CYBORGS, ANDROIDS AND MUTANTS
In Ridley Scott‘s highly anticipated ‘Alien’ themed flick Prometheus, Michael Fassbender plays an Android, now the actor discusses the possibility of playing half man, half machine in director José Padilha‘s upcoming Robocop reboot that is scheduled for a 2013 release.
There are those who are skeptical of a remake considering the popularity and cult status of Paul Verhoeven‘s original, however the themes of the classic action flick are what attracted the filmmaker to the project after Darren Aronofsky dropped out. The Brazilian director made a name for himself with his ‘Elite Squad’ flicks which touched upon similar themes of crime, corruption and an out of control society.
When IFC spoke with the director, he had this to say about the planned reboot and what’s drawn him to remake such iconic material:
‘RoboCop’ is a brilliant premise because the character is not a super-hero. He’s a man who’s been transformed by technology for certain purposes. And so that premise alone touches so many interesting subjects. What does it mean to be immersed in automated systems and deprived of free will? What does it mean to be used by corporations for certain purposes? How does the media spin things around to make certain interests accepted by the public? Those are all things you can see in the first ‘RoboCop,’ and those are all things that are coming closer and closer to being real. Science is taking us there. And so that premise alone is really interesting to me.
The internet rumor mill has long been speculating that Padilha has been considering Michael Fassbender to take over the role made famous by Peter Weller. While no decision has yet been made and other actors are still in line for the role – the director has said on a previous occasion that he thinks Fassbender would be a great candidate.
Although the actor hasn’t committed to anything, he’s keen to look at the script and sit down with the director – if he responds to what he reads, it’s something he could be interested in doing.
Christina Radish recently spoke with the actor and asked him if RoboCop is something he’d like to do:
You know, I’m always open. I’ll take a look at the script and sit down with the director and have a conversation. It’s not definitely like, “Oh, I’ve got to play RoboCop before I retire.” I don’t have that about anything… I just wait and see what comes up, and I’m always open to it. If I react to the script, then I’m up for anything.
Would he dread wearing a metal suit?:
No. It could be kind of fun. It could be kind of good to have a helmet that I could hide behind, for most of the film, too. That sounds kind of appealing.
In ‘X-Men: First Class’ Michael Fassbender also donned some cool headgear to complete his character transformation into Magneto. Despite the behind the scenes dramas, script issues and production overruns, the recent X-Men flick was generally well received by critics and fans. At this stage no word on whether a sequel has been green-lit, however he was also asked whether he’s looking forward to making another installment and if he knows when production might get underway.
… I’m looking forward to working with all those people again. We had a lot of fun. It was a great cast and a great crew. Hopefully, I’ll get in at ground level and start putting some ideas together myself, with James [McAvoy] and, hopefully, (director) Matthew [Vaughn], and we can see what happens next… I’m really interested to see what happens to Charles (James McAvoy), in the next one, and see how he becomes Professor X ‘cause we got to see Erik turn into Magneto, in the first one. It will be interesting to see who shaves Charles’ head. When he’s drunk one night, the mutants will go in there and shave his head and shave off his eyebrows. Maybe.
Michael Fassbender can be seen next in ‘A Dangerous Method’ opening November 23rd, and his sexual addiction drama ‘Shame’ December 2nd,2011.
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