‘RoboCop’ director says the reboot is “hell”

Those high hopes I had for the RoboCop reboot are starting to dwindle. On top of a report yesterday that Hugh Laurie won't be playing the lead villian — mainly because he never officially signed on — it appears that director Jose Padilha finds working on the film to be "hell." Even though the film doesn't begin shooting until next month, the experience has already been difficult.

Padilha's close friend, as well as Brazilian filmmaker, Fernando Meirelles said to Cinemacom Rapadura:

I talked to Jose 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.

This doesn't sound like good news at all. If nine out of 10 of the director's ideas are cut, why did MGM hire him? It doesn't make any sense. I wonder if any of the other big names will jump ship. Currently, the all-star cast includes Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Abbie Cornish, Jay Baruchel, Michael K. Williams and Samuel L. Jackson.

As always, the source for this is a friend. It's not from Padilha, so we need to take it with a grain of salt. Also, it was translated to English, so translation could be partly responsible for the tone, but nevertheless, the sentiment is there. The director is not having a good experience. Here's to hoping RoboCop doesn't turn out to be another dud reboot/remake.

RoboCop is set to open in theaters August 9, 2013.

You can follow Movies and Culture Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ

[Source: Total Film and ScreenCrush]