Joel Kinnaman has officially signed on for the lead role in RoboCop. José Padilha, director of Elite Squad and its recent sequel Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, will direct this long-delayed remake of Paul Verhoeven's seminal 1987 sci-fi classic for MGM.

Joshua Zetumer wrote the screenplay, which follows Officer Alex J. Murphy (originally played by Peter Weller), a recently transferred Detroit police officer in the not-to-distant future, who is shot in the line of duty and left for dead. He is resurrected as a cyborg and reprogrammed to clean up the streets in a massive citywide reconstruction project, but as his memory slowly starts to come back, Murphy sets out to destroy the corporation that rebuilt him.

Joel Kinnaman hails from Stockholm, Sweden, where he made a name for himself as an actor before becoming well-known in the states for his performance on AMC's hit drama series The Killing, which returns for Season 2 this April 1st. Kinnaman most recently appeared on the big screen in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Safe House.