Following rumours that Edward Norton was joining the remake of RoboCop as the creator of the titular, justice-wielding cyborg, THR has instead revealed that Oscar nominee Gary Oldman will inhabit the role.
This remake of the 1987 classic has gone through various stages of interruption, beginning not long after Darren Aronofsky dropped out as the film’s helmer. 2013’s version will officially be directed by José Padilha (Elite Squad) and will star The Killing’s Joel Kinnaman as the former-cop-turned-sanctioned-vigilante.
Oldman just scored (shockingly) his first Academy Award nomination for last year’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and this year he’ll be starring in The Dark Knight Rises as Commissioner Gordon and will also be seen in John Hillcoat’s Lawless. Both of those seems to be incredibly promising properties for Oldman, whereas a studio remake of a beloved property seems more in line with a Red Riding Hood “payday” move.
The original RoboCop still stands as one of the quintessential, subversive parodies of director Paul Verhoeven’s career (and of all time) which also includes Starship Troopers and to a lesser extent Total Recall (which is also getting a remake).
Though I love straightforward dystopian thrillers, the approach taken by Verhoeven remains my favourite element of the original. Trying to replicate that today simply screams disaster, so I hope all those involve intend to use name alone and go in a completely different direction (a la 21 Jump Street).
RoboCop is set to enact vengeance on August 13, 2013.
