With Hugh Laurie having excused himself for a spot of tea, never to return, the remake of RoboCop has had to find itself a new human being to replace him as the movie's villain, because cyborgs don't actually exist yet. Fortunately, they found someone equally capable of being quirkily charming, even as he insists on turning a dead man into a robot: Michael Keaton, who Deadline reports will assume the role of Raymond Sellars, CEO of OmniCorp and the man in charge of building RoboCop.
Though Keaton's kept busy with voiceovers, a few small indies, and 30 Rock guest spots, he hasn't actually been seen on screen much of late (his last major big-screen role was The Other Guys), so he's certainly a welcome addition to the cast—even if the remake's very reason to exist remains suspect. This announcement also offers the tentative hope that maybe Keaton will get to offer one of those inspirational, rallying-the-troops speeches he does so well. For example, watch this clip from Gung Ho, and mentally replace "car" with "RoboCop." Pretty inspirational, no? Kind of makes you believe America's RoboCop industry is ready for that fourth-quarter comeback.