Dead or alive, Abe Forsythe is coming with Robocop.
MGM has tapped rising filmmaker Forsythe, the helmer of the Lupita Nyong’o zombie comedy Little Monsters, to direct Robocop Returns.
The project is being developed as a direct follow-up to the 1987 movie released by Orion.
Atlas Entertainment’s Richard Suckle, along with Ed Neumier and Michael Miner, the screenwriters of the original film who are considered its co-creators, are producing.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, Robocop centered on a police officer who, on death’s doorstep, is used as an experiment to create a new type of patrolman, one that is half man, half machine (but “all cop,” as the poster said). The new creation then struggled with resurfacing memories and corrupt city officials.
Sequels followed in 1990 and 1993, with MGM, which acquired Orion in 1997, first attempting a reboot in 2014 with a modern take directed by Jose Padilha.
Neumeier and Miner wrote the script for the sequel years ago with Justin Rhodes, who worked on the recent Terminator: Dark Fate, writing on the project on a recent draft that had, in 2018, Neill Blomkamp attached to direct.
Forsyth will rewrite the script penned by Rhodes.
Robocop is a major step in terms of scale for Forsythe, who was an actor before turning to directing shorts and TV shows in his native Australia. Little Monsters, a low-budget indie co-financed by Screen Australia, gained strong notices when it bowed in October in a limited release before streaming on Hulu.
Forsythe is repped by CAA, Grandview and Hansen Jacobson.
