ROBOCOP (1987) was released today.
Let’s celebrate one of the best movies ever made.
“I’d buy that for a dollar!”
The screenplay had been offered to (and been rejected by) virtually every big director in Hollywood before Paul Verhoeven got hold of it. He threw it away after reading the first pages, convinced it was just a dumb action movie. However, his wife read it all the way through and convinced him that the story was layered with many satirical and allegorical elements, after which Verhoeven finally decided to direct the film.
The RoboCop suit was designed by Rob Bottin and his team. The production team wasn't satisfied with the initial design, and kept changing it and putting additions to it for months. Ultimately, nothing seemed to work and they went back to what was pretty much Bottin's original design. This caused considerable delays, and by the time the suit was completed, it was three weeks late and arrived at the studio on the day that the first RoboCop scene was scheduled to be shot. It took 11 hours for Bottin's people to fit Peter Weller into the suit, and when it was done Weller found that all his mime exercises were now useless because he needed time to get used to the suit and to perform as a robot in it. Production was halted so that Weller and his mime coach, Moni Yakim, could learn how to move in the suit. The suits were the most expensive items on set. While the price range varies, the producers indicated that they spent anywhere between US$500,000 to US$1 million for the suit.
A very unique part of this movie like other Paul Verhoeven movies is how he brings you more into the universe, news coverage and fake commercials are featured in the film all combined are over 5 minutes long. The world of future Detroit was actually shot in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Los Angeles. The locations were all seamlessly woven together making it feel like one city by Production Designer William Sandell.
Because the hands of the ROBOCOP suit were made of foam rubber, the car keys would bounce off of Peter Weller's hand every time he attempted to catch them. The production took up to 50 takes and an entire day's worth of filming before finally getting the shot right.
Paul Verhoeven and Robocop suit creator Rob Bottin clashed repeatedly before and during production over the design and make-up of the RoboCop character. What they argued most about was the scene where Murphy takes off his helmet. Bottin wanted the scene to be filmed in a darkened area, fearing that harsh light would reveal too much of the make-up effects; Verhoeven wanted the scene to be filmed as brightly as possible, citing that director of photography Jost Vacano would be able to light it properly without revealing anything. Verhoeven got his way and Bottin refused to talk to him any further for the remainder of production. However, at the premiere, both men were so impressed with how the scene had turned out, that they instantly forgave each other. Bottin, who had even vowed to never again work with Verhoeven, happily accepted the offer to work on Verhoeven's next project, Total Recall (1990).
To Bring ED-209 designed by the great Craig Davis to life for some of the sequences Phil Tippet and Randal M. Dutra in my opinion did some of the best stop motion work ever done, I think what makes it so epic and memorable is yes it’s super smooth and almost seamless the way it cuts from stop motion to go motion but what’s truly special to me is the amount of character and humor they were able to provide for ED-209, this being the perfect example, the way ED-209 tries to navigate the stairs its almost toddler like, the sound editors even added a baby tantrum mixed with a pig sound effect as ED-209 tries to get up at the bottom of the stairs. stop motion animators Harry Walton and Tom St. Amand also helped make some beautiful work on this sequence.
Enforcement Droid 209's voice is that of producer Jon Davison, its growls are of a jaguar, and its squeals are of a pig. ED-209's body was based on the design of a Bell helicopter and the overall appearance is reminiscent of a line of toys named Robotech (1985) which were based on a 1980s Japanese anime series.
Peter Weller said one of his favorite memories of his film career was filming the drug bust sequence. While filming the sequence, Weller was listening to Peter Gabriel's song "Red Rain" on his Walkman inside the RoboCop helmet as he exchanged gunfire with various bad guys.
“Guns,Guns,Guns”
The shootout at the cocaine factory was not originally intended to be so fast-paced. The automatic guns used in the scene kept malfunctioning during filming. Most camera shots did not provide more than three seconds of usable footage, because most guns were usually jammed by that time. This necessitated quick cuts during editing, which proved to be advantageous for the scene.
RoboCop's first Directive, "Serve the public trust", was inspired by a fortune cookie.
The convenience store robber was played by the movie's stunt men who gladly accepted to be one of RoboCop's victims and contributed the idea of being hit into the door of the glass cooler.
The film was submitted to the MPAA 12 times before securing an R rating.
The script for Robocop was rejected by just about every major movie studio since it was conceived in the early 1980s. Orion films took the chance and Robocop's success continued on with 2 follow up sequels to the movie, two cartoon series, a television show, several comic book series, and a made for TV series of 4 movie length episodes as well as a fan made parody film. It has also spawned over a billion dollars in children and adult toy lines and collector statues which are still being released to date.
“Your move creep”
In Sacramento, California, a robbery suspect fled into a darkened movie theatre to escape pursuing police. He became so engrossed in the movie playing on screen (RoboCop), that he failed to notice that police had evacuated all other patrons from the theatre. When the lights flipped on, the stunned man was taken into custody.
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