ROBOCOP Remake Details - Tone, Focus and how it's different from the Original
Elite Squad director Jose Padilha is currently in the process of developing the upcoming RoboCop remake for MGM. This film project has been in development for years, at one point Darren Aronofsky was attached to direct it, but things didn't pan out because of the MGM Bankruptcy thing. Up until now the director hasn't really said much about the project.
In a recent interview the director talked about the films tone, what it will focus on, and how it will be different than the 1987 original Paul Verhoeven film.
I love the sharpness and political tone of RoboCop , and I think that such a film is now urgently needed. But I will not repeat what Verhoeven has done so clearly and strongly. Instead I try to make a film that will address topics that Verhoeven untreated. If you are a man changes into a robot, how do you do that? What is the difference between humans and robots developed? What is free will? What does it mean to lose your free will? Those are the issues that I think.
So it sounds like he's going to focus more on the robot technology, the ethics behind it and how society deals with it. There was also a mention in the news that Elite Squad 2 actor Wagner Moura is very interested in a role in Robocop. He is currently playing the main bad guy in Neil Blomkamp's new sci-fi film Elysium. He goes on to talk about his strategy of surviving Hollywood,
I try to make movies that I like, that I feel and I deal with social problems involved. I will continue to do where I work. If I can develop in Hollywood, then I make a movie with all the means Hollywood. If that fails, then that movie is not. It is that simple!
I'm not really all that excited about this RoboCop film, I was a little when Aronofsky was involved, but I'm just not sure about Padilha directing it. Maybe he'll surprise me, but as of right now I'm a little apprehensive about it. I'm like this with most remakes though. What do you think? Do you like the direction the director wants to take it?