Joel Kinnaman thinks he knows why the 2014 RoboCop remake wasn’t a massive success. Rebooting and remaking movies is commonplace in the entertainment industry today. However, the results are often put under extra scrutiny, as people more often than not prefer the originals. When remakes or reboots are made, they don’t always have the same spark that made the originals so special, which was definitely the case with the RoboCop remake that Kinnaman starred in.
2014’s RoboCop was Joel Kinnaman’s first big role. He says, “I had to quell all my instincts for everything over the course of that film. I’m like, ‘Why am I wearing a black suit? That doesn’t make any sense at all.'” However, that was only part of the problem that fans of the franchise picked apart when the movie hit theaters. When reflecting, Kinnaman has some further reasons as to why the movie wasn’t as successful as it could have been. He explains.
“What I feel like the whole movie didn’t take into account is what the fans loved about [the original [RoboCop]. And you have to pay homage to that. And I think the producers and the filmmakers and me included didn’t really understand how to do that in the right way. I think it’s a really solid movie, it just didn’t fit the RoboCop concept.”
When doing press for the movie, Joel Kinnaman found himself in trouble with the studio. “The first interview I did for RoboCop… was right after I was cast,” The Suicide Squad star says. “I got the first questions for RoboCop, and the question was, ‘So, is it going to be R-rated?’ And I was like, ‘Of course, it’s going to be R-rated! Only an idiot would make RoboCop a PG-13 movie.’ Cut to the next morning – 47 missed calls I woke up to.” When the movie opened in theaters, it came with a PG-13 rating.
Reviews were mixed when the RoboCop remake opened in theaters, though there are plenty of critics who praised the performances of Joel Kinnaman, along with Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish, and Jackie Earle Haley. The movie was directed by Jos&é Padilha and written by Joshua Zetumer, Nick Schenk, Edward Neumeier, and Michael Miner. As it turns out, a lot of critics shared Kinnaman’s same sentiment. One review states, “there’s a sense that Padilha, or perhaps his corporate overlords, don’t really get what made the original so special.”
Joel Kinnaman reprises his Rick Flag role in James Gunn’s upcoming movie, The Suicide Squad. In a recent interview, the actor noted that Gunn’s vision is more of a reboot than a straight sequel to David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, which opened in theaters back in 2016. And unlike RoboCop, this movie is going to be a fully R-rated superhero movie. You can check out the interview with Joel Kinnaman over at The Playlist.