Special thanks to Angela “Bunny” Urban for sharing her photos and intel from the Days of the Dead Chicago Robocop panel with Ronny Cox and Ray Wise. I did get to finally meet Wise and will discuss that at the bottom of the post. First, let’s see how well you know the original Robocop film…

*The movie was filmed in Dallas, Texas with the street that had been blown up during filming slated to be demolished soon after. Apparently, it never happened and you can still see the wrecked road to this day.

*Wise admits he was unaware his co-star Paul McCrane (Emil) was going to “melt” after his exposure to toxic waste. The special effects were never used during rehearsal and Wise’s horrified expression in the film was a genuine reaction.  

*Director, Paul Verhoeven, put so many squibs (air-powered devices that mimic the illusion of a gunshot) on Wise he felt nauseous during filming. “Paul came from a war-torn country,” said Wise, “He didn’t feel mainstream films ever portrayed gunshots and violence as graphic and accurately as they are in real life.”

*Cox is a musician and claims to have been present when the legendary Buddy Holly recorded his famous, “Peggy Sue.”

*Both Cox and Wise have appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wise played a Vulcan and still has his pointy “ears” which he wears every Halloween. Cox played Captain Jellico and says he’s responsible for getting rid of the fish tank that used to be part of the set; something that Patrick Stewart was “very grateful for.”

That Sunday I met Wise and he was extremely pleasant. I looked over his 8×10’s and asked if he had any from my favorite film he’s in, Digging up the Marrow (2014). He turned to his assistant, “Make a note, we need to get stills from that movie.” I ended up settling on one from “Jeepers Creepers 2” (2003). Incidentally, there weren’t any pictures from my second favorite Wise film, Infestation (2009), either. 

Dave Fuentes~