Michael Keaton has been tapped to play the villain, Raymond Sellars, in the “RoboCop” reboot for MGM and Sony.
The Sellars character is the CEO of the corporation that builds RoboCop, played by Joel Kinnaman. The film, described as a “reimagining” of the 1987 Paul Verhoeven pic, is scheduled to begin shooting next month.
“RoboCop” will be released on Aug. 9, 2013.
Hugh Laurie had been in talks earlier for the villain role.
Gary Oldman is set to co-star as the scientist who creates RoboCop while Abbie Cornish will play his conflicted wife. Samuel L. Jackson has also signed on to play a patriotic media mogul.
Strike Entertainment partners Eric Newman and Marc Abraham are producing the pic, directed by Jose Padilha.
“Michael is the final addition to the amazing cast we have assembled for this film and it is so great to have the last puzzle piece in place,” Padilha said. “It is thrilling that everything has come together to bring this innovative new vision of ‘RoboCop’ to life. We’ve got a great script, a great cast, some killer ED-209s and I can’t wait to get Alex Murphy back on the streets.”
Keaton appeared cop comedy “The Other Guys” and voiced the Ken doll in Disney-Pixar’s “Toy Story 3.” He’ll soon be seen as the villain terrorizing Michelle Monaghan in Joseph Ruben’s “Penthouse North.”
Keaton is repped by ICM Partners.
