The ROBOCOP reboot is a tricky one to call – the Paul Verhoeven original is an absolute barnstormer and THN cannot fathom how on Earth is can be improved on. That said, there’s a certain buzz around THN Towers for José Padilha’s updated version, partly due to some interesting casting announcements.
The first name to catch our eye was Gary Oldman, set to play Robocop creator Norton. Oldman’s involvement bodes well as his eye for a solid script is obvious (let’s put aside AIR FORCE ONE for the minute). Next Samuel L. Jackson joined the cast as TV Mogul Pat Novak – as far as we can tell this is a original character for the reboot, suggesting the movie has ideas of its own. Fine by us. Then Hugh Laurie came on board as a yet-to-be-unnamed villain. We suspect he’s more Dick Jones than Clarence Bodicker, whilst means, whilst the cast is shaping up nicely, there appears to be a distinct lack of vicious street thugs for our cyborg law enforcer to tangle with.
And then new broke earlier that Jackie Earle Haley has joined the cast…
As the man who brought the rough and ready and ultra-violent Rorschach to life in WATCHMEN, Haley is surely a top candidate for all-important villain duties. Whilst the new ROBOCOP should indeed try to do its own thing, it might seem flat without the memorable badguys from the 1987 original (‘Cops don’t like me… so I don’t like cops’). However, it appear that Haley will be playing yet another new character, Maddox, who uses his military mad skillz to train up Joel Kinnaman’s Alex Murphy, whose life has been saved by robotics after being seriously injured in the line of duty.
What’s interesting is that it seems in this version Murphy doesn’t actually die before becoming Robocop, and it sounds as if the film will explore a more human said to his character. This was also alluded to in official synopsis, released recently (see here), which stated ‘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’. Perhaps this version of the character will be more man than machine. The fact he will need training also proves interesting, rather than being an instant double-hard bastard as he was in the original.
Stay tuned for more interesting casting news, all of which we’ll buy for a motherf*cking dollar.
ROBOCOP is directed by José Padhila and stars Joel Kinnaman, Hugh Laurie, Samuel L. Jackson, and Gary Oldman. It arrives in cinemas 2013.
Source: Deadline
