Peter Weller stars in the movie Bang, which is now streaming.
Peter Weller stars in the movie Bang, which is now streaming. Credit: Saban Films

Best known for his title role in the 1987 action movie RoboCop, veteran actor and Alamo Heights High School graduate Peter Weller, 78, has no intention of slowing down during his twilight years.

In his latest film, Bang, Weller plays Morgan Cutter, a sadistic crime boss who is reluctant to part with his best hitman, William Bang (Jack Kesy), even when Bang begins to question his violent profession after a near-death experience.

Along with a new movie, Weller just released the book, Leon Battista Alberti in Exile: Tracing the Path to the First Modern Book on Painting, about the Italian author’s sources of inspiration.

During an interview with the Current, Weller also talked about being a life-long learner, his interpretation of the myth of Sisyphus and what he thinks of another RoboCop remake.

Bang is currently streaming on VOD platforms. Leon Battista Alberti in Exile is available for purchase at amazon.com and from retail book shops.

Did you get a chance to play golf with your friends the last time you were in San Antonio?

I always play golf with my San Antonio buddies. We go on a golf course, and we yell politics at each other. In Texas, as opposed to L.A., you have to walk on eggshells politically. But in San Antonio, you can yell out, “I can’t believe you voted for that guy!”

You speak Italian in your latest movie. Was that in the script?

No, I threw Italian into it. It’s a language I know. I would have thrown French into it. Or Spanish! I am a Welsh, Irish, French, Scottish, German, middle-class white boy. I’m a wannabe Mediterraneo. I learned all this stuff. I forced myself to learn it.

You strike me as a lifelong learner, especially when you write a book on such a niche subject as Leon Battista Alberti.

That’s thanks to my dad and my mom. I gotta say, “Go learn it!” Leon Battista Alberti in Exile is about the most famous Renaissance guy in the world, and where he got his ideas. [The book] will walk you through, pictorially, the Renaissance. It’ll walk you through all the greatest hits.

So, you’ve written a book, and you’re still making movies. What’s left on your to-do list moving forward?

I’m preparing for another movie right now, which I hope is going to be brilliant. Then, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ll play some more jazz [trumpet]. I play in a quintet. We just played a gig two weeks ago. I’ll write another book [and] maybe direct a short film. I’m thinking about making a film about [Othello villain] Iago meeting [psychoanalyst] Sigmund Freud for 20 minutes.

In Bang, there’s a scene where your character says, “Work puts man into action.” It sounds like you’re the kind of person who thinks if he retires, he’ll probably die the following week because there’d be nothing to do.

You know, in the myth of Sisyphus, this guy is condemned to roll a rock uphill, and it just rolls back down. Some people look at that as a curse because there’s no way to win. But if you don’t stop the rock at the top and just do nothing, you’re dead. If you don’t embrace the fact that you’ve got stuff to do, then you’re dead. So, I don’t want to retire. I want to die on a movie set or on a bandstand with my family around me.

You find happiness in having purpose.

That shows up in every spiritual tradition. I mean, some people can get to a place and quit. They can say, “I’m going to take my Social Security, and I’m going to lay out.” And do what? Decay? That drives me nuts. I gotta get out and walk around town and say hello to people. I gotta jump in the water. I’m a mako shark, man. I can’t sit. There’s no quitting.

In 2023, Amazon Studios said it was developing a RoboCop TV series and a new movie and called it a priority for the company. MGM tried to remake RoboCop in 2014, and it didn’t work out very well. Is it a mistake to try again?

I applaud anybody trying to do anything. I just don’t know if it can be replicated. I mean, the best remake I’ve ever seen was the Coen Brothers’ True Grit. It’s phenomenal. The Coens and Jeff Bridges blew it out of the water. So, it’s not bad to look at [RoboCop] again. But [original director] Paul Verhoeven turned [RoboCop] into something sociologically profound about rebirth and resurrection and loss and family. The thing that makes [RoboCop] viable and resilient forever is its themes. If you just try to be entertaining on the surface, then you’ll lose.

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This article appears in Sep 3-17, 2025.