It hasn’t been an easy ride, finding an OCP executive to make life hell for Alex Murphy. Hugh Laurie was in the running at one point to take on that role, before he decided to give it a skip, leaving Clive Owen to possibly step up and take over.
But with Owen also out of the running, it looks like director José Padilha has finally found his white collar villain, in the form of Batman himself, Michael Keaton.
Cinema Blend has reported that Keaton will indeed take on the role of the stupendously rich Omni Corp CEO, the man responsible for intitiating the Robocop project and choosing Alex Murphy as the first candidate to receive his three prime directives upgrade. And that secret fourth one. Probably.
José Padilha released the following statement regarding the news, saying “Michael is the final addition to the amazing cast we have assembled for this film and it is so great to have the last puzzle piece in place.”
Keaton hasn’t exactly been in the movie circles as of late, as his last big screen role was in The Other Guys, where he played a beleagured police chief who offered advice based on stolen REO Speedwagon lyrics. And despite the fact that Padilha has been in hell regarding the production of this reboot, at least he’s managed to nail a pretty rock-solid cast for it so far.
Bringing Keaton on board is great move, as the man most certainly knows how to play a villain, much like he did back in 1998 for Desperate Measures.
Production finally kicks off next month for the film, for a 2013 release.
Last Updated: August 30, 2012
Kervyn Cloete
August 30, 2012 at 10:11
Since when have you seen a director give a comment like that just on a casting announcement? I think Padilha and WB are doing damage control after the story leaked that Padilha felt that he was in hell making this film.
James Francis
August 30, 2012 at 13:21
Good point.
James Francis
August 30, 2012 at 13:22
Damnit, I really want Michael Keaton’s career to come back to life. But the Robocop remake is coming across as a monstrosity…