Neill Blomkamp to Direct RoboCop Returns for MGM!



Unlike the previous RoboCop remake from 2014, the new film will be a direct sequel to the original based on an unused RoboCop 2 screenplay by original writers Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, with rewrites by Justin Rhodes.

"The original definitely had a massive effect on me as a kid,” Blomkamp stated. “I loved it then and it remains a classic in the end of 20th Century sci-fi catalog, with real meaning under the surface. Hopefully that is something we can get closer to in making of a sequel. That is my goal here. What I connected to as a kid has evolved over time. At first, the consumerism, materialism and Reaganomics, that ’80s theme of America on steroids, came through most strongly. But as I’ve gotten older, the part that really resonated with me is identity, and the search for identity. As long as the human component is there, a good story can work in any time period, it’s not locked into a specific place in history. What’s so cool about ‘RoboCop’ is that like good westerns, sci-fi films and dramas, the human connection is really important to a story well told. What draws me now is someone searching for their lost identity, taken away at the hands of people who are benefiting from it, and seeing his memory jogged by events. That is most captivating. The other thing I am excited by is the chance to work again with Justin Rhodes. He has added elements that are pretty awesome, to a sequel that was set in the world of Verhoeven. This is a movie I would love to watch.”

“Verhoeven felt at the time that making one would be de classe and he wasn’t interested in the politics of a sequel,” Neumeier said of why their RoboCop 2 never happened. “Then, the writers strike came along in 1988 and we were force majeured off the project. They brought in Frank Miller on a waiver. He wrote a draft and then another with Walon Green, and it got made by Irvin Kershner, who directed ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’ I went off and did ‘Starship Troopers’ with Paul.Right when Trump was about to be elected president, [MGM president Jon Glickman] called me and said, ‘Did you actually predict in your sequel script that a reality star would run for president and win?’ We had. So Mike and I wrote a draft and gave one interview in Barbados and I think the only person who read it was Neill Blomkamp, and that set this in motion.”

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/new...eturns-for-mgm