Michael Keaton Cast as Villain in RoboCop Remake

Hugh Laurie was originally in talks to play the villain in the upcoming remake of RoboCop, but he passed and the role has gone to Michael Keaton. According to Deadline, he'll play OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellars, whose company is responsible for the building of RoboCop. Here is what director Jose Padilha had to say about the casting:

“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. 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-209’s and I can’t wait to get Alex Murphy back on the streets”

An impressive cast has already been assembled, that includes Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy/RoboCop, along with Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Jay Baruchel. RoboCop will begin filming next month in Toronto and the movie has an official release date of August 9th, 2013. Here is the previously released synopsis:

“In RoboCop, the year is 2029 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Their drones are winning American wars around the globe and now they want to bring this technology to the home front. Alex Murphy is a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit. After he is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp utilizes their remarkable science of robotics to save Alex’s life. He returns to the streets of his beloved city with amazing new abilities, but with issues a regular man has never had to face before.

Director José Padilha (Elite Squad) reimagines the tale of part man, part machine, all cop starring Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) as the title character, Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Rises) as the scientist who creates RoboCop, and Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers) as media mogul Pat Novak. RoboCop is being produced by Strike Entertainment’s Marc Abraham and Eric Newman, with Eric Carraro as Executive Producer. The film is currently in pre-production and slated for a summer 2013 release.”