The original RoboCop is one of those timeless classics, easily one of the best sci-fi films of the 1980s, that appears to have been such a perfect storm of a movie that recreating its success has been close to impossible. The movie’s own sequels failed to recapture Paul Verhoeven's magic, and an attempted RoboCop reboot flopped. Still, it’s only a matter of time before Hollywood tries again, and when they do, maybe they should just call Peter Weller.
Peter Weller may be 77 years old but he’s not discounting a return to the RoboCop franchise. When asked by TMZ if he would be willing to play Murphy again in some sort of reboot, the actor was very honest in his response. Of course, he’d do a reboot, as long as he gets paid well and doesn’t have to travel someplace he doesn’t want to go. Weller said…
I would do anything if the script is good and the money is right. As Robert Mitchum says, and I don’t shoot at night, and where’s it gonna be shot? I ain’t going to North Korea to shoot it. But, if it’s a good deal, I’ll do it.
Certain movies and movie characters become so sacred to fans that it can be really easy to forget that the actors behind them are professionals doing a job. Weller does say that the script would have to be good, so he’s not going to show up just because somebody offered to pay him a lot. But at the end of the day, if a project does everything he needs of it, why wouldn't he do it?
Following the ill-fated RoboCop reboot, there was a brief attempt to revive the original franchise. A movie called RoboCop Returns was written by Ed Neumeier, the same writer who penned the script for the original film. It would have come at the franchise in a similar fashion to the recent Halloween trilogy, which were sequels to the original film, discounted all other sequels. There was interest in bringing Weller back but he turned it down, so clearly he won't just make any movie.
Having said that, the recent video game RoboCop: Rogue City, based on the original franchise, which saw Weller return to voice RoboCop, has been a solid hit, so maybe the idea of bringing the character back has some merit.
The more likely scenario would probably be some sort of legacy sequel that was set in the universe of the original RoboCop that saw Weller return as the original character. Honestly, such an idea asks some very interesting questions. Does RoboCop age?
Externally, he’s mostly a machine but he does have some biological components. What happens when the human parts of him start to age? Those parts can’t be replaced like the machine parts can. Would he start to lose what’s left of his human components and become more machine? Honestly, the more I think about this, the more I feel like there might be an idea here. Somebody, see if Peter Weller is up for it.
