Back in 2014, the RoboCop reboot ended up being a disappointment, failing to live up to its predecessor and performing poorly enough both critically and financially that a sequel was never really an option. Now, it sits alongside Total Recall as a remake which never should have happened. However, it turns out that director José Padilha also has plenty of regrets!

Talking in a recent interview about the “stressful experience” of making RoboCop, the filmmaker appeared to blame clashes with the studio for why it didn’t turn out right.

“I didn’t have the creative freedom I needed. I spent 90% of the time fighting. It made me realise that making a studio movie is not the same as making a film. I will think a million times before getting involved in another production of that size. I got into this Hollywood business thinking that I could make the film I wanted, with my cinema criteria. My mistake.”

Comments like these are something we’ve heard from many directors over the years, and blockbusters losing newer filmmakers over “creative differences” is now a regular occurrence. However, Padilha being given a little more freedom is far from a guarantee that RoboCop would have suddenly been better, especially when it was always so unnecessary!

Regardless, Padilha has plenty of other great sounding projects on the way, both on the big and small screens. His next movie will tell the story of 1976 hijack of an Air France airliner.