‘District 9’ Director Neill Blomkamp Takes On ‘Robocop’
‘RoboCop Returns’ to the big screen once again, and this time it will be helmed by ‘District 9’ Director Neill Blomkamp it has been announced.
Set in a near-future dystopian Detroit, the original 1987 Paul Verhoeven film starred Peter Weller as Alex Murphy, a cop who gets badly wounded in the line of duty. OCP, the private company now running the police, declare him dead, and use his near-corpse to create ‘RoboCop’, replacing most of his body with cybernetics. As the film progresses, memories of Murphy’s previous life and family start to resurface, he goes after the people that “killed” him, and discovers a conspiracy leading right back to the company that created him.
According to Deadline, who broke the story, Justin Rhodes, co-writer of the upcoming ‘Green Lantern Corps’ film and next ‘Terminator’ reboot, will pen the script based on an unfilmed sequel script from original scribes Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner. Titled ‘RoboCop Returns’, it sees “anarchy reign and the fate of Detroit hang in the balance as RoboCop makes his triumphant return to fight crime and corruption.”
“The original definitely had a massive effect on me as a kid,” Blomkamp commented to Deadline. “I loved it then and it remains a classic in the end of 20th Century sci-fi catalogue, with real meaning under the surface. Hopefully, that is something we can get closer to in making of a sequel. That is my goal here. What I connected to as a kid has evolved over time. At first, the consumerism, materialism and Reaganomics, that ’80s theme of America on steroids, came through most strongly. But As I’ve gotten older, the part that really resonated with me is identity, and the search for identity. As long as the human component is there, a good story can work in any time period, it’s not locked into a specific place in history. What’s so cool about RoboCop is that like good Westerns, sci-fi films and dramas, the human connection is really important to a story well told. What draws me now is someone searching for their lost identity, taken away at the hands of people who are benefiting from it, and seeing his memory jogged by events. That is most captivating. The other thing I am excited by is the chance to work again with Justin Rhodes. He has added elements that are pretty awesome, to a sequel that was set in the world of Verhoeven. This is a movie I would love to watch.”
Blomkamp followed up directing and writing ‘District 9’, with ‘Elysium’ starring Matt Damon, and ‘Chappie’ starring Dev Patel & Sharlto Copley. He’s also signed on to direct the next instalment of the ‘Alien’ franchise.
This isn’t the first time ‘RoboCop’ has returned to screen. The original film spawned two more movies, two live-action tv shows and two animated series. In 2014, José Padilha directed a reboot of the franchise starring Joel Kinnaman, which didn’t do well in the US, but made $242 million against its $100 million budget worldwide.
We’ll let you know more info about ‘RoboCop Returns’ as we get it.
