Movies
About All This ‘RoboCop’ Business…
There’s a lot of chatter today regarding some comments director Jose Padilha supposedly made about MGM’s remake of Robocop. Comments (via Screen Crush) that would indicate the film is in some trouble. The only problem is that they’re completely out of context.
Padilha reportedly confided in fellow filmmaker Fernando Meirelles (City Of God) and Meirelles turned around and spoke with South American web site Cinemacom Rapadura. He said, “I talked to José Padilha for a week by phone. He will begin filming Robocop. He is saying that it is the worst experience. For every 10 ideas he has, 9 are cut. Whatever he wants, he has to fight. “This is hell here,” he told me. “The film will be good, but I never suffered so much and do not want to do it again.” He is bitter, but it’s a fighter.”
It’s worth mentioning that this quote had to be translated from Portugese into English (something Screen Crush acknowledges). It’s also not from Padilha himself so I think it’s a bit premature for everyone – lots of sites have picked this up and reported it with varying degrees of armchair doomsday rhetoric – to be ringing the death knell here. No one knows what the tone of this conversation was. I have no vested interest in this either way. I’m not even particularly convinced that a remake of RoboCop is a good idea at all. I just don’t think that this kind of interview means anything one way or the other. Also – of course it’s stressful! This is a big budget studio remake, they’re not known as beacons of light for the creative process. Head inside for more…
To clarify one more thing, that same report (and every other website that picked it up) mentions a “scathing review” of Josh Zetumer’s script. It’s true that Drew McWeeny (a writer I like) took to Twitter to voice his intense displeasure with the draft. But it’s not exactly the review that brought Hollywood to its knees. I’ve also heard from other sources that the script is “good” (not great). So take from that what you will.
Is RoboCop in trouble? I have no idea. Neither does anyone else I’ve read online today. I think it’s strange that this kind of chatter is going this far this early. In the meantime, I’m wondering if Meirelles think’s he’s done his buddy any favors by giving out that info.
The film is set to start shooting in Toronto next month. Maybe we’ll know more then. Sony is distributing and has set an August 9, 2013 domestic release date.
The killer tomatoes are back in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence, and the offiical poster for the brand new movie has been unleashed tonight.
Additionally, we’ve learned that the film’s theatrical release is set for this August, with a panel set for San Diego Comic-Con this month featuring the world premiere of the trailer.
While you wait, check out the official poster down below.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence will be released in select cities across the US beginning August 7th in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Diego, and others, and expanding to further locations throughout the month.
The fifth installment in the horror-comedy franchise pits the eternal power of nature against AI’s best and brightest.
In Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence, a young biotech prodigy develops a revolutionary genetically engineered vegetable designed to solve humanity’s problems. But when the experiment spirals out of control, it unleashes a new generation of killer tomatoes, setting the stage for another outrageous chapter in the long-running cult franchise.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes co-creators Costa Dillon and J. Stephen Peace return to write and executive produce. David Ferino directs.
The film features an ensemble cast led by franchise icon John Astin (The Addams Family), reprising his role as Professor Gangreen, comedy legend David Koechner (Anchorman), Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), horror favorite Catherine Corcoran (Terrifier), comedy veteran Dan Bakkedahl (Veep), Myrna Velasco (Star Wars Resistance), Vernée Watson (Shrinking, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), and Paul Bates (Coming to America).
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes launched in 1979, followed by 1988’s Return of the Killer Tomatoes, 1991’s Killer Tomatoes Strike Back, and 1992’s Killer Tomatoes Eat France.
The franchise also spawned an animated series in 1990.
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