After what seems like years in development, Jose Padilha will finally begin filming his version of the 1987 motion picture film, ‘Robocop.’
In an announcement released yesterday, MGM and Columbia pictures stated that production would begin Saturday, September 15, 2012 in Toronto finally putting to rest the rumors that the film would never get out of development hell caused by casting shake ups and production complications.
Commenting on the announcement, Padilha stated:
“It’s exciting to think that we’re going to be starting production on ‘RoboCop.’ I have a dream cast and an incredibly creative production team, and we are all supremely dedicated, working together to make a movie that will not only live alongside the first film but also break new ground, be relevant for modern audiences, and stand on its own.”
The cast, which is now finalized, includes Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy/Robocop, Gary Oldman as Norton (the scientists who creates Robocop), Samuel L. Jackson as Pat Novack (a high ranking mogul in the Robocop world), Abbie Cornish as Ellen Murphy (Alex’s wife), Jackie Earle Haley as Maddox (the guy in charge of Robocop’s military training), Michael K. Williams as (Murphy’s partner) , Jay Baruchel as Pope (head of Omnicorp marketing), Jennifer Ehle as Liz Kane, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Karen Dean (Cheif of Police). Recently Michael Keaton signed on to play the villainous CEO of OmniCorp Raymond Sellars, a role that was originaly being offered to Hugh Laurie before negotiations fell through.
Padilha has always stated that his reboot of ‘Robocop’ would find the law enforcement automaton more human and the film would focus on how turning into a RoboCop will affect Murphy, but in the synopsis released, it seems like the director is not straying too far away from the original story:
In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Their drones are winning American wars around the globe and now they want to bring this technology to the home front. Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit. After he is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp utilizes their remarkable science of robotics to save Alex’s life. He returns to the streets of his beloved city with amazing new abilities, but with issues a regular man has never had to face before.
While the synopsis of the film sounds very promising, one still can’t remove the reviews from several bloggers who were able to get a hold of a copy of the script and commenting on how it makes ‘Total Recall’ look like a masterpiece!
I’d like to try and stay positive as ‘Robocop’ is still one of my favorite movies from the 80’s but it seems like Hollywood is striking out on the remake front and should just leave good movies alone.
Bearing any other hindrances, audiences will see how well ‘Robocop’ stands on its own when the film is released on August 9, 2013.
Source: Blastr
