Rob Zombie Developing BROAD STREET BULLIES
Rob Zombie is taking a break from horror on his next project. Deadline reports that the Halloween director is set to write, direct, and produce Broad Street Bullies, "a film about the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team that evolved from a cellar-dwelling expansion team into a team that racked up victories and penalty minutes in equal measure during the 1970s." Bullies will reportedly be in the same vain as Slap Shot.
The team was legendary badasses, they pummeled the Soviet Union's "supposedly invincible and tough" Red Army team so badly that they refused to return to the ice after the first period. The Russian team only agreed to play after they found out they were not going to be paid. The Flyers ended up winning the game 4-1. HBO did a documentary of the same name.
Zombie considers the tone of the film to be Rocky meets Boogie Nights. He had this to say about the project, “Each character involved is more outrageous than the next. The backdrop of the turbulent year of 1974 is perfect for this ‘stranger than fiction’ sports tale.” Zombie has the full backing of the Flyers organization, and has purchased the rights to the team's story.
Bullies will be produced by Zombie, Andy Gould, Les Borsai and Jeremy Platt. Financing is currently being tightened up, so production could begin sooner than later. Zombie's next film is The Lords of Salem. There are a lot of hockey movies lately, with Goon, Kevin Smith's Hit Somebody and now Bullies. Which do you want to see?