With filming on "RoboCop" getting rolling soon, director Joseph Padilha describing the production as "hell" and proposed villain Hugh Laurie bailing, we wondered who the filmmakers could find on such short notice to fill a key role. And frankly, it looks like they got someone pretty awesome step in.
Michael Keaton is subbing in for Laurie on the remake, and is taking the part of Raymond Sellars, the CEO of Omni Corp who creates the crime fighter for his own ends. Deadline drops the rather curious line in their report that it's "good to see Keaton back in a mainstream film" seemingly forgetting that he appeared to awesome, TLC referencing effect in "The Other Guys" (see below), is a part of the Pixar voice family ("Cars," "Toy Story 3") and is working on a comedy for HBO with Greg Mottola, Larry David and Jon Hamm. So yeah, we don't think he's wanting for gigs or toiling in obscurity.
Either way, whatever you might think about this movie, we're looking to forward to seeing what kind of bad guy sauce Keaton pours on to the role. He joins Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Abbie Cornish, Jennifer Ehle, Michael K.Williams and Marianne Jean-Baptiste in the movie that opens on August 9, 2013.