Rob Zombie to write and direct a movie based on the Broad Street Bullies!

I just heard this one today while listening to sports radio station 94 WIP and had to look up all the "what nots" the second I got in from the day job.

Apparently, it was an exclusive piece on the website Deadline.com, and if you click that link you'll be taken to their full piece. The gist of it though is that Rob Zombie has landed the rights to and will write/produce/direct a movie about our legendary hometown Philly hockey heroes from the 70's, the Broad Street Bullies.  What comes as an even bigger surprise to me is that he also reportedly has the full support of the franchise.  C'mon, imagine for a second (if you will) a photo opp something to the effect of Zombie flanked by old-timer brass like Paul Holmgren and owner Ed Snider. Could there be a more odd trio?

For those who only know Rob Zombie as a musician, he has created films such as "House of 1000 Corpses," "The Devil's Rejects" and more recently the "Halloween" I and II remakes.  While it is obvious that the man likes horror films (even more so if you know his music!) the man has a genuine love for all things dirty and from the seventies.  When I say "dirty" I'm not talking smut here, but the obvious definition of the word...and hell, take a look at a photo from the Broad Street Bullies days and tell me if those were pretty boys. As odd as it sounds, this could be a really well matched creator and concept.

There must have already been 30 sites when I Googled up the information and all of them are stating the same thing, so I don't feel too bad in saying a little more info since everyone else pilfered it from Deadline.com.  Zombie likened his take on the film as something like "Rocky" meets "Boogie Nights."  Again, it couldn't get more perfect than this! Also mentioned as potential story elements were the game against the Soviet Union's Red Army team, where the Flyers beat them up so badly the Russkies walked off the ice in the FIRST PERIOD and threatened not to play anymore...until they were told they wouldn't be paid.

Yeah, this is gonna be nothing but increasingly more interesting to read up on each time a news bit drops somewhere on the internet.  Hopefully Philly will get some excellent film representation and perhaps a Flyers alumni cameo or two.  But the story possibilities seem endless on this one.

If you have yet to see it, you'll want to watch HBO's brilliant "Broad Street Bullies" documentary, which'll totally fill you in (I'm sure) on what to mostly expect in the Zombie-created film.  I've watched it repeatedly and you will too, even if you're not a fan of the team! you just don't see hockey or people like that anymore.

Consider me hyped.  Get to work on that script Rob!