‘I don’t feel the mystery anymore’: Robocop and Total Recall director explains why he’s frustrated with remakes

During his long career, Dutch director Paul Verhoeven has been able to explore many genres of cinema, but especially in the field of science fiction, the director has been able to make his mark and make a name for himself on the international stage.

In 1997, before making Starship Troopers in 1997, Verhoeven had actually directed two classics of the genre in the late ’80s: the ruthless Robocop, which told the story of a young murdered cop who was given an ultra-life. – Sophisticated cyborg-fighting crime, then a confusing total recall in which Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to implant a fake memory at his own peril.

• Paul Verhoeven looks back on his career at the AlloCiné microphone

Nearly twenty years after their release, these two sci-fi masterpieces have spawned remakes. In 2012, Len Wiseman directed Total Recall with Colin Farrell, and two years later it was Robocop’s turn to return to the big screen with Joel Kinnaman and directed by Jose Padilha.

A recent interview MetrographyPaul Verhoeven was able to give his thoughts on these new adaptations, specifically expressing his regrets and explaining why he felt these films didn’t work as well as the first ones.

robocop

“The beautiful thing about the original Robocop that allows it to not just be a tragedy is that I don’t know anymore “he said.

“He has some confusing memories when he goes back to his old home, but RoboCop is not a tragic character. Of course, he was killed horribly at the beginning of the movie. But when we meet him again as a robot, he no longer feels that way.

In the new film, as everyone remembers, it is much more tragic. We wanted to be accepted as a robot policeman from the beginning. (…) From my point of view, the problem was to make him a more tragic character.”

Total recall

As for the total recall, Paul Verhoeven took offense to the fact that Len Wiseman’s version no longer leaves the same doubt as his:

“There were a lot of special effects, but I didn’t feel that mystery anymore, is it all real or not? What’s interesting about the original movie is that at the end, when Rachel Ticotini says ‘quickly kiss me before you wake up,’ you still don’t know if it’s real or not.”

We also had an incredible songwriter, Jerry Goldsmith. I was really happy with the piano themes. When you take all that away, what’s left?”

What do you think of the two remakes of Robocop and Total Recall?

(Re)discover the trailer for ‘Total Recall Programmed Memories’…