RoboCop Movie Rumored to Not Include Peter Weller

With 2014’s RoboCop reboot failing to impress audiences or critics, fans are primed to see the series make a comeback with RoboCop Returns from director Neill Blomkamp. Unfortunately, original star Peter Weller is reportedly uninterested in getting involved with the film.

According to SuperBroMovies, Weller’s representatives claimed the actor has no interest in joining the new film, which is still in its early stages of development. No reason was given for his disinterest, though with Weller being 71 years old, it’s possible that taking on such a physically intense role could be a deterrent.

This will surely come as a disappointment to many fans hoping to see Weller reprise his role as Alex Murphy, especially after Blomkamp teased earlier this year that he hoped to tap Weller for the new film.

For more than 30 years, RoboCop has been considered a seminal sci-fi action film whose over-the-top special effects and violence helped define an entire decade. The film became such a success that it earned two sequels, the 2014 reboot, a TV series, and comic books.

The new film will be based on a script originally written by Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, who wrote the original film, with this script having been written years ago and served as a direct continuation of the original film. Justin Rhodes will be rewriting Neumeier and Miner’s original script.

Neumeier revealed earlier this year what his approach to the sequel was.

“Well, here’s what I’ll say. We’re not supposed to say too much,” the writer admitted to Zeitgeist Entertainment Magazine. “There’s been a bunch of other RoboCop movies and there was recently a remake and I would say this would be kind of going back to the old RoboCop we all love and starting there and going forward. So it’s a continuation really of the first movie. In my mind. So it’s a little bit more of the old school thing.”

The film was created at a time when CGI was beginning to replace practical effects, making the film one of the last great sci-fi adventures of the ’80s. The development of the film was also directly tied to the time period, according to Neumeier.

“I think it was my sense of humor. It was sort of how I look at things and way, way back in the 1980s when I was writing this, you were supposed to write action movies that were exciting, but you weren’t really supposed to write action movies that were funny or satirical and I always thought you could do that,” the writer revealed of the film’s origins. “In the ’80s, that was kind of a satire about corporate America and a little bit about what was going on in law enforcement and policing and stuff like that. Those were topics that I thought I could write about in a fun way and luckily I hooked up with a bunch of talented people and the movie turned out really well.”

Stay tuned for details on RoboCop Returns.

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