Robocop Behind The Scenes PT 1 / Dead Or Alive, You're Coming With Me

With the remake soon to be released, I was so excited that I grabbed my crayons and began yet another 'behind the scenes' blog post on the classic SCI-FI classic 'Robocop.' 

The Original release was back in 1987 and was met with mixed reviews, mostly due to the barbaric, fascist state of decay the world had become. Starting off with a news report, director Paul Verhoeven was quickly able to set the scene, depicting the world on the tipping point of nuclear war.  The news report continues with a story of a cop being gunned down and fighting for his life-the reporter cheering him on like a sports fan supporting one of his idols. Needless to say, the lack of empathy was evident in his "good luck Frank" comment followed by the dashing quick flex of his fist.

Produced by Orion studios, Robocop was following in the footsteps of another movie produced by the same company which was called 'Terminator' where a sophisticated and unstoppable robot was sent back through time to eliminate the poor unsuspecting Sarah Connor. The Terminator was written as more of a horror movie, a genre that wouldn't suit the writers of our would be 'knight in shining armour' Robocop (literally).

Although undoubtedly the two movies would be linked and compared, there could be no question that their differences outnumbered their similarities, with the main divide being (believe it or not) that Robocop was more 'human' than the Terminator, an aspect that is highlighted further as the movie goes on.

Paul Verhoeven (pictured above) was a Dutch director with a religious background who really wanted to implement a piece of that into the movie as he toyed with the brutal death of Officer Murphy followed by the resurrection into Robocop - perhaps he was trying to be artistic but he was quoted as saying "you can't appreciate the resurrection unless the death was brutal, much like Jesus so I wanted to make his execution scene as horrific as possible, killing off the hero barely 25 mins into the movie"

The scene he is of course referring to is when Murphy is shot, possibly over 30 times at close range not to mention having his hand blown off to start the tortuous parade. Now I've never been shot before let alone absorbed that volume of punishment but I would tend to argue that Jesus perhaps suffered a lot more for a lot longer - but I guess myself and Paul can agree to disagree. 

The Robocop suit was designed around a Japanese Manga comic style design where they wanted to simple slit eye lens across the helmet and part of the face uncovered. I remember thinking during the movie "Why don't they just shoot him in the face" particularly in the car park scene where he, once again, is the subject of a firing squad... the poor guy can't catch a break

To be fair to the continuity team, Robocop does in fact cover his face when taking the shots so I'll pipe down and wind my neck in.Casting for the role of Robocop was difficult as the suit was restricted to a certain size. Originally they had wanted to cast Michael Ironside but found he would be too tall for the role.

Eventually they settled on Peter Weller who they found would be small enough to fill the role. When I watched back the movie recently I was amazed at just how skinny he is. Don't get me wrong when you watch the movies from the 80's they all tended to be slimmer but jeez, Peter is tiny. I am pretty sure I could press him above my head. Feel free to promote the Press Peter campaign...we could start a hash tag trend there.

So with the cast set they were ready to film right?

WRONG! Prior to filming, Peter had taken lessons from a miming coach to play the role of Robocop, all of which he had practised WITHOUT the suit on. On the first day of filming it took 11 hours..Yes ELEVEN hours to get all the adjustments right before he could walk out on set. It was not until he took his first few steps that he realised the suit restricted him in a very big way, delaying the start of filming by at least another week while he had to familiarise himself to the new outfit.

If you want a laugh, watch the movie over again, paying particular attention to the scene when he first confronts the executive at OCP, it's hilarious watching him jerk and spasm as his core programming refuses to allow him to complete his arrest.

So while you are all away seeking new thrills and giggles at our knight in shining armour's expense, ill get started on part two where I will discuss some of the special effects used to complete the key scenes in the movie.



How Good Nutrition & Creative Writing Come Hand in Hand

How many of us have reached the end of our novels, having worked hard on them for months on end, day after day and night after night and then feel like they have run out of steam when it comes to doing the first draft proof check?

I for one have fallen into this trap as I near the end of writing Part II of my Chronicles Of Astoria novel series. I had finished all the fun parts, eg the creative story writing part and have now reached the mundane stage of checking for errors before sending it on to my proofreading team.The whole thing began to feel like a chore and before I knew it, I was ordering takeaways and eating fast food because I ‘thought’ I didn’t have the time to make healthy food.

Well my lazy ways led to more lazy ways, I'd reach the gym and my usual forty minute workout had become more like four minutes plus a really long shower and slowly but surely, the time that I had set aside to proofread was filled with playing the Xbox, watching movies, terrible daytime TV and basically I'd become the king of procrastination. I struggled to get up in the morning, I'd wake up nice and early and just sit on Facebook using my phone while hiding under my duvet covers away from the world.

It took a loving girlfriend and a caring best friend to point out that I had in fact been buying crisps more often than normally (which was never) that I looked sluggish, seemed stressed and generally not my happy, creative self.

I had to take action! Luckily for me I'm a personal trainer and nutritional adviser by trade although lately I have been far better at advising others than taking my own advice. I decided that it was the best time to implement change.

My good friend asked me 'What's most important to you?'  I replied naturally “finishing my book” and she swiftly scolded me (as a caring friend does, it was over the phone but I'm pretty sure she was waving her finger like a school teacher) she told me that my health comes first and once I was back to  my usual bouncy self, the writing would come.

Doing as I was told, I went home and re-evaluated my own diet and realised that the takeaway foods (as we all know) are filled with carbs, fat and very little in the way of healthy nutrients; this all had to change and so I addressed each section of my nutritional life carefully.

First of all, as a man I had to increase my protein intake. knowing that proteins break down into amino acids blah-blah-blah, (I wont bore you too much) but basically I need to increase my nitrous oxide levels which in turn increase levels of testosterone - which for a guy is important for thousands of factors but the main two were, getting out of bed in the morning and also having more drive and stamina in the gym, those 4 minute workouts just wouldn't cut it for long! 

I also supplemented zinc, just at the standard dosage as it is very important for men’s health, I added in my eggs at breakfast, some chicken at lunch and then red meat or tuna for dinner. I'll add in some salmon next week once I am paid.

Next I aimed to increase the good fats in my diet so that I could balance out my good cholesterol, strengthening cell walls and improve my brain health. To do this I supplemented with cod liver oils  and added in some avocados - I even experimented with making guacamole and also added in peanut butter - spread of brown toast of course. I LOVE milk and sometimes avoid it for, well I actually don’t know why but I added it back in at 500ml per day to increase my calcium and to add in some good fats to the diet. 

Then focusing on both good hydration and high fibre I added in porridge alongside some healthy vegetables and brown bread. Ensuring all the while that I drank a minimum of three litres of water per-day.I found it was easier to fill a big three litre jug in the morning, making sure it was done by the end of the night - some days it was a case of easier said than done. 

Last stop was Vitamin C. This little vitamin packs a hefty punch, it's fantastic for generally increasing mood as well as all adding very important nutrients into the body that are needed to ensure it functions correctly.  Personally I just wanted to feel better and so I ensured I ate more fruit in the form of apples, tomatoes and more avocados which are very high in Vitamin C.

Within three days of following the new regime (yes that soon) I can feel myself springing out of bed in the morning, feeling less stressed, more focussed and more determined than I have in a long time. I have proofed a further fifty pages to my book which is 300% more than I'd done in the previous three weeks and this accomplishment has seriously made me more determined and all round happier than before.

So if you are stuck in a rut and cant create, go back to the basics. Eat well and feel great (that almost rhymes) I promise you won't regret it. Happy is as happy does. 

* M.R Shields*