These deals-in-the-making stories always carry a grain of salt since nothing in Hollywood is ever so sure just about until the cameras roll, but the trade scoop that The Killing's Joel Kinnaman may be your next RoboCop is just too tantalizing. Joel Kinnaman who, you may ask, and rightly so? The Swedish-American actor's been in a handful of stateside film projects here and there (including the recent Safe House and, briefly, Fincher's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) but the closer I look at his work, the more enticing this casting move becomes.
According to a Tweet by Variety's Jeff Sneider (also confirmed by Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter), Kinnaman has been offered the lead in Jose Padilha's reboot of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 sci-fi pic. "Dealmaking is expected to begin imminently," writes THR's Boris Kit, whatever that really means. In any case, it's the first solid movement on a RoboCop lead since those Michael Fassbender fantasy rumors were waved away by the secretive Padilha.
Kinnaman's not an obvious choice to headline a high profile franchise reboot, but he's been dancing on the cusp of breakout status for a few years. The 32-year-old Kinnaman got his start in Swedish film, most notably taking the lead in Daniel Espinosa's crime adaptation Easy Money (AKA Snabba Cash), based on Jens Lapidus's novel; the film is being released in the U.S. on July 27 and will be remade in English with Zac Efron, while a Kinnaman-starring sequel, Snabba Cash II, is set for release in Sweden in 2012.
According to the Swedish website Ostran.se, Kinnaman was once up for the leads in both Thor and Mad Max 4 (the roles went to Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hardy, respectively), so Hollywood filmmakers have already been looking at him to carry a major studio release. But while he's obviously pretty easy on the eyes, it's his screen presence -- whether speaking English and Swedish -- that's impressed me the most. Take a look at Kinnaman below and weigh in: Is there cause to be excited if this is indeed your new RoboCop?
Snabba Cash trailer:
In a scene from Swedish franchise entry Johan Falk: National Target (opposite Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol's Samuli Edelmann):
Behind the scenes on AMC's The Killing (via Slashfilm):
In the trailer for Snabba Cash II (via Playlist):