Starship Troopers Reboot Could Be Less Violent

Paul?Verhoeven's '80s sci-fis tiptoed between kitsch and corrosive with such brass that people are still debating which bits are meant as satire and which bits aren't. His loose triptych of subversive sci-fis - Starship Troopers, Total Recall and RoboCop - are all getting a redo, with the former still in the early stages of development. In the new issue, Empire caught up with producer Toby Jaffe to find out what's planned for the former. "The more expensive a film is, the harder it is now to make it that violent," explains Jaffe, also one of the team behind the Colin?Farrell's Total Recall. "With Recall in particular, we made a conscious choice to keep it tonally closer to something like Minority Report. It gives the studio, and us as producers, the opportunity to reintroduce it in a new way." It's news that will land with a thump in the hearts of bug-hunt purists, but hardly a surprise. It's hard to imagine Verhoeven's gleefully violent RoboCop or Troopers sneaking through the studio system these days, and, explains Jaffe, there's little point retreading old? ground. "Verhoeven took [Robert Heinlein's 1959 novel] from one extreme and made it almost comical, whereas our job is to be a little more faithful to the book, and ground it a little more." What's planned sounds like it will ditch the satire in favour of a straighter action play. "Verhoeven made his movie a critique of fascism," says Jaffe, "whereas Heinlein was writing from the perspective of someone who had served in?World War II. Y'know, one man's fascism is another man's patriotism..." One element that will improve with age is the hardware. If the militaristic elements are less tongue-in-cheek, those nukes will be bigger and better. "Working in a visual-efects renaissance as we are, we have the ability to do so much more now. We can do the Jump Suits [armoured exoskeletons from Heinlein's novel], for example, which I don't think they could have done before." Pick up the new issue of Empire from Thursday for a fresh look at Verhoeven's trippy trilogy and more from Jaffe and co. on the new generation of films.

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Have Your Say To comment on this, and all articles, register for free or login now. Advertisement Well atleast we will get crap CGI "jump packs" Who cares if they remove a large chunk unique factors of what made Verhoeven's film unique and a success in almost every regard outside of gross. I would probably be more concerned if I believed this film was a sure thing but I am having a hard time believing this remake will happen. Total Recall 2012 looks average at best, and the details so far for Robocop also come off as "meh". More Posted by bjbdigital at 06:25 on 28 June 2012 | Report This Post Starship Troopers - pure cinematic pleasure The f/x is amazing and those spider bugs are awesomely realistic and dangerous looking. Won't be beaten. Jaffe can go fuck himself... non-violently and non-ironically of course. More Posted by BatSpider at 23:05 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post RE: non dimensional So wait, this is going to be a watered down cash in on a familiar name? NO WAY!! More Posted by UTB at 21:10 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post non dimensional Really hope this is in 3D...which will give me even more of a reason NOT TO GO AND SEE THIS!!!!!! More Posted by MaxRenn at 20:41 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post RE: A word about the VFX L: Galahadfairlight The comment from the producer to suggest they couldn't do the jump suits back in 1997 is patent nonsense, Verhoeven removed them largely to stop the Humans from being virtually indestructable, and to make them have a believable weakness against the bugs. The VFX for Starship Troopers still stands up today as being excellent, and I very much doubt that the VFX for the new incarnation are remotely going to make the old movie look silly! couldn't agree more. More Posted by Rich Empire at 17:12 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post May the Bugs kill this! How on (or off) earth can they even be considering this?! Verhoeven's movie is just pitch-perfect even now! More Posted by olirog at 17:04 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post RE: Starship Troopers wasn't an 80s sci-fi... Let's face it, a p Troopers could hardly be ] violent. One of the most underrated, misunderstood and t of the 90s, if anything, Starship Troopers is even more subversive than the sublime how the Verhoeven version was a merciless piss-take of Heinlein's po-faced fascist tract - I will take the sight of Doogie Howser dressed like Herr Flick and solemnly intoning "There's a brain bug on Planet P!" with me to the grave. How could you love a movie where the baddies are Nazi 90210/Melrose Pla More Posted by chris kilby at 16:57 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post RE: Starship Troopers wasn't an 80s sci-fi... And neither was Total Recall, which came out in 1990. Empire, if you can't get this sh*t right, what hope is there for the rest of us? More Posted by Nicky C at 16:24 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post RE: L: Dropje "Y'know, one man's fascism is another man's patriotism." Does this mean that, 15 years later, at least one American has realized that this Dutch director had been taking the piss out of them? More Posted by waltham1979 at 15:31 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post I WOULDN'T LIKE TO KNOW MORE! More Posted by LSJShez at 15:20 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post A word about the VFX The comment from the producer to suggest they couldn't do the jump suits back in 1997 is patent nonsense, Verhoeven removed them largely to stop the Humans from being virtually indestructable, and to make them have a believable weakness against the bugs. The VFX for Starship Troopers still stands up today as being excellent, and I very much doubt that the VFX for the new incarnation are remotely going to make the old movie look silly! More Posted by Galahadfairlight at 15:09 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post "Y'know, one man's fascism is another man's patriotism." Does this mean that, 15 years later, at least one American has realized that this Dutch director had been taking the piss out of them? More Posted by Dropje at 14:58 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post Starship Troopers wasn't an 80s sci-fi... ...it came out in 1997. Just sayin'. More Posted by Primus at 14:48 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post bs Everything about this is just wrong. No offense to the fans, but I thought the novel was rather boring, but I absolutely adore the film, especially Poledouris score and the annoying teens getting DESTROYED by the Bugs. Fuck this guy and fuck this remake. More Posted by presidentcletus at 14:32 on 27 June 2012 | Report This Post

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