Abbie Cornish: Gary Oldman ‘Inspired’ RoboCop Performance

Abbie Cornish has revealed that she took the opportunity to learn various tricks of the trade from her RoboCop co-star, Gary Oldman, during their time on set together.

The 31-year-old actress said that working with the English acting legend was “refreshing,” and she couldn’t help but bend his ear over how she too can excel in the industry. His response left her in awe of his ability and she now hopes that she can maintain the same level of longevity that he’s achieved.

At the world premiere of the RoboCop reboot, which was held at London’s Waterloo IMAX, she explained, “When I first sat down with Gary I said, ‘Gary do you mind if I ask you a few questions, actor to actor?’ I said, ‘You’ve done this for a while, you’re incredible at what you do, do you still get that same feeling of excitement when you walk on the set that I feel when I walk on a set?'”

She continued, “And he’s like, ‘Every day.’ And it was so nice and so refreshing. I mean I’ve worked for around 15 to 16 years, and you look at him and it’s like, I hope that I have a career like that. It’s like that feeling, that buzz. it’s inspirational.”

Jose Padilha’s remake of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi classic sees American actor, Joel Kinnaman replace Paul Weller as the titular protagonist. Cornish, plays RoboCop Alex Murphy’s wife, Clara, in the blockbuster, a character who didn’t appear in the original, and Cornish believes that she plays a vital role in giving the movie more emotion and pathos.

“Well I think [my role is] just a pulse, a heartbeat to Murphy’s story that helps with the humanity, the existential element of robot verses man and humanity. Mostly heart, I think,” she declared.

Cornish also admitted that she is a huge fan of Verhoeven’s 1987 RoboCop, and that she understands her role within the picture, stating, “I feel I grew up with this film so it felt really nostalgic. It was so nice to be able to create that role. I didn’t do any action stuff. There’s RoboCop and there’s all the action stuff, there’s OmniCorp… I play the role of wife, mother.”

Back in March, Cornish was optimistic that Padilha’s RoboCop could even eclipse its predecessor, as she stated that it was going to be “a massively kick-ass film. … I actually have a voicemail message from Jose Padilha, the director. He says in the message, ‘I don’t think we’ve got a great movie. I think we’ve got a classic.”

[Image via s_bukley/Shutterstock]