RoboCop Director Denies Production Struggles

Last week, we heard from Fernando Meireilles that his close friend and fellow filmmaker Jose Padilha was going through "hell" on the set of his upcoming RoboCop reboot. However, Padilha plays down these claims in a recent interview with Brazilian newspaper Cinema em Cinema.

"I have a script I’m happy with and I got the cast I have picked," he said. "The director of photography is Lula Carvalho, my editor is Daniel Rezende (City of God, Elite Squad, The Tree of Life). I was even consulted for the selection of the producers."

As for the rumors of his bad time spent in pre-production, the director added, "We deal with those difficulties with coolness and familiarity."

So perhaps Padilha's hellish experience with the studio was a little bit exaggerated. On the other hand, as Latino Review points out, this could also just be the RoboCop helmer's own way of protecting himself.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com

Robocop Now a Terrorist-Killing Transformer

I bet you were beginning to get psyched for that Robocop remake, huh? What with all the cool actors being lined up for it -- Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Laurie, Jackie Earle Haley, Jay Baruchel, Michael Kenneth Williams and Abbie Cornish -- and it being from the director of Elite Squad. Well, according to one respected film journalist who has read the script it's time to lower your expectations.

Latino-Review points out a blistering series of tweets from HitFix's Drew McWeeny who read the script for the reboot, which starts filming this fall for a 2013 release. Here are a few particularly caustic revelations about the script so be advised of SPOILERS:

"In the film, when Murphy is turned into Robocop 1.0, it’s described 'a high-tech version of the ’80s suit.' Then they show a focus group scene where criminals laugh at the design. 'He looks like a toy from the ’80s!' So they redesign him to look 'meaner' as Robocop 2.0, who passes focus group approval. So they not only make sure to include the original design, they also point out it’s dated and stupid. *facepalm*"

"Oh, god… oh dear god… Robocop is a Transformer. He goes from 'social mode' to 'combat mode' and back. Full transformation."

Robocop is dropped into an Al-Qaeda training camp at one point to see what he can do, while the ED-209s are deployed to Iran to stop suicide bombers.

There are a few pretty lousy-sounding winks to lines from the original Paul Verhoeven film (and even to its poster). There are also said to be several different versions of the RoboCop suit used through the film.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com