CraveOnline: Did Mattox know Alex Murphy before he became Robocop?
Jackie Earle Haley: No, he didn’t.
What does Mattox think of this Alex Murphy business?
Rick is going to do his job for OmniCorp because he’s a good company guy, but he kind of feels that putting a man into the system is a huge mistake. The reason being is his 208s and 209s are going to do exactly what he knows they’re going to do to any given stimuli. Putting a man in the system could create hesitation and more risk so he’s not really digging the idea, but he’s doing his job and he’s training him and he’s preparing him.
The 209s didn’t work so well in the original Robocop. Did Rick Mattox do a better job designing them?
I think so.
209s are based on the ED-209, but what are the 208s?
208s are also called drones and they’re standing robots. The 208s are humanoid looking.
Next, are you in a Bolden movie?
That was filmed a long time ago, like five years ago, so that one’s sitting on a shelf somewhere. I’m not sure what’s going on with that.
What did you play in Bolden!?
We did a silent film too at the same time that we did that and that one did come out. I played Judge Perry.
Was Judge Perry a real person?
No, it’s fiction.
What are you doing after Robocop then?
I’m getting ready to direct a film but it’s too early to really talk about it. I’ll be talking more about that later when it’s time.
That’s great. Was that a long time coming, that you wanted to get into directing?
Yeah, it has but I’ve been kind of just focused on the acting. Once I resurged back into the acting thing, I kind of wanted to focus on it instead of trying to get the directing thing going, but now I think it’s time to jump in.
Are you still living in Texas?
Yeah, I’m living in San Antonio, Texas. Love it out here.
Where did they shoot Robocop?
We shot it in Toronto.
Has that been easy to bounce back and forth from home to wherever your films are shooting?
Well, it’s never easy but Toronto wasn’t that difficult. It was easier to get there than it was to Vancouver, but it can be a little difficult. I look forward to the day when I get hired and it’s going to shoot in Austin or something.
We never got a chance to talk about Lincoln but Alexander Stephens was so interesting. Was it interesting to get inside the head of someone who maybe didn’t want to quite admit they lost the Civil War?
Yeah, that was a fantastic experience. It was neat working with Steve and it was really neat working across from Daniel. The character was fascinating, the vice president of the Confederacy. It was interesting trying to get my head into that scene and to prepare for it and try to sound like I was from that time and with that accent. It was just a cool experience.
Were you aware of the negotiations he tried to make with Lincoln?
I wasn’t aware until I started reading Team of Rivals.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
