Nicolas Winding Refn-Produced Action Thriller ‘Maniac Cop’ Remake Is Happening

Nicolas Winding Refn is moving forward on his crazy new spy movie The Avenging Silence, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any other projects in the works. Refn will be producing Maniac Cop, a remake of the 1988 cult classic directed by William Lustig, which starts shooting this year. Refn won’t be directing the new version — that honor goes to John Hyams, producer and director of Syfy’s zombie apocalypse show Z Nation, but he does have a hand in writing the script.

Variety reports that the modern adaptation of the film will start production this summer in Los Angeles, with a script co-written by Refn and Ed Brubaker (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Angel of Death). The movie is set in the modern day, and follows a police officer who is determined to track down one of her colleagues, who has embarked on a brutal murder spree.

Lene Borglum, Refn’s producing partner with Space Rocket Nation, told Variety that the movie won’t be “a pure horror film,” but a contemporary take on the material with an action-thriller lean. The project has been in development for a long time, as it took a while to secure the rights and get a director and financing, and all that other non-fun stuff that’s essential to getting a movie off the ground.

Maniac Cop doesn’t have a set release date yet, but casting is currently underway.