Nick Schenk is the newest writer to walk the RoboCop beat for MGM. The studio has hired the Gran Torino scripter to work on their planned relaunch of the planned science-fiction action franchise. Schenk has previously worked with RoboCop reboot director Jose Padilha on the latter’s thriller Tri-Border.
MGM has been developing a RoboCop reboot for almost five years now. The first director attached to the project was Darren Aronofsky who had David Self working on the screenplay. Last March, Padilha replaced Aronofsky in the director’s chair and a short while later it was announced that Joshua Zetumer had assumed screenwriting duties. It is not known if Schenk will be working from Zetumer’s draft or starting fresh.
MGM is hoping to get the film in front of cameras by this summer, though with no finalized screenplay and no actors attached to the project even as nebulous a start time as this seems to be rather hopeful.
The original 1987 RoboCop was a great mixture of adventure and social satire courtesy of director Paul Verhoeven, a mixture that two subsequent sequels, numerous television incarnations and a couple of comic book series were never able to replicate. I have no idea whether or not this new big screen attempt is going to try and stick to the original’s thematic roots or if it is going to play things as just a straight-up action film. I hope that it actually tries to find its own voice rather than risk trying to emulate the original film.
Via Hollywood Reporter.
