With Hugh Laurie no longer playing the villain in MGM’s remake of RoboCop, Clive Owen is now reportedly being courted for the role.
It appears that MGM is moving fast with the recasting, perhaps in an effort to keep the RoboCop remake on track for its August 2013 release date. Details from the film’s script were making the rounds earlier in the month, which gave many fans of the original film cause for concern. But those screenplay tidbits, while extremely revealing with regard to the film’s plot, didn’t explain who Laurie (and now Owen) might play.
Script shortcomings aside, the RoboCop remake had a lot of good buzz surrounding it in terms of its casting, with MGM choosing to go forego the more conventional choices in favor of genuine talent. The selection of Hugh Laurie in a villainous role was an inspired one, and could have made the film really fun, but Clive Owen does make for a solid replacement.
Deadline reports that several other actors are also being courted in MGM’s mad scramble for a new villain, but only Owen is mentioned by name. This gives off the impression that several lesser known actors are in contention for the role, but that Owen is the studio’s first choice.
In the title role will be The Killing‘s Joel Kinnaman, whose star has been on the rise with brief stints in several films including The Darkest Hour and Safe House. However, RoboCop will be his introduction to mainstream audiences, and presents him as a potential future leading man and action star.
If Owen does join the production, he’ll be welcomed by a cast that includes the aforementioned Kinnaman, along with Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, and Jackie Earle Haley. Brazilian director Jose Padilha has been tasked with helming the project from a script by Nick Schenk, James Vanderbilt, and Joshua Zeturner.
RoboCop will hit theaters August 9th, 2013.
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Source: Deadline
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What?! No! I wanted Hugh Laurie to be the head of Omni-Corp! He would have been perfect for the role. Clive Owen I can see playing a Clarence Boddicker kind of villain.
Agreed :]
Good choice. It was a bit weird to see Laurie in a villainous role.
i know this might sound crazy but……why not cast the villain to the old robocop? i mean, if clive owen passes it on, i mean, why not?
Yeah, Peter Weller would make a great Dick Jones now.
total recall remake was a flop,conan flopped chances are this will follow the same path.next thing u know will have speed remake.
With Ryan Gosling in lead and Bryan Cranston as the villain and Emma Stone as the bus Driver I guess :]
Pray 2 the heavens that doesn’t happen !
some suit in hollyweird will read your post on the speed remake and will totally go for it lol money in the bank.
yes,they´ve flopped but that has nothing to say if someone personaly liked it because they are good movies,not better or worser then the originals. too many does just look at their box-office records and decide to not watch it,because of it. i think laurie is good but since i´ve read the reactions from the fans yesterday and today i also think he is totally overrated(as much as i like his acting,but he is). and this reboot has a dreamcast,you know which actors i mean and today another great one has come to the cast. i think people dramatize those rebooted movies,go watch it and if you don´t like it,then go watch the original.
Clive Owen would be terrific. And he’d get me to the theater to see it, rather than waiting for it on DVD.
I haven’t seen anything Clive Owen’s been in since “Sin City”.
I wonder if he would have made a good Bond. There was buzz after he did “The Croupier” that he might be a future 007.
Actually, scratch that. I saw him in “Children Of Men”. Which was awesome.
Clive would be better as the new Clarence Boddicker if he’s going to be in the new movie.
yeah he would be good, but i think they should find a younger lesser known actor to play the Clarence boddicker role. In a movie with big names like this, it needs to be spread out evenly, which is why Clive Owen is better fit as the CEO -Dick jones character. Since Kinnaman is the young, new actor on the scene, the villian who does the dirty work in the streets should be on the same calliber as the lead. IMO
I wonder why they keep making remakes of truly iconic films – I mean, it´s the style of Mr. Verhoeven which made Robocop and all his other films unique.
There is absolutely no chance to re-create the same “spirit” again, as 1:1 remakes have shown.
Why don´t they just re-run some classic movies on a larger scale, so that younger generations also get the pleasure to see the originals not only on small “home cinema” screens, but also in movie theaters?
Because a lot of the older movies have a pacing no one would want to see. Seriously. Go back and watch some of them. Halloween is one of the biggest offenders in my opinion. But I understand the point.
????????????? (O.O)
The original “Halloween” (you know…the GOOD one) is infinitely better than that piece of dung they tried to foist on the masses.
I believe the real offender was Alice Cooper…isn’t he the cad who put out the updated version and its equally atrocious sequel?
Rob Zombie. Alice had nothing to do with this…
YES…Rob Zombie. Thank you…I KNEW that sounded really off when I typed it in my initial comment. That’s why I moved it to my follow-up comment. I just couldn’t remember the person’s name.
Apologies to the Alice Cooper fans out there…
“b****ez leave”
lol @ Ben! perfect.
Boddiker had some of the best villain one-liners in movie history!