Uh oh. It's never good when a director starts to speak openly about the trouble they're having getting any particular film made. It's even worse when it comes from a guy like Brazilian director Jose Padilha, who has been established through his Elite Squad flicks and is making his first foray into Hollywood with the Robocop remake. Apparently, things aren't quite going in the way he's used to, and he relayed his feelings on it to his buddy, director Fernando Meirelles(City of God, The Constant Gardener), who revealed it to the Portugese site, Cinema Com Rapadura. Here's a rough translation of what Meirelles said....
"I talked to José Padilha for a week by phone. He will begin filming Robocop. He is saying that it is the worst experience. For every 10 ideas he has, 9 are cut. Whatever he wants, he has to fight. “This is hell here, " he told me. The film will be good, but I never suffered so much and do not want to do it again.” He is bitter, but it’s a fighter."
I think the crucial bit comes in those last two sentences. At least Padilha still thinks the movie will be good, so that's a start. If he had something else I'd be way more concerned, and we'd probably have heard the studio's response by now. But it does make one wonder if maybe Hugh Laurie's departure as the villain is in any way related to any trouble on set. Still, with Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish, and Jay Baruchel in the cast already, I have to believe the script is at least solid despite what some are saying.
We'll see what happens, and if the rumored Clive Owen steps in to fill the bad guy role Laurie left vacant.
