Jose Padilha re-imagines RoboCop

Director José Padilha isn’t interested in simply rebooting the classic movie RoboCop for modern audiences.

No, Padilha wants to offer viewers a new perspective on the human-turned-machine by picking up where Paul Verhoeven left off with Detroit cop James Murphy, played by the inimitable Peter Weller.

Padilha said he believes the “sharpness and political tone” of RoboCop is urgently needed in today’s world, but emphasized he would not be directing a “repeat” of what Verhoeven already did so “clearly and strongly.”

“Instead I [will] try to make a film that addresses topics Verhoeven [left untouched,” Padilha told the Norwegian-based Film 1.

“[For example], if you are a man [who] changes into a robot, how do you do that?”



The director added that he was focused on a number of new topics, such as the transformation from human to robot, the concept of free will, as well as the implications of its rather uncermonious loss.

Padilha is set to helm a RoboCop script penned by Josh Zetumer, who previously worked on the unproduced Dune remake and the fourth Bourne film.