Recently, Comicbook.com attended a press conference for the upcoming film RoboCop, where Joel Kinnaman and Abbie Cornish, the stars who play Alex and Clara Murphy, talked about their roles in the film.Kinnaman explained a bit about what went through his mind when he was offered the role of such an iconic character.”My initial reaction was that I might see that in movie theaters, but I don’t think it’s a great fit for me,” said Kinnaman, “at least where I was at the time. But then I found out that José Padilha was going to direct it…and that completely changed my perspective of what the possibilities of the remake could be. There’s a lot of bad reasons why you might want to make a remake, but there are some good ones and when I heard that José was going to direct it I was sure it was one of the good ones. When I sat down with José and he told me the vision of the story he wanted to tell, using the concept of RoboCop, I thought it was a brilliant idea.”Kinnaman also expounded on what made RoboCop a film worth remaking.”I think its human nature that we retell our favorite stories in new ways,” said Kinnaman. “In this case… in 1987, it was a futuristic vision that felt very much like fantasy, and an incredible film. But in 2013, technology has moved at such an exponential curve that I don’t think, in 1987, you could have imagined where we’d be right now. For us, where society has come today, the concept of RoboCop really made sense to revisit. It was one of those great opportunities where you could meld a big scale, exciting action movie and still have to opportunity to talk about some big philosophical and political questions.”Cornish talked about her memories of the original film, what it meant for her to be cast in the new film, and Clara Murphy’s expanded role in the remake.”RoboCop, for me, was a very nostalgic film from my childhood,” said Cornish. “I grew up with brothers, so we had it on VHS and we watched that VHS until it shredded itself and it couldn’t be watched anymore. So, when I heard that RoboCop was being remade, I instantly was interested. And then I heard that José Padilha was directing it, so I had a José Padilha movie marathon night where I watched Elite Squad, Elite Squad 2, and Bus 174 and emailed him after that. It was an amazing night, I was still up when the sun came up, and I thought this is an extremely talented director that it would be an honor to work with. Then I heard Gary Oldman, who I’ve respected and admired forever, and Michael Keaton, and Joel Kinnaman was playing RoboCop, which I thought was great casting, and Samuel L. Jackson. To be honest, this film, for me, is the most fun I’ve ever had on a film and I’ve learned the most. There were moments on set when I’d rap, and I’d stay on set and I learned a lot watching [Padilha] direct.”I took the role without ever reading a script. It was pitched to me as being about 4 or 5 scenes. I sent an audition tape and Skyped with José, and then literally jumped up and down around the house and called mom and dad and all of my brothers and sisters. It was a very excited thing for me, to be cast in this role. What was lovely was that, as the film developed, Clara Murphy developed and the family element developed and I think, for José, he felt that it was important to ground Alex Murphy with a home and a family and loving wife and a beautiful son…for his journey not to be just about revenge.”RoboCop comes to theaters February 12, 2014.
