Hill talks Short Circuit remake

Tim Hill, director of the upcoming “Short Circuit” remake, spoke to The Los Angeles Times about why he feels the subject matter – yes, that of a talking robot befriending a young woman – is relevant today. Apparently, nothing to do with robot love.

The thing that makes it so relevant is that we live in this age of robots, particularly when it comes to war. We have drones that do our fighting for us, do all these jobs men and women don’t want to do. And that’s what makes this so interesting — things like this moment in the story when Johnny realizes he’s going to be disassembled and contemplates death, and whether it’s right to terminate someone else.

Hill says the new Johnny 5 will be something akin to the original…

I’m tempted to go back and grab the original. But I think it has to be closer to what modern design actually is. There are computer models and labs developing real machines like this. We want to do something like that. You’ve got to find the balance between something fierce and something endearing. The original was cute. But no one was threatened by it.

Hill also suggested he will be deaging the lead character, played by Ally Sheedy in the original; expect a teen female to headline by sounds.