Rob Zombie is giving up Michael Myers’ mask in favor of a real hockey mask. The rocker-turned director has reportedly signed on to direct the upcoming film, ‘Broad Street Bullies,’ about the ’70s-era Philadelphia Flyers team that knocked off the Soviet Union’s team in a brutal competition.
Deadline reports that Zombie was interested in stepping outside of the horror genre, and was interested in the project. He’ll reportedly direct, write and produce the film, and says he likens the tone to ‘Boogie Nights’ meets ‘Rocky.’

The Philadelphia Flyers were just emerging as an expansion team in the ’70s and their physical style of play went from something their competition knew about to becoming the stuff of legend once they played the Red Army team and roughed them up so bad that the Russians left the ice in the first period. The Russian team only returned after being told they would not get paid if they did not return to the ice.

The Flyers won the game 4-1, with their coach Fred Shero proclaiming, ‘Yes, we are the world champions. If they had won, they would have been world champions. We beat the hell out of a machine.” The team’s exploits were later captured in the HBO documentary ‘Broad Street Bullies.’

Zombie reached out to the team and got the rights to the story with the full support of the Flyers organization. At present, Zombie is in post-production on his latest film, ‘The Lords of Salem.’ That film is expected to arrive later this year.

-loudwire.com