Having hired Elite Squad director Jose Padhila to helm the long-in-development RoboCop remake, The Playlist reports that MGM has now hired in-demand screenwriter Josh Zetumer to write the script.

Daron Aronofsky flirted with this project for years, (and his “ultra-violent reboot” is supposedly still in the cards) before taking off to direct The Wolverine. With Brazilian director Padhila hired, the wheels are finally groaning back to life, and now with Zetumer on board, things should get interesting.

For a writer without a produced credit, Zetumer is quickly shooting up the ranks of the A-list. With two of his spec scripts landing on the Black List in 2006 (Infiltrator) and 2007 (Villain, with Leonardo DiCaprio attaching himself to the latter), and drafts of Bourne 4 and Quantum of Solace to his credit, Zetumer’s stock is impressive.

His 175-page draft for a new Dune film was put on ice when director Pierre Morel bailed out. In the meantime, Zetumer has been working as a script doctor on a number of projects, including 2011′s The Darkest Hour, starring Emile Hirsch.

In case you don’t know, here’s what we’re dealing with:

“the futuristic 1987 film originally helmed by Paul Verhoeven. The original was about a cop who was near death and was drafted to become a powerful cyborg cop, until suppressed memories of his past life come back to haunt him. Peter Weller played the character in the original and the 1990 sequel.”

Now, just typing the word “reboot” over and over is making many of us bloggers nauseated, but this is one franchise that deserves an update. It was a cult comic, and Verhoeven’s original film has actually not aged well. I’m looking forward to this project, and if MGM is smart, they’ll stick with this writer and director, who are bound to a put a fresh spin on the material.

Are you a RoboCop fan? Do you think we even need a remake