Michael Keaton is set to join the cast of Jose Padilha’s Robocop remake. According to a Deadline report, the Batman Returns actor will play the role of Raymond Sellars, CEO of the corporation that turns Alex Murphy into RoboCop.
Hugh Laurie was expected to play the role, but reports surfaced last week the House actor backed out before a deal was made.
In Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 version of the Robocop movie, Sellars was head of the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp. The corporation specialized in the robot technology that saved the life of dedicated Detroit police officer Alex Murphy. When Murphy returns to the crime ridden streets of Detroit as a cyborg crime fighter, he struggles between the programmed robot part of him and the small human side that’s left.
Keaton, who appeared to be on hiatus from mainstream big budget films, will join a cast that includes Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Earle Haley, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Ehle, Michael Kenneth Williams and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
Robocop is scheduled to begin shooting next month and is expected to shoot into theaters on August 9, 2013.
