According to Deadline, Michael Keaton will now play the villain in director Jose Padilha’s upcoming remake of RoboCop. Hugh Laurie was expected to get the part at first, but after talks fell through, the studio quickly decided to go with Keaton in order to be ready for a fall shoot.
In a statement about Keaton’s casting, Padilha said, “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. It is thrilling that everything has come together to bring this innovative new vision of RoboCop to life. We’ve got a great script, a great cast, some killer ED-209’s and I can’t wait to get Alex Murphy back on the streets.”
Thankfully Padilha has changed his tone from when he recently said working on the movie was “hell." Aside from that behind-the-scenes drama, Keaton will be joining a solid cast that includes Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Joel Kinnaman, and Jackie Earle Hayley.
RoboCop will hit theaters on August 9, 2013.
[via Deadline]
