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.



If It Bleeds We Can Kill It: Predator Part 2 Behind The Scenes

With the cast all introduced, lets get to the good stuff!

So I won’t lie, the first time I saw Predator I felt this overwhelming urge to drop down and start doing some press ups followed by climbing up the front of my bunk beds to hang and do pull ups-Arnies’ enormous guns were enough motivation to get even the laziest person out of their beds and into a gym.

But once my puny little young guns (literally as I believe I was 7 year old when I first watched it. You can debate the bad parenting later) began to burn, my motivation began to wane and as I slumped down onto the floor, the movie still playing away, my focus began to change.

Especially when HE walked on screen. 

A 7ft alien Rastafarian  creature with more gadgets that Macgyver could ever hope to make. The younger generation won’t remember Macgyver but for those that do-here is a nostalgic pic that has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to my blog other than the guy was awesome.

OK Focus, the Predator. Played by the late gentle giant, Kevin Peter Hall

Kevin was used to playing suited characters due to his enormous size. He stood just over 7ft and had been cast in previous movies to play the character ‘Harry’ in Harry and the Henderson's.

What Kevin brought to the role of Predator was something unique. The original model for the predator had been this long legged, almost bird liked head creature than moved awkwardly through the jungle. The majority of the movie had already been shot prior to the introduction of the actual Predator character, and once it arrived on set, the director John Mcteirnen voiced what everyone else on set were thinking “uh oh”

The original design was underwhelming, too small and its running gait could only be described as ‘gangly’ not really the look you want for a sophisticated hunting alien that travels the galaxy searching for worthy prey!

With the budget nearly spent and the movie missing its key character, the director sent the original suit back with the simple message “You surely don’t really want us to use that”

Luckily they agreed with him and thanks to a suggestion from Arnold, they called in Stan Winston, a special FX guy that had worked with creature models before in movies like the Terminator and Alien.

Stan quickly sketched up some drawings (much of what we see the Predator as today) and on a flight over he was sitting next to another famous director James Cameron, whom he had done work with on the Aliens movie. James saw the images of the Predator and made a simple comment that would change how we see the hunter forever. He said “I've always wanted to see a character with mandibles”

Now remember that James Cameron was not working on the Predator, he was merely making a suggestion and one that would stick in Stan’s head, motivating him to do extra drawings and include the mandible face that we all know is hidden under the helmet.

So with the new suit made, it was back to the heated jungle of Mexico to finish filming.Climbing into the suit, Kevin very quickly began to get a feel for the movement and traits for the Predator, none of which were instructed to him but in fact his own interpretation of the alien. The director loved every bit of it and couldn't wait to get filming.

Credit needs to be given to Kevin, as in the intense heat of the Mexican jungle coupled with the inch thick rubber/latex suit he was wearing, he apparently never complained once. The head section of the costume could be removed and the cast tried, where possible, to get this off asap when not in shot. But credit has to be given to the gentle giant for not complaining and getting down to business even after 40 takes in the afternoon sun.

With all the hard work that he put into the movie and the intolerable conditions he endured without complaint, director John Mcteirnon thought it was only fair that he should get his face into the movie, casting him as the rescue helicopter pilot at the end. Kevin got one line in the entire movie.

I won't repeat what he tries to say.