"Get off my lawn!" That was probably one of the most memorable movie lines of 2008 (aside from "Let me put a smile on that face" from "The Dark Knight") and MGM are hoping "Gran Torino" scribe Nick Schenk can bring some of that badass grit to their forever developing "RoboCop" reboot.
The writer has been hired to give a rewrite presumably to the script Josh Zetumer (unmade "Bourne 4" and "Dune" screenplays) wrote last year. And that's about it really. Not much has been heard about the film in a while other than some wishlist type ideas being thrown around for the lead ranging from Chris Pine to Michael Fassbender. Jose Padilha, director of the Brazilian box office sensation "Elite Squad" movies is still at the helm and MGM are hoping that if the script is tight, they can start shooting this summer.
Of course, that would mean finding a leading man to step into Peter Weller's shoes, so we presume some phone calls are being made. All this to say, "RoboCop" is still moving, Paul Verhoeven's awesome version be damned. But Padilha is no slouch and has certainly shown he can direct action, so we're optimistic this new take can be distinct and stand on its own. [THR]
Uh-oh.
Gran Torino might just have been the worst screenplay I'd ever seen tackled by a 'quality' director.
'Get off my lawn' is an old cliche anyway, it's not Schenk's line.