Darren Aronofsky To Direct “Robocop” Remake?

There isn’t very much about the intended Robocop remake that has had me even a little bit excited…until now. The rumor currently going around that director Darren Aronofsky could possibly, maybe, hopefully, be the one to actually bring Robocop back to the masses has me thinking that I’d actually buy a ticket.

Aronofsky isn’t exactly a household name, but he’s well known to those of us who follow movies. He first came to prominence with a trippy little film called Pi and then followed that up with Requiem for a Dream and the critically loved but badly marketed The Fountain.

Aronofsky might seem an odd choice at first to those who think of Robocop as being a tame sort of kiddy movie, but Robocop was anything but a kid’s movie when it first came out. Paul Verhoeven who directed the original had to do some massive cutting on the film to get it down to an R-rating - it was originally rated X for its intense violence. Aronofsky would be a perfect choice to bring a dark edge to the film - something I think would be imperative to make the film work in today’s world.

Aronofsky himself is heavily in demand so I don’t know how true the rumors actually are. He just wrapped on a movie called The Wrestler which is supposed to be a sort of Rocky for the wrestling world and he’s set to shoot The Fighter with Brad Pitt and Mark Wahlberg in September. Of course, that right there gives us an indication that the Robocop rumor might not have much juice. MGM wants to have Robocop in theaters by 2010 so they’d need to get started on it pretty quickly. I just don’t know if Aronofsky would have the time.

Still, it’s fun to consider the possibility of what an Aronofsky Robocop would look and feel like and I have to say I think it could be pretty darn cool. Without someone like Aronofsky at the helm I just don’t know if I care to see a Robocop remake or not. Probably not.