Remakewatch- ‘Robocop,’ ‘Straw Dogs,’ ‘The Crow’ Given New Faces

-In a red carpet interview with MTV, Darren Aronofsky spilled some beans on his mooted “Robocop” remake. “The thing that’s exciting for a filmmaker like me about [“RoboCop”] is that it’s not as iconic as some of the other titles out there, so there’s room to do stuff with it,” he says, which we could’ve sworn was not the case, since the original ideas and visual concept of Robocop remained in place through three movies and several spinoff comics and TV specials. Still, he’s operating with a clean slate, he says, more specifically refusing to confirm a likely Peter Weller cameo. [MTV]

-In an interview to promote his new sci-fi thriller “Knowing,” director Alex Proyas shared some insights on the proposed remake of his first major film, “The Crow,” which he is not involved with. “I think it’s kind of premature, really,” says Proyas. “It’s seems like THE CROW is only like 15 years old maybe. It’s seems, early. (laughs) I always thought that remakes, you shouldn’t be given license to remake something for at least 25 years. I don’t know. It just seems kind of odd to me. Just re-release the original movie.” Valid point, Mr. Proyas, though “The Crow” isn’t exactly what we’d call a movie meriting a re-release. [JoBlo]

-We missed this the first time around, and probably just chalked it up to a bad dream, but tentative plans are still underway for serious-minded socially-aware hack Rod Lurie (“The Contender,” “Nothing But The Truth”) to remake Sam Peckinpah’s peerless “Straw Dogs.” The former movie critic calls the untouchable classic a “good, not great” film, and has spoken at length about altering the famous rape scene to ensure that the female lead would not share a smile with her attackers, robbing the troubling, controversial original film of one of its most loaded moments, and probably indicative of a far more simpleminded approach. Lurie expands on his initial ideas in this interview, where he reveals one of his desires is to capitalize on a “strong commercial element,” because everywhere you go, the kids can’t stop talkin’ “Straw Dogs!” [ComingSoon]