Brazilian filmmaker to direct `Robocop` remake

Los Angeles: Jose Padilha, the director of the violent Brazilian `Elite Squad` cop movies, is in talks to direct a remake of `Robocop`.

The 1987 original, directed by Paul Verhoeven, featured a cop who is brought back from the brink of death in the form of a cyborg with no memories of his prior life. It spawned two sequels. The remake is a big priority at the newly reconstituted MGM, which met with directors last week. Others on the list included Robert Rodriguez and David Slade ("The Twilight Saga: Eclipse") - with Padilha emerging a top cop. No screenwriter is attached yet. `Robocop` could act as the Hollywood debut for Padilha, whom the town has been high on since he directed 2007`s `Elite Squad`, a Berlin Film Festival winner set on the mean streets of Rio de Janeiro. The film was distributed domestically by the Weinstein Co. His 2010 follow-up is the highest-grossing film in Brazil`s box office history, surpassing even Hollywood fare. It played at Sundance in January but has yet to secure a domestic deal. Padilha was attached at one stage to direct `The Sigma Protocol`, an adaptation of a Robert Ludlum novel, but has since moved on. IANS