THE KILLING Star Joel Kinnaman Offered Lead in ROBOCOP

After months of searching, it looks like director José Padilha has finally found his desired lead for the remake of Robocop. Deadline reports that The Killing star Joel Kinnaman has apparently been offered the lead in the re-do of the 1987 sci-fi film. The Swedish actor has become a bit of a hot commodity following his impressive turn in the polarizing AMC drama series. He landed the role of Lancelot in Warner Bros.’s Arthur & Lancelot, but the studio recently put that project on hold to address budget concerns. Should Kinnaman sign on to Robocop, one imagines he might have to drop out of the WB fantasy pic (the film has presumably already lost its Arthur, Kit Harington). Hit the jump for more on the Robocop remake.

Rumors ran rampant that Elite Squad director Padilha was high on Michael Fassbender for the Robocop lead, with Fassbender himself weighing in on the rumors recently. However, the in-demand actor has a fairly packed schedule with The Counselor, Twelve Days a Slave, and an in-the-works sequel to X-Men: First Class. Kinnaman’s not a terrible choice, but we haven’t exactly seen him carry a big action film by himself yet (though he had memorable turns in Safe House and Snabba Cash). Whether he agrees to sign on or not remains to be seen, and I’m not exactly sure where his The Killing schedule fits into all of this. The second season premieres in April, and should the ratings hold strong I imagine AMC will order up a third season of the crime show. Nevertheless, this would be a big get for Kinnaman and I’d be happy to see his take on the role.

Padilha recently brought Gran Torino scribe Nick Schenk on to Robocop in order to write the script. The director previously stated that he hasn’t read any of Darren Aronofsky’s drafts in order to focus on his own take, which takes a more cerebral approach to the Robocop character than Paul Verhoeven’s original film. Should Kinnaman sign on, things are expected to move forward quickly. Hopefully we hear more regarding his decision soon.