We all love a good retrospective making-of documentary and none come more thorough than RoboDoc – The Creation of Robocop a four-part series that goes into amazing detail about the making of this classic Sci-Fi movie.
The documentary starts with how the screenwriters Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner had a hard time finding a home for their script. The title alone put many off, as at the time it sounded like a cheap science fiction pulp novel and would be hard to sell.
Also fascinating is that a lot of directors passed on the project until Paul Verhoven accepted, but not before his wife told him to read it and how it would be a great opportunity for him.
Many actors were considered for the role but turned down by the director or did not think the part would suit them such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Ironside, Rutger Hauer, Tom Berenger, Armand Assante, Keith Carradine, James Remar and even Steven Seagal!
But it turns out that Peter Weller was the perfect choice but filming was not a smooth ride by any means. They could not get the movements right with the bulky metal suit and after alterations were made coming up with a robotic walk that didn’t look bad took a lot of time.
Weller found a movement teacher to train with called Moni Yakim and he and Weller trained for four hours a day over four months to make sure RoboCop’s walk was as perfect as required.
The documentary shines in that it tells you not just the good side of making the movie, but the bad and sometimes ugly situations that arose. Weller himself says that he was a bit of an arsehole during filming (Once he was in the suit, Weller would answer only to the name “Robo”) and his demands almost stopped production.
Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith and almost anyone with a speaking role are all interviewed alongside everyone from Paul Verhoeven, producer Jon Davison and pretty much everyone from the production team.
One of the most notable and not interviewed was special effects genius Rob Bottin (The Thing) although his huge contribution is acknowledged. Also, the late and brilliant music composer Basil Poledouris who does appears in archival footage.
This series leaves no stone unturned and is probably the most comprehensive making-off documentary made, thanks to the tireless work of Eastwood Allen and Christopher Griffiths.
It is an honest and at times harsh look at how films were made back then and even when it was finished the battles they had with the ratings board slapped it with an X certificate for violence before it was cut down for an R. (Thankfully the gory unrated version is now widely available).
Although nearly 5 hours long it is broken up into 4 segments of just over an hour so you can jump in and out of it with no issues.
Any fan of the film should purchase this set and full marks to all involved. Now available on Blu-Ray with bonus features.
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DOCUMENTARY – 10 OUT OF 10
