Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: ED-209 boardroom demonstration – 'that's when the movie really grabs you by the balls. I have ED-209.' Kyle: 'So imagine you pick that as the most rewatchable scene, and RoboCop's not even in it. That's this movie.'
• Kyle: Bob Morton's apartment scene – 'sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and Verhoeven was just cooking.'
• Craig: All the boardroom/OCP office scenes – 'the guys saying that's life in the big city.' Bill: 'It's very Succession.'
• Also: Murphy's first day at the station ('Welcome to hell'); Murphy's death scene; the nightclub scene; 'I'd buy that for a dollar'; the toxic waste finale.

• Bill: Leeza Gibbons as the TV reporter – peak '80s entertainment personality. 'She did Tony Robbins infomercials in the 80s, hosted her own daytime show for 7 years, and has been married 4 times.'
• Kyle: Murphy's silk patterned shirt when he walks into the station – 'so 1987.'
• Bill: Stop-motion robot effects; over-the-top '80s thugs; watching 8 TVs through a store window; Lee Iacocca Elementary School easter egg; falling-out-of-building-backwards shots.

• Bill: Future crime-ridden Detroit prediction (Detroit went bankrupt in 2013). Gas prices at $5.79 (eerily accurate). Media Break as futuristic news (feels like YouTube/internet news). The 6000 SUX car commercial satirizing SUVs.
• Kyle: Two villains in one movie (Dick Jones + Boddicker) – works like Dark Knight or Silence of the Lambs. 'It should be a B movie and it refuses to be.'
• Bill: Characters named 'Dick' providing comedic gold every time. Bill did a deep dive: 'Dicks as a name are done. Craig: Dicks are dead.'
• Koppelman comparison to Succession: 'ED-209 coming in because Roman's like Dad, I got this new idea.'

• Bill: The sequels and 2014 PG-13 remake. 'Don't remake movies when I can still watch the original and it's really good. You can accidentally click on the Joel Kinnaman one when you meant the Weller one.'
• Kyle: RoboCop's WCW wrestling appearance with Sting in 1990 – 'the whole wall comes off when he tries to bend the bars.'
• Bill: Police strikes (haven't happened since the 1910s). The suit difficulties – Weller fell out with Verhoeven over it.

Kyle: RoboCop's shadow growing on the wall as he approaches the alley – 'they had him walk backwards so the shadow gets bigger. Fucking brilliant shot.'

Bill: The movie doesn't have a great needle drop, which is a missed opportunity. The nightclub scene needed a banger – 'could have gone Rockwell, could have gone hair metal, could have gone indie 80s.' Kyle agrees: 'They could have done Def Leppard, Duran Duran.'

• Kyle: 'The weak link of this film is that this movie is too short. I've never said that before. It's 102 minutes. I need 5 or 10 more minutes.' Deleted scenes included a chase with big guns and 'RoboCop' visiting his own grave – 'that sounds heavy metal as shit.'
• Craig disagrees: 'You're wrong. The movie is so tight.' But agrees they needed more Murphy family development.
• Bill: How is there not a scene where Murphy's wife finds out about 'RoboCop'? 'It's the easiest layup.' Kyle theorizes: Murphy wasn't so great at home – 'she moved on fast.'

• Bill: Miguel Ferrer as Bob Morton – 'dials it up a few times.'
• Kyle: ED-209 falling down the stairs – 'on his back, crying, his legs are flinging.'

• Kyle: The Dick Jones puppet falling out the window in the final shot ruins an otherwise masterpiece. 'Makes Mac and Me look like Avatar. They blew the 28-3 lead. I think the voters were like I can't nominate that with that thing falling out the window.'
• Bill: Kyle Brandt would have been a great 'RoboCop'. 'You got the chin, you're athletic.' Kyle reveals his last Hollywood audition was for a Knight Rider remake – 'I was like, this is it, I got to get out of here.'
• Craig: 'RoboCop' is 'not that hard to thwart.' Madden score of 82. 'He's incredibly slow, can barely turn around. Just hit him with your car.'
• Kyle: Dick Jones/ED-209 is a Freudian metaphor – 'Dick Jones has nothing down there. ED-209 is this big giant metal thing with balls that shoots.'

• Jonathan Kaplan was originally set to direct but chose 'Project X' (the Matthew Broderick monkey movie) instead.
• Verhoeven dismissed the script twice; his wife convinced him.
• Actors considered for Murphy: Schwarzenegger, Rutger Hauer, Tom Berenger, Armand Assante, Keith Carradine, James Remar, Steven Seagal (confirmed in the RoboDoc documentary).
• Michael Ironside offered Boddicker but turned it down (didn't want another psychopath; later regretted it).
• Kurtwood Smith auditioned for Dick Jones but was given Boddicker instead.
• Stephanie Zimbalist was cast as Lewis but had Remington Steele conflict; Nancy Allen replaced her.
• Weller was selected mainly because Verhoeven liked his chin.

• Bill: Ray Wise – 'for 40 years I thought he was Sosa from Scarface. It's a different actor.'
• Kyle: Alan Graff – 'legendary background actor in everything. He's in the donut shop in 'Boogie Nights', he's in 'Magnolia', he's in 'Jerry Maguire'.'
• Also: Paul McCrane (Emil / toxic waste guy).

Kyle: ED-209 – '3 scenes, takes it away.' Bill: 'I'd buy that for a dollar' guy – 'he was a K-Rock radio personality.'

• Bill: Steven Seagal as 'RoboCop' – 'he'd insist on never getting shot. All the shots miss. He's never in danger. Just a funnier movie.'
• Kyle: Wes Anderson's 'RoboCop' – 'corduroy suit, Grand Budapest Hotel, beats people up with ironic banjos and typewriters.'

• The 'RoboCop' suit cost $500K-$1M. Filmed in Dallas because it 'suggested the near future.'
• The movie was refused an R rating 11 times (Verhoeven says 8).
• Richard Nixon promoted the home video release for $25K and donated the money.
• All cops are named after serial killers. Verhoeven took prescription meds for insomnia and was 'apparently a maniac on set.'
• One explosion was bigger than intended; Ray Wise got glass on his face and was excited (they paid him extra).
• Police cars were '86 Ford Tauruses – probably peak Ford Taurus.
• 'RoboCop' was the biggest VHS rental of 1988.
• The RoboDoc documentary on Amazon is 'incredibly well done' according to Kyle – 4 parts, exhaustive.

• Detroit: 1987 ('RoboCop', 'Beverly Hills Cop' 2, Pistons nearly winning title, Tigers won 98 games, Barry Sanders coming, Anita Baker).
• Peter Weller: Yes.
• Verhoeven: No – 'Basic Instinct' is his apex.
• Ronnie Cox: Yes – 'RoboCop' + 'Beverly Hills Cop' 2 same year. 'Two years earlier he's in 'Vision Quest' with Linda Fiorentino staying at his house.'
• Miguel Ferrer: Probably yes.
• Kurtwood Smith: Probably That '70s Show.
• Ford Taurus as police car: Yes.
• Futuristic cop movies: Blade Runner still holds.
• ED-209: Apex Mountain for worst new technology rollout ever – 'him, Google Glass, Quibi, ESPN Mobile.'
• Violent scenes hard to watch: Kyle did a deep ranking – Murphy's death vs. 'Casino' cornfield, Private Ryan stabbing, 'True Romance' Gandolfini, Misery hobbling, American History X curb stomp, Irreversible.

• Kyle: 'The hard R rating – Scorsese has to do it. The cocaine scene alone is him. Spielberg did this movie – it was called AI and Haley Joel Osment was 'RoboCop'.'
• Bill: 'Scorsese's like, how many cocaine scenes are in there? Two? I'm in.'

• Kyle: 'Young, up-and-coming, 'Twister'/'Boogie Nights'-era PSH. One of the lab workers with Scotty J energy. Walking next to 'RoboCop' in a lab coat: I really like your suit. Looks really sexy.'
• Bill: Could have been Kenny (the boardroom victim) with his 'Scent of a Woman' PSH energy.

• Bill: Clarence Boddicker is a wanted criminal with 31 cop kills – but in the last half hour he's just strolling into Dick Jones's office going through the building. 'So is he a criminal or not?'
• Bill: We never see 'RoboCop' get in or out of a car because he's too big for the suit.
• Kyle: Was Bob Morton scouting cops to be killed so they could make RoboCops? 'Murphy's sudden transfer was because he fit the profile.'
• Bill: No idea what year the movie is set in – 'home video release said 1991 but nobody's established it.'

• Kyle: 'The real answer is video game. The arcade game was awesome.' They made many video games.
• Bill: A prequel with Murphy in old Detroit could work. An all-Black cast version could have been the 2014 answer.

• Bill: What year is this movie set in? No cell phones but they have DVDs.
• Bill: Was Bob Morton behind transferring Murphy to the worst part of Detroit so he could be killed and made into 'RoboCop'? Kyle: 'I think it was completely masterminded.'

• Bill: Mike Breen for ED-209 killing Kenny – 'Bang! Bang! He just took 40 bags!'
• Kyle: Gus Johnson on the alley scene – 'RoboCop! Young fella! Couple of scumbags!'
• Also discussed: Peter Schrager doing Dick Jones injury report analysis.

Bill: Special effects. Kyle: Actually won for sound effects editing. Bill notes 'RoboCop' was snubbed for effects – 'only 'Predator' and Innerspace got nominated.'

• Kyle: The Nukem board game from the fake commercial – 'we're going to have some friends over, some wine, some IPAs, some charcuterie, and we're going to play Nukem.'
• Bill: The 'RoboCop' mask/helmet – 'just have it behind me in the studio.'

• Bill: You can kill somebody, but you can't take their humanity.
• Kyle: If you're demoing weapons, use blanks. 'Like when Elon debuted the Cybertruck and the window broke. Still, ED-209 significantly worse.'

• Bill: Terminator + 'RoboCop' (double robot), or Verhoeven double with Starship Troopers or 'Total Recall'.
• Kyle: Notes the Cameron/Verhoeven rivalry – T2 has several shots that are 'note for note' 'RoboCop'. 'Both end in a steel mill, the spike-stab move, the backlit SWAT team. It's like spite scenes from Larry David.'

Kyle: 'A lot of people could have been 'RoboCop'. We need the horny blood-soaked Dutchman Paul Verhoeven. I think he absolutely cooked in every single sense. It's him.' Bill: 'I had him as well.'

Craig: 'The B movie that's trying to say something, Trojan-horsing you into a message. If you're half watching on your phone, it's a cheesy 80s sci-fi movie. But if you sit down and put your phone away, there is so much happening in the interstitials.' Also did a hot take: 'RoboCop is not that hard to thwart. Madden score of 82. He's incredibly slow, can't run, can barely turn around. Just hit him with your car.' And his crush on Doctor Tyler (Sage Parker) – 'looked her up, didn't have a career. Thought she looked like Parker Posey's sister.'