RoboCop: Dig Into The Definitive History With These Behind The Scenes Photos
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Paul Verhoven’s 1987 neo-noir classic RoboCop is one of our all-time favorite movies. Even the mediocre rehash from earlier this year can do nothing to tarnish that memory. (Some people enjoyed that movie, which I just don’t get. While it’s not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, not even the worst remake of a Verhoeven movies—that honor goes to Total Recall—it’s just bland and doesn’t bring anything new to the party.) That’s why a book like RoboCop: The Definitive History is right up our alley, and here are a few quick glimpses at what lies inside the cover.
The book by Calum Waddell hit bookstores yesterday, but before you rush out and buy it (and by that I most likely mean open another browser window and order it from Amazon), take a moment to check out these photos that come from Badass Digest. They show a variety of behind the scenes images from across the history of the franchise, from Verhoeven on set all the way up to concept art from the new installment.
For the few of you out there not familiar with RoboCop, you should stop reading this immediately and find a way to watch it, you won’t be disappointed. But for those of you not currently rushing to your Netflix queue or local video store, the story follows a Detroit cop who is mortally wounded on the job and revived by evil corporate overlords as an ass kicking cyborg lawman who then battles the dad from That ‘70s Show. It’s violent and funny and biting, full of al kinds of wing nut flourishes. In short, it’s Verhoeven’s most Verhoeven film.
Here’s a piece of the official synopsis for The Definitive History, the part that talks about the actual book:
RoboCop: the Definitive History details the journey from the original script and early concept designs, all the way to the art and stunning effects work on the 2014 reimagining. Rare and exclusive images, script pages, storyboards, and much more have been discovered in the archives and are presented here for the first time, alongside brand new interviews with key creatives such as Ed Neumeier, Michael Miner, Jose Padilha, Joel Kinnaman, and Nancy Allen.
The book not only covers the first movie and the latest, but, as you can tell from the inclusion of a RoboCop 3 poster here, it also explores the questionable sequels that followed in the interim. I hope they also include the short-lived (it ran from October to December of 1988) RoboCop: The Animated Series, perhaps the most inappropriate example of a bloody, definitely-not-for-kids property reimagined as a Saturday morning cartoon show for children. We’ll have to wait until we actually get our hands on a copy to know for sure.
