Nicolas Winding Refn has been very quiet. In fact, the Drive director, who seemed on the way to the top with the Ryan Gosling action drama film, hasn’t made a film since 2016’s Elle Fanning-led The Neon Demon. That was 10 years ago. But if you missed the neon and the catchy synths and pulsing electronic basslines, the good news is that the director is returning to cinema with a reboot of a classic: 1988’s Maniac Cop (via World Of Reel).
The Neon Demon, the film that stalled Refn’s career for over a decade, was a controversial release, much like his worksbefore it. With a 59% critics’ score and a 51% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it was higher than Only God Forgives‘ 41%, but not anywhere near the acclaim Drive received when it was released in 2013. Critics started mocking his pictures, especially for the slow, neon-lit images of characters staring into space.
But others loved it. They couldn’t get enough of Refn’s work. So his absence has left a big hole in cinema.
Yes, of course, he did do some television work over the years. Too Old To Die Young showed up on Amazon in 2019. Copenhagen Cowboy arrived in 2022. And, at one point, he was even developing Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five. But none of the TV stuff had the urban dread you’d expect when seeing his films.
Now, according to original Maniac Cop director William Lustig, Refn is preparing to shoot the reboot in autumn 2026. Lustig, now executive producing, confirmed on Icons Of Fright: “Nic has it as his next project, that will shoot in the fall.”
Those who remember know that the 1988 original carried one of the greatest taglines ever printed on a poster: “You have the right to remain silent… forever.” It followed a killer in NYPD uniform terrorising New York City while Tom Atkins’ Lieutenant McCrae hunted him down and Bruce Campbell’s Officer Jack Forrest found himself framed for the murders.
Refn’s version was once set up at HBO, which reportedly spent “a million dollars” developing scripts before corporate reshuffling under Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022 derailed it. “We’re not in the Maniac Cop business,” Lustig recalled them saying before the project died.
Legal delays after Larry Cohen (the original writer) died in 2019 stalled everything for years. But now that the estate issues are settled, a distributor is apparently locked in, and cameras are preparing to roll.
Refn already has Her Private Hell, starring Sophie Thatcher, rumoured for Cannes in May. But Maniac Cop feels like the real comeback. Neon lights. Violence. And snyth. We’re here for it.
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