming the brick wall.''

''You have to bite the bullet sometimes,'' says a dentally fixated Stallone, who wanted the film to have the future-gone-awry grandeur of Blade Runner. ''You see the film going in a certain direction that you don't like, but you can't sit there and completely impose yourself.''

Will there be a sequel? Stallone won't comment. Cannon cringes at the idea. ''I'd rather stick needles in my eyes.''

With reporting by Tim Appelo


Posted Jul 21, 1995 | Published in issue #284 Jul 21, 1995 | Order Article Reprints