The remake of Robocop is currently coming together for a potential September start date, and a targeted summer 2013 release.
Joel Kinnaman from the Killing is playing the title role, and Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson are also onboard to star. Neither Jackson or Oldman are playing the villain in Robocop, although that would be an easy assumption to make. The villain role is actually being offered to Hugh Laurie from House.
It’s not confirmed yet, but as Cinema Blend tells us, Laurie is indeed up to play the villain. Nobody knows if this Robocop is close to the original, but if it is, he would be the evil head of Omni Corp.
As Blend writes, “We all know Laurie is perfectly good at being mean, so that should be no challenge if he puts on his villain face for this film. Do you think he’ll fit in the Robocop world of dystopian future Detroit?”
Sure, why not? And indeed, this remake is building a very promising cast.
Again, like they say in Hollywood, Laurie is “in talks” for the role, much like Philip Seymour Hoffman has been offered a role in Catching Fire, but there’s no word yet if he’s going to do it or not.
Since breaking through in Boogie Nights, Hoffman has had a hell of a career, including an Academy Award for playing the title role in Capote.
Plus, Hoffman has been in almost every movie written and directed by Boogie Nights auteur Paul Thomas Anderson, and he will also star in Anderson’s The Master, where he plays an L. Ron Hubbard style figure who founds his own religion, a la Scientology.
Unfortunately, there’s no word yet whether Hoffman will take the role or not, but his role in Catching Fire would be Plutarch Heavensbee, who is the Head Game maker.
This would certainly be a huge movie for Hoffman, but he’s had a fine career without doing too much blockbuster work, in fact, he just finished up on Broadway playing Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. But there’s also no doubt he’d be a fine addition to the Hunger Games sequel as well.
