Ahead of the latest issue of SFX magazine hitting shelves, here's a peek at the latest on the RoboCop reboot, courtesy of Joseph McCabe
Few things are met with as much ire by movie fans as remakes but as you'll discover in the new issue of SFX there's always potential in reconsidering even the most sacred of cows. Such as Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop .
You can read about José Padilha's new version, stomping into cinemas in February 2014, in issue 243 of SFX magazine, on sale tomorrow.
The remake is said to be "a critique of the automation of violence and fascism. The dehumanising of law enforcement, of soldiers" as well as "a comment about corporations" and surveillance, CCTV and drones. It boasts some heavyweight stars including Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L Jackson, but the role of Murphy is taken by actor Joel Kinnaman . This month he told Joseph McCabe , SFX 's West Coast US Editor: "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."
Kinnaman continues: "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."
Read more of this interview, plus exclusive behind-the-scenes insight from José Padilha, in issue 243 of SFX magazine on sale from Wednesday 11 December 2013.
