Abbie Cornish In Talks To Play Joel Kinnaman's Wife In 'Robocop' Remake

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by Oliver Lyttelton
June 8, 2012 11:55 AM
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Last year wasn't a great one for Australian actress Abbie Cornish. She's been high on our radars since Cate Shortland's great "Somersault" (which also introduced the world to Sam Worthington) in 2004, and looked as if she might break out to the big time with a great performance in Jane Campion's "Bright Star" three years back, and 2011 saw her appear in a number of high profile projects. But while she starred in the sleeper hit "Limitless" (albeit in a thankless role), she also featured in "W.E." and "Sucker Punch," which numbered among the two most painful cinemagoing experiences of last year. And while she was in contention for major parts in films like "Prometheus," "Savages," "The Great Gatsby" and "The Invisible Woman," she was beaten out for each of them.

Fortunately, things are looking up these days: she won praise for her performance in Tribeca film "The Girl," has Martin McDonagh's "Seven Psychopaths" on the way, and is signed on to both Brad Silberling's "An Ordinary Man" and Greg McLean's "Kill Me Three Times" in the near future. And now it looks like she's venturing back into tentpole territory, as Deadline report that she's in negotiations to play the wife of Joel Kinnaman's lead character in the remake of sci-fi actioner "Robocop."

Should the actress sign on, she'll join "The Killing" star Kinnaman as the mangled policeman-turned-cybernetic crimefighter, Gary Oldman as the scientist who creates her, and, most recently, Samuel L. Jackson as a TV mogul. "Elite Squad" helmer Jose Padilha is directing, which along with the impressive cast, means that, while we question the need for a remake, we're certainly a little more intrigued than we are for some of the other 80s action redos like "Total Recall" and "Highlander." Filming gets underway in the next few months, and it'll hit theaters on August 9th, 2013.

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BEF | June 8, 2012 1:49 PMReply

I thought I read somewhere on this site long ago (perhaps when Aronofsky was involved. He was right? I forget) that this film isn't really a standard remake, but just further in the future. Has anyone at Playlist read a recent script? With the people and director involved I think that this could be a unique film in that it probably wouldn't be a remake or maybe even re-imagining just a repackaging of the idea of a robotic policeman made after an attack. I actually have RoboCop high on top 10 of movies in the 80s mostly for the sly commentary, Vorhoeven's commercials, the POV camerawork (when RoboCop wakes up, and the ensuing party, etc). I feel like the only way that this movie will be a remake to me is if they have the same shootout to start the board room and make faux commercials. If there's a role for the wife large enough to report in the trades then that means it's not the same story as we only see his wife in a brief flashback scene. But perhaps I'm splitting wires. I like Cornish, Oldman, Jackson and am intrigued by Kinnaman.