Years ago, it was announced that William Lustig’s Maniac Cop was being remake with John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) directing, Ed Brubaker (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) writing, and Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) producing. Earlier this year, Hyams reported that the film was still in the works.
Recently chatting with The Movie Crypt, Hyams teased the tone of the remake will be completely different.
“It will be a completely different thing tonally,” said Hyams. “I think that’s why I was hired. I think the reason why Nick was interested in me was because he saw what I had done with Universal Soldier, in the sense that I took it and made it my own and went completely off the reservation with it. Nick Refn loves exploitation cinema as much as the next guy, but he also is not interested in paying homage to things. He loves Maniac Cop, he loves the idea of it, he loves everything it represents, but he has no intention of making a tribute story.”
“We’ve spent the last several years now developing this thing and… what we’re trying to do is make something that we’re taking the ideas of Maniac Cop and exploring them in a deep way,” the director continued. “Our hope is that this is something that people who are fans of the original will find great pleasure in what we’re doing, because if you’re into genre storytelling you’re going to be into it, but I also think we’re telling a story about something bigger than that, which is really the breakdown of society.… It’s a big story that needed a larger canvas.”
The remake is set in present day and follows a determined L.A. police officer who sets out to reveal the truth about brutal murders of innocent people by one of her fellow cops.
Stay tuned for more details on the Maniac Cop remake! In the meantime, let us know if you want to see this remake in the comments below!