Early in his career Gary Oldman was regularly cast as a madman, and we are forever thankful for that, but in recent years he has made a very interesting career shift. Now it's more likely that we see him in strong, hero type roles, rather than parts as the villain. This is best seen in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, but he also served that purpose in the Harry Potter films and Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy. Now he's bringing that part of himself to the RoboCop franchise.
THR has learned that Oldman is the second actor to be cast in the upcoming remake of RoboCop. It was previously announced that Joel Kinnaman will be playing the title role, originated by Peter Weller. Oldman has been cast as Norton, the scientist responsible for RoboCop's construction who "finds himself torn between the ideals of the machine trying to rediscover its humanity and the callous needs of a corporation." The plot of the film, of course, follows a police man who is brutally murdered and then brought back as a cyborg. Jose Padilha is helming the film, which doesn't currently have a start date for production, but is hoping to have a finished product by summer 2013. Oldman was not one of the actors rumored in the report from last month.
As much as I like Oldman playing the sage, does anyone else wish that he were playing Clarence J. Boddicker (first played by Kurtwood Smith) instead? I'm happy to hear that he's involved with the movie, but I will forever wonder what it could have been like instead.
