“It won’t work” … In the 80s, Schwarzenegger wanted to play this hero as a cult, as a Terminator

In the 1980s, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the king of action movies, thanks to his roles in Terminator, Commando, Predator or Running Man. With his muscles that have won him so many bodybuilding titles, that chiseled jaw and his charisma, Hollywood was on its feet. So it’s no surprise to learn that he was to star in one of the most iconic action films of the decade, Robocop, released in 1987, which tells the story of a half-man who fights crime. Perfect for Schwarzenegger, right? Only the main problem was. When the costume was made for her, everything fell apart and robocop Played by a little known name, Peter Weller.

Too much muscle for RoboCop?

After finding his director in the person of Paul Verhoeven, robocop You have to find the hero of its owner. In the Netflix docu-series Movies That Made Us, an episode about the making of the film went behind the scenes of the project and revealed thatArnold Schwarzenegger Almost played a policeman.

Indeed, at that time, the actor himself said that he wanted the role. terminator and robocop Both were Orion Pictures films, it seemed fitting.

“” “Schwarzenegger wanted to be RoboCop” said the film’s screenwriter, Michael Miner, in the documentary series. Like Michael Ironside and Peter Fonda, he thus received tryouts in hopes of landing the role. problem? It’s a very impressive build, which, paired with RoboCop’s massive armor, looked like “Bonhomme on Michelin“.

“” “ And Mike Medaway became friends (…) because Terminator was an Orion movie“explained studio vice president Paul M. Samson.

“” “Then they started designing the armor with the bottle so that it goes to Arnold. But it looked like Bibendum. It was too exaggerated, too big. Something so big, no drama. All this is indestructible. Invincible. They said, “It won’t work.”»

That’s when the role came back Peter Weller Who played this cop was a futuristic straitjacket named Alex Murphy who was shot down and left for dead. However, this is not the end, because Murphy will return to life as a cyborg policeman named Robocop, who becomes a police force consisting of one man (or one robot) that must destroy or capture all criminals in this city. But things go wrong when he is on a mission to capture the men who are trying to kill him.

More easily than a simple action film, the film manages to convey a dark message about the inhumanity of society while being fun and full of black humor.

RoboCop should be available on VOD.

(Re)discover all of RoboCop’s mistakes in the video below: