A few weeks back it leaked that Hugh Laurie was in negotiations to play the lead villain in that RoboCop remake MGM and Sony insist on bringing into the world. And, truthfully, the thought of Laurie, finally free of House and his TV work schedule, hamming it up in a big-budget popcorn flick had me giddy. The guy deserves a few big-screen paycheck roles, and Laurie's just the caliber of actor who could take a flimsy part in a possibly ill-advised remake and spin it into guilty-pleasure gold. And he wasn't the only one in the cast who could work that kind of magic. No less than Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Earle Haley and Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar comin'!) have also been cast in the new RoboCop, which pretty much makes this thing must-see, no matter how futile remaking the 1987 action masterpiece seems in theory.
But then, suddenly, Laurie was out. Well, that sucks, I thought. But now the studio has gone and replaced him with no less than Michael Goddamn Keaton! Hell, that's even better than Laurie! I love Keaton like I love my own children, and the dude has been criminally underused by everyone but Pixar in recent years. I need more Michael Keaton in my life, and if a RoboCop remake is what it takes to get it … well, then I'll take one ticket to RoboCop please. Although now I kind of wish that Keaton would drop out too and that he and Laurie would go off and shoot a buddy comedy together. I'd pay New York 3D prices for a ticket to that movie!
But if it's got to be RoboCop, then it's got to be RoboCop. Let's just hope the exposure leads to a full rejuvenation of Keaton's career. Were that to happen. this is one remake that would be worth it, no matter how shitty the final product.
