Nicolas Winding Refn Producing Prequel to MANIAC COP

Nicolas Winding Refn has made movies about vikings, drug dealers, and stunt drivers, and now the Danish director is going to make one about a killer police officer. According to The Daily Grindhouse (via Badass Digest), Refn will be producing a prequel to the 1988 horror/action film Maniac Cop.

The original movie starred Robert Z'Dar as the title character who wandered through the streets of New York City killing innocent civilians. Bruce Campbell played a young officer who was framed for the maniac's crimes and tasked with bringing him down before it was too late. It was written by Larry Cohen and directed by William Lustig, and those two spoke to The Daily Grindhouse about Refn's involvement:

“It’s going to be more a prequel than anything else, I am really excited to come back to this world especially since Nick is going to be a part of it” said Cohen. “Nick (Winding Refn) has been talking to us about it for a while now and I had an idea that would work so we’re going to do it.” Cohen said that the film will still maintain the noir-ish comic book feel of the first three films but “with a bigger budget than the others have had.”

He says that the paperwork hasn't been signed yet, so there's a small chance this could still fall through, but it sounds like Refn is interested. Perhaps he'll be so interested that he might step behind the camera and direct this, since the project is still searching for a director. I've never seen the original movie, but this concept sounds totally insane...strangely enough, it kind of sounds exactly like something Refn would work on, considering his previous filmography. Have you seen the original Maniac Cop? Who do you think would be a good choice to direct a prequel?