MGM has hired Brazilian director Jose Padilha to direct their planned relaunch of their Robocop franchise. MGM is hoping to spend about $80 million of the film, which will be part of the studio’s first slate of films following its recent emergence from bankruptcy.
Padilha has gained some interest from Hollywood thanks to the strength of his 2007 crime drama Elite Squad. The film’s sequel outgrossed Avatar, Shrek Forever and Alice In Wonderland at the Brazilian box office last year.
Darren Aronofski was originally developing the relaunch for MGM but his participation ended when the studio went into bankruptcy proceedings. More recently, the studio had talked to directors Robert Rodriguez and David Slade before giving the nod to Pedilha.
Padilha strikes me as a strong choice for a Robocop remake. His two Elite Squad movies deal with themes of police brutality and corruption, certainly themes that were touched upon in Paul Veerhoven’s 1987 original. Also, Padilha might be able to bring an outsider’s perspective of America and its system of law enforcement similar to what informed Veerhoven’s work on the film. The question remains will Padilha be able to manage the satiric tone of the original or would he even want to?
