“Right now, we’re just going through writers and getting the script ready, and we hope to go make it in the future. [William Lustig]’s a very underrated director. His films are very influential still, and it’s a great privilege to be able to work with him. We’re taking it one step and a time, but very soon we will find a director and they will make it his or her movie,” Nicolas Winding Refn said over two years ago about the brewing remake of "Maniac Cop" that he was producing, but not not much has been heard about it in that time. However, it looks like the redo of the cult classic has some new life.
Twitch reports that John Hyams is on board to direct the project, with the filmmaker himself confirming the news on Twitter. Hyams is probably best known for directing "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" and "Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning," which have found approval from fans of that franchise. Meanwhile, Ed Brubaker will be penning the script, and while early word was that this will be a prequel to the 1988 film, it seems to be a straight up redo now.
No word yet on when production will begin but it looks like things are on the move again. It looks like a pretty solid B-movie team is being assembled to bring "Maniac Cop" to the big screen again, so perhaps this will be the rare case of the remake doing justice to the original.