Kinnaman Talks RoboCop: It's Not A Remake

The star of the new Robocop film "The Killing" actor Joel Kinnaman recently sat down with SFX Magazine to talk about how he got involved with the project:

"When I first heard there was gonna be a RoboCop remake, I thought, 'Maybe I’ll see that somewhere down the line. But it’s nothing I'm interested in pursuing myself.' Then when I heard it was José Padilha that was gonna direct it, I became very interested. José has fought very hard and succeeded in making something that has a point of view, and a political and philosophical perspective."

At first Joshua Zetumer was hired to write the reboot of the RoboCop franchise that now aims to explore in detail a part of the story that Paul Verhoeven's 1987 classic did not--Alex Murphy's (Kinnaman) actual transition from man to machine. Gran Torino screenwriter Nick Schenk was hired to pen a new draft of the script.

Kinnaman is indeed very aware of how beloved the original is, and the risk that comes with doing it. To that end, he doesn't consider this film a straight-up remake:

"It’s a great responsibility. Especially in a world where there’s a lot of remakes being made for cynical economic reasons. But having José as a director washed away those fears. The biggest respect you can pay to the original is to acknowledge it as a very intelligent movie, and try to make something intelligent to follow it up with, and not just replay old catchphrases. We kept one or two as a wink to the fans, but we did not try to remake the movie."

Gary Oldman has been cast as Norton, the scientist who creates Robocop and finds himself torn between the ideals of the machine trying to rediscover its humanity and the callous needs of a corporation. Garcia will play a scientist who helps put together the Robocop with Oldman. Samuel L. Jackson will play Pat Novak, a charismatic media mogul and a powerful force in the future. Michael Keaton will play “the cold, sarcastic CEO of Omnicorp, Raymond Sellars, leading the group behind RoboCop’s creation. Abbie Cornish will play the role of Alex Murphy's wife who thinks she is a widow. Jennifer Ehle plays a character named Liz Kline which is new to the mythology. Jackie Earle Haley will play Maddox, the man who dispenses the military training to Robocop. Michael Kenneth Williams will play the partner of Murphy who is close with Murphy’s family. Marianne Jean-Baptiste is set to play Karen Dean, the Detroit Chief of Police Jay Baruchel  and "Dexter" co-star Aimee Garcia also star.

Marc Abraham and Eric Newman produced the film.

I was quite impressed with both the first and second trailers for the film--Fingers crossed for this one folks

The update hits theaters Feb. 7, 2014.