THE WINTER SOLDIER’s Ed Brubaker Has Written A MANIAC COP Remake
It isn't that we hate all remakes, it's that most remakes start from a place of cynical emptiness - "This is a name brand, and therefore if it fails it isn't my fault" - that never fills itself with any imagination or creativity. Too many modern remakes are done by hacks who claim to be doing an all-new take and then load the movie down with dopey references to the original (Hey Len Wiseman, I'm looking at your Total Recall remake). But remakes are fair game, if the talent behind the remake is quality and the take is fresh.
Well, we have the first half of that statement covered with the upcoming Maniac Cop remake: Ed Brubaker, the comic writer behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier and smash crime/occult comic Fatale, is penning the remake. Nicholas Winding Refn is producing (he had briefly flirted with directing) and original director Wiliam Lustig is also onboard. That's a quality crew tackling a movie that - while still great, and totally watchable today - can be easily updated for a modern, post-Occupy poilce milieu.
The original film - I'm sure you know - is about a serial killer stalking New York dressed like a cop. The one place where the remake will be truly hard-pressed to match the orginal is casting; the first film starred Bruce Campbell and Tom Atkins... and the iconic Robert Z'Dar as the Maniac Cop. How do you top that?
The one remaining piece of the puzzle: who will direct? The announcement will be made at Cannes, but Brubaker assures me over Twitter that I'm going to love the choice.
