Where to watch RoboCop (1987)

Trivia & production notes

• Paul Verhoeven rejected the RoboCop script twice before his wife Martine encouraged him to reconsider it, pointing out he had missed the emotional core about someone losing their identity.
• Peter Weller spent months training with mime Moni Yakim to develop RoboCop's distinctive movement style, combining fluidity with stiff, mechanical endings.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger was Orion's preferred choice for RoboCop but was deemed too physically imposing, with producers worried he would resemble the Michelin Man in the costume.
• Nancy Allen's character's short hair was the result of director Paul Verhoeven's choice to avoid sexualizing her, requiring eight separate cuts to achieve the desired look.
• Kurtwood Smith was unaware that Boddicker's character was designed to visually resemble Nazi Heinrich Himmler through the use of glasses, instead interpreting the role as a militaristic front concealing a ruthless drug kingpin.
• Dallas was chosen as the filming location because it had both modern buildings suitable for a futuristic setting and older, deteriorating areas where explosives could safely be detonated.
• Production designer William Sandell was hired instead of Blade Runner's Lawrence G. Paull because producer Jon Davison could not afford both a great designer and a great RoboCop costume.
• The scriptwriters were paid only a few thousand dollars for the script rights and $25,000 between them for the rewrite, but earned eight percent of producer profits upon release.
• Director Jonathan Kaplan left the project to direct Project X, and finding his replacement took six months because many prospects declined due to the film's title.
• Stephanie Zimbalist was originally cast as Anne Lewis but dropped out because her show Remington Steele, though canceled in 1986, was revived due to its popularity.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article RoboCop, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.