The RoboCop remake that is actually happening and has a director and everything and there’s no turning back now also has a screenwriter: Joshua Zetumer, whom The Playlist describes as “one of the hottest new writers in Hollywood,” despite the fact that he doesn’t have a single produced script to his name. Of course, that’s not Zetumer’s fault, as both of his spec screenplays, Infiltrator and Villain, were based on original ideas, not established properties, so off to the Black List they went, where they continue to languish with only the faint promise of Leonardo DiCaprio attaching himself to the latter several years ago.
In the interim, Zetumer has been hired to do punch-up work on Quantum Of Solace, was drafted to create a script for a fourth Jason Bourne movie that was tabled after Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon left the project, and was even tasked with creating a monumental, 175-page version of that Dune remake that was kicked from Peter Berg to Pierre Morel—an idea that was subsequently also cast into limbo once Morel left, leaving its future in question. Anyway, for those who hold out hope that MGM will just leave RoboCop alone and scrap the idea at the last minute, Zetumer’s history of involvement with cursed projects is certainly encouraging. But of course, MGM seems really serious about this, so in all likelihood this will be the Zetumer screenplay that finally gets made.