‘RoboCop’ Actors Peter Weller And Nancy Allen Reunite At C2E2 2025 For ‘Dead or Alive: A RoboCop Reunion’ Panel Where Weller Reveals Why He May Never Watch The Film Ever Again
There are moments in life when we each have to make difficult choices, whether it be between friends, lovers, long-term goals, or maybe just food on a menu.
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Then there’s when the voice cast of Matt Groening’s seemingly unkillable animated series Futurama is doing a panel on C2E2’s Main Stage at the exact same time when Peter Weller and Nancy Allen from Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 Sci-Fi/Action masterpiece, Robocop, are holding their own reunion in one of the smaller auditoriums, and the right decision requires very little thought whatsoever.
The two actors were greeted with a thunderous ovation from fans of all ages as they made their way to the stage on day two of Chicago’s annual C2E2 convention on a Saturday afternoon, but when they all quieted down and took their seats, one man alone remained standing.
Peter Weller, who plays the ill-fated Officer Alex Murphy of the Detroit Metro West police department (a division of Omni Consumer Products) before getting showered with shotgun blasts in the line of duty, and turned into the title character by his corporate employers, confided to the audience that his back was giving him trouble, and he elected to stand for a few moments until his human body was ready for the hard plastic chair that awaited it.
Along with being a classically trained actor, Dr. Weller also holds a Ph. D in Italian Renaissance Art History, and is a professor in the History department at Syracuse University where students get to watch the 77-year-old legend merge both professions into a presence of vast intellect and authority that commands the attention of every room he enters.
And he has absolutely no trouble maintaining it once his voice begins rolling through the silent air. Standing over his costar (and partner in the film, Officer Ann Lewis), Murph-… I mean WELLER immediately went into lecture mode, and asked the crowd to sum up the first RoboCop movie in just one word.
The crowd began to stir, and then people started shouting their answers. One person yelled “Capitalism,” which Nancy Allen mistook for “Cannibalism.” Someone said “Resurrection,” and Dr. Weller took back control of the room when he finally received the correct answer. This is something that has been discussed among fans since the movie blasted its way into theaters almost four decades ago, and it is true.
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The path of Alex Murphy was death, rebirth as Robocop, and resurrection when he regained his memories. Something which is signified near the end of the movie with a shot of Murphy walking across water towards that cop-killing Clarence Boddicker because he wasn’t arresting him anymore (if you needed a spoiler alert for that, get out).
The good doctor tied up his lecture in a way that had everyone laughing until they were holding their sides, and other places on their frail fleshy bodies, if ya know what I mean… “This movie ain’t indemnified because I shot somebody in the d—,” he concluded to loud approval.
The conversation then turned to Weller’s grueling ordeal of preparing for the very physical role, enduring 6-10 hours of makeup/prosthetic application every single day, and then having to act in an ultraviolent satire of 80s consumerism that he didn’t fully understand at the time.
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Allen admitted that she saw something special coming together while viewing the dailies, and felt moved after seeing it at the premiere, but the same couldn’t be said about the film’s main star when he saw the finished product. “I was not moved,” he said. “I thought it was OK. I sat in judgment of it.” This would change when he let himself get roped into a screening five years ago while initially attending the event to just do a Q&A session.
However, it didn’t leave him with the feelings of warm nostalgic joy that most fans get while viewing the timeless classic, but rather the same bleak melancholy known by Murphy when he was able to feel the family he had lost, but couldn’t remember them. “I saw it as a tragedy,” Weller said flatly. “It makes me weepy.” Then he added that he doesn’t think he’ll ever watch it again.
They discussed working with the visionary Dutch filmmaker, who carries the reputation of being a tyrannical, larger-than-life personality on the set. Despite considering Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Showgirls) a “f—king screwball” while they were filming, Weller understood his part in the grand scheme of things, and Allen backed him up (as a good partner does) by calling Verhoeven “the engine” of the entire production.
Weller also reflected on when the director would press on him the importance of the resurrection theme, and why the film goes far beyond being some generic 80s action flick. “Your soul is waking up,” Weller recalled Verhoeven telling him during filming, “It’s the only thing they can’t take from you. Progress can’t take your soul.”
RoboCop is available to watch on Max. RoboCop 2 is a step down, but still watchable with a subscription to MGM+. You can find Robocop 3 on your own.
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