SDCC 2013: RoboCop Panel Live Blog
After some alleged bumps in the road during production and a release date shift, RoboCop is finally making its way into theaters on February 7, 2014, and in honor of the upcoming release, Sony is bringing it to Hall H for San Diego Comic Con.
Well have all the latest as it comes in, so dont forget to keep refreshing this post to ensure youre following along in real time as the panel progresses.
5:09 The panel opens with a clip a message from Samuel L. Jackson. Its commercial for robots patrolling the streets in Teran. Hes furious that Americans are Robophobic and then we cut to material in the states with Michael Keatons character whos having a discussion about these very robots. Then it jump back to Teran where the seemingly organized and successful situation blows up in Jacksons face with the robots firing at innocent civilians. Before concluding, the piece jumps back to Keaton who admits that the robots feel nothing. Even if they were to murder an innocent, theyd feel nothing.
5:13 Weve got director Jose Padilha and stars Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, and Samuel L. Jackson on stage.
5:15 Keaton calls his character the ultimate pragmatist.
5:16 Jackson calls Pat Novack Rush Sharpton, a guy with an opinion who isnt afraid to state it and will do whatever he has to to get people to believe it.
5:17 Kinnaman says his character doesnt die. Hes amused from the throat down. Over the course of the film he has an internal battle with the AI and his own soul or humanity. That was the challenge for Kinnamn.
5:17 Cornish says the idea of love, marriage, and having a child ground the film. She says it was kind of nice to play a woman who really caught for a man.
5:18 Footage time! Costner says people want a product with a conscience, something that knows what its like to be human. Alex Murphys car alarm goes off and explodes with him nearby. Then it cuts to Keatons Raymond Sellars saying, Were gonna put a man inside a machine. Alex goes into surgery and Gary Oldmans character explains that if he survives, hell be confined to a wheel chair. From there, we go back to Keaton whos helping design the look of the robot. The Alex/RoboCop comes in its much like the original design, but sleeker and black with glowing red eyes. Theres a black and white shot, seemingly from RoboCops perspective, of cops invading a hallway and loads of heat sensor imagery. Eventually Cornishs Ellen Murphy stops RoboCop and insists that she knows Alex is still inside. A doctor character notes, Somehow hes overriding the systems priority. A powerful trailer!
5:25 Its time for the audience Q & A. Padilha points out that if a cop shoots an innocent victim, that cop can be taken to court and/or reprimanded, but a robot cant be held accountable.
5:27 Jackson says hes here to juice us up and get us pumped for the release of the film.
5:28 Keaton says technically his character isnt a villain, rather an antagonist. He calls the role complex because he didnt want him to be a cliche bad guy. He calls him mentally healthy, but whether you agree with him or not is another issue.
5:30 Last question. Was the purpose of the story to show that technology should be feared? Padilha says that at the end of the day, you should never fear the gun, but the guy holding the gun and its similar with technology. But he also points out that that means we should be concerned about technology and that his movie addresses this concept in a big and fun way. He also says technology will meet living beings soon enough. More and more we have interventions with people putting chips in brains to recover vision, so RoboCop is in a prime position to address that.
By Perri Nemiroff