2014's RoboCop reboot was by no means unwatchable, but it certainly didn't live up to the lofty expectations of fans. Ultimately, it took perhaps one too many liberties with the concept, while that PG-13 rating certainly didn't help (especially as the bloody violence of those early movies was a highlight).
Talking to The Playlist, Kinnaman acknowledged that RoboCop being his first blockbuster meant he didn't ask the questions he would today. He also recalled inadvertently upsetting studio bosses when he pointed out in an interview that it would be nuts to make a RoboCop movie that wasn't R-Rated.
"That was the first big movie I did," he says. "I had to quell all my instincts for everything over the course of that film. I’m like, ‘Why am I wearing a black suit? That doesn’t make any sense at all.’"
"The first interview I did for ‘RoboCop,’ and it was right after I was cast," The Suicide Squad star continues. "I got the first questions for ‘RoboCop,’ and the question was, ‘So, is it going to be R-rated?’ And I was like, ‘Of course, it’s going to be R-rated! Only an idiot would make “RoboCop” a PG-13 movie.’ Cut to the next morning - 47 missed calls I woke up to."
As for where the remake went wrong, Kinnaman added: "What I feel like the whole movie didn’t take into account is what the fans loved about [the original [‘RoboCop’]. And you have to pay homage to that. And I think the producers and the filmmakers and me included didn’t really understand how to do that in the right way. I think it’s a really solid movie, it just didn’t fit the ‘RoboCop’ concept."
Luckily, RoboCop didn't exactly derail Kinnaman's career, but the franchise has since been shelved. We've heard vague rumblings about a sequel to the original movies, but nothing has really materialised on that front (the same can be said about the rumoured TV show).
Kinnaman, meanwhile, doesn't sound overly keen to don that armour for any sort of follow-up!