ROB ZOMBIE to write and direct biopic of the 1970s Philadelphia Flyers team

ravenheart · #1 06-21-2012, 06:35 AM

ROB ZOMBIE will 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. Zombie, known for his head-banging music before transitioning to genre films like House Of 1000 Corpses and Halloween, is making a departure with this film, sort of, because the Flyers’ brutal style of play is genre-worthy and has the makings for a hockey film on the order of the 1977 sports film classic Slap Shot.

The physical play of the Flyers was legendary, to the point that when they played the Soviet Union’s supposedly invincible and tough Red Army team, the Flyers roughed them up so badly that the Russian team left the ice in the first period, and only returned when told they would not get paid if they didn’t. The Flyers won the game 4-1, with head coach Fred Shero proclaiming, “Yes we are world champions. If they had won, they would have been world champions. We beat the hell out of a machine.” Despite being known as Freddy’s Philistines because of the work of enforcers like Dave Schultz, the Flyers had skilled players like Bobby Clarke and won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in two-fisted fashion. Their exploits were captured in the HBO docu Broad Street Bullies.

Zombie got the rights to the team’s story and has the full support of the Flyers organization. He likened the tone of the tale to Rocky meets Boogie Nights on ice. “Each character involved is more outrageous than the next,” Zombie said. “The backdrop of the turbulent year of 1974 is perfect for this ‘stranger than fiction’ sports tale.”