While this news has yet to be confirmed, it would seem that visionary director Darren Aronofsky's next project will not be the long-rumored ROBOCOP reboot, but instead could be BLACK SWAN, a supernatural thriller set in the New York City ballet company, currently said to have Natalie Portman attached to star. The film would focus on a "veteran ballerina (Portman) who finds herself locked in a competitive situation with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance. But it's unclear whether the rival is a supernatural apparition or if the protagonist is simply having delusions."

So what does this mean for Aronofsky's ROBOCOP? Well, it may not be Aronofsky's anymore. Although MGM has declined to comment, there are rumors floating about that the studio has begun to get the ball rolling on finding another director. However, this is believed to just be a precautionary measure to reinforce ROBOCOP's planned 2011 released date in case BLACK SWAN ends up running over schedule, which is known to happen on a film by Mr. Aronofsky. Recently, Aronofsky has said that he and writer David Self (ROAD TO PERDITION) have been working away at a story for their reboot of the popular 80s action film. Not much more has been said other than that.

As you may remember, a similar story came out in December as Aronofsky was promoting THE WRESTLER, in which he was apathetic when it came to any questions related to ROBOCOP. At the time, rumors that Aronofsky was done with ROBOCOP were thought to just be heresay due to his disinterest in anything ROBOCOP-related while he was trying to focus on THE WRESTLER during Oscar season.

Only time will tell on this, but if the rumors of BLACK SWAN being Aronofsky's next film are true, then one thing is for sure - we are going to have to wait a little bit longer for this man's likely-to-be-amazing vision of the fallen cop resurrected as a justice-serving cyborg. I just hope that this project does not suffer the fate of Aronofsky's BATMAN or WATCHMEN adaptation. While I faithfully loved both from their respected directors, at the time that Aronofsky was attached, the idea of his style being applied to either BATMAN or WATCHMEN was something to get excited over. This being the same excitement I have for what he will potentially do with ROBOCOP - a film that, while undoubtedly enjoyable, has shown itself to be quite campy over time, as well as quite dated, unlike its peers (TERMINATOR, PREDATOR, etc.).

What do you think about this news?

Source The Hollywood Reporter