Joel Kinnaman has been confirmed as the star of the upcoming RoboCop remake, after being linked to the title role more than a week ago.

The actor, best known for his role in the US version of The Killing, will play officer Alex Murphy as well as his metal-suited crimefighting counterpart.

If you haven't seen him in The Killing, chances are you've caught him in a background role in the likes of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Safe House or The Darkest Hour.

His best known movie in his native Sweden is possibly Snabba Cash (Easy Money), which was directed by Safe House's Daniel Espinosa. Kinnaman will be seen in Snabba Cash II later this year.

While we haven't quite seen enough of Kinnaman to judge how good he'll be in the role, he's certainly got the striking jawline that the role requires.

He'll be following in the footsteps of Peter Weller, who played RoboCop in the first two movies in the series.

Kinnaman was shortlisted for the lead role in Thor, so it looks like this'll be his first shot at a blockbuster breakout. Source: www.totalfilm.com

RoboCop lead offered to The Killing's Joel Kinnaman [25th February 2012 00:00:00]

Joel Kinnaman, best known for his role in the US version of The Killing, has been offered the lead role in another remake: Jose Padhila's reboot of RoboCop.

Michael Fassbender has been linked to the RoboCop role for some time, although it seems as if he never officially entered talks for the role.

Kinnaman recently signed on to Arthur & Lancelot (playing the latter), and he has previously had small background roles in some fairly big movies (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Safe House, The Darkest Hour).

While we haven't quite seen enough of Kinnaman to assess his leading man potential, his name won't exactly be a box office draw.

Without the popularity of a Fassbender-type, it's difficult to know if audiences will accept a remake of an '80s movie that still plays exceptionally well today.

RoboCop (the remake) is currently awaiting a release date, which we expect to find out once a star is locked in place. Source: www.totalfilm.com

RoboCop remake gets a screenwriter [31st January 2012 18:00:00]

Work on the forthcoming RoboCop reboot continues to move forward, with MGM announcing that Gran Torino screenwriter Nick Schenk has signed on to write the script.

One of a raft of classic properties that MGM is seeking to revive (see this week's news story about Joe Carnahan's Death Wish revamp), RoboCop will be directed by Jose Padilha, who has outlined his plan to delve deeper into how Alex Murphy became a cyborg.

"I have my take on it," Padilha told Superhero Hype, "And I can tell you this: In the first RoboCop, Alex Murphy is shot, gunned down, then you see some hospitals and stuff and then you cut to him as RoboCop. My movie is between those two cuts."

"How do you make RoboCop?" he continues. " How do you slowly bring a guy to be a robot? How do you actually take humanity out of someone and how do you program a brain, so to speak, and how does that affect an individual?"

No further casting news has been released as yet, but rumours linking Michael Fassbender to the project refuse to go away. We're yet to be convinced by the need to reboot RoboCop, but if Fassbender were attached, we'd admit to having our interest piqued.

Production is set to begin later this year, with RoboCop is expected to open at some point in 2013. Source: www.totalfilm.com

RoboCop reboot won't use Aronofsky's script [12th October 2011 08:12:38]

Director Jos� Padilha (Elite Squad) has revealed that the RoboCop film he's preparing won't be based on Darren Aronofsky's version of the film.

"I haven't read Aronofsky's script," Padilha told Crave Online, adding some words of praise for his fellow director to make it clear that's not a slur.

"Aronofsky is a great director. I love his films. I am very proud because I saw Pi in the opening Sundance screening and I loved it. So Aronofsky's great."

Padilha does admit to knowing the plot though and says his film won't follow the same path.

"I have my own take on RoboCop. I know what his take was and it's totally different. It's a different thing, different kind of film, even different period in time so I haven't read his previous work," he said, in case you were in any doubt about scripts he may or may not have read.

He also confronted the rumours - which, to be fair, he started - of Michael Fassbender or Chris Pine playing OCP officer Alex Murphy.

"I heard the Fassbender casting rumours. I haven't discussed really casting. What happened was Elite Squad 2 opened in Holland, so a journalist from Holland I spoke with wanted to know who's going to be RoboCop because Verhoeven is Dutch. So I said there are many great American actors, for instance Fassbender, Chris Pine and I named a few. Then the web does the rest," he explained.

Taylor Lautner is RoboCop! (Well, he's got the right kind of acting style). There, we've completed our web obligations. Now let's see the film world do the rest. Source: www.totalfilm.com

Michael Fassbender is first choice for RoboCop remake [25th September 2011 07:49:47]

Michael Fassbender isn't showing any signs that he'll loosen his stranglehold on brooding leading man roles anytime soon: director Jos� Padilha has stated he'd like the Fass for his RoboCop remake.

In an interview on Brazilian TV to promote Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within, Padilha spoke about his take on the future of law enforcement.

Sadly we don't understand Portuguese, but the guys over at Bleeding Cool were able to get a translation of the transcript.

Here are Padilha's comments in full:

"I'll film RoboCop. I'm indeed writing the script, the writer is here with me in Rio, we've spent over the last 15 days working together, refining the script.

"I'll be travelling this Friday back to LA, bringing this new version to discuss with the studio, and maybe begin with the casting, selecting actors? and the idea is to begin filming in February ? February or March. That's the idea, y'know, we never know in the American movie industry. We're just delivering the project, but also we depend on the schedule of the actors? it's tough.

"I can't talk yet, it's too early to speak, but there are some actors I like. I really like the Fassbender, I'd like to talk to him ? I'll talk to him. There's a possibility? and there's a lot of other great actors that would play RoboCop. But that's the idea, to film around January, February, March."

Getting Fassbender onboard probably won't be the easiest of undertakings: his schedule has been pretty packed of late, and he'll soon be starring in Brendan Gleeson's directorial debut At Swim-Two-Birds.

There's always the possibility he'll be called up for an X-Men: First Class sequel too, and will he want to don another metal helmet?

We'll probably start to hear a lot more casting rumours once the script is completed, but it's rare for a director to be so open about who they want at such an early stage.

Fassbender would no doubt make a pretty damn cool Alex Murphy/RoboCop, but then he'd make a pretty damn cool anything. Source: www.totalfilm.com