Maniac Cop—the b-movie, undead cop/slasher movie franchise so ridiculous that it managed to use the same tagline twice (“You Have The Right To Remain Silent…Forever!”)—has a devoted fanbase, thanks mostly to the b-movie gods behind it: all three films are directed by William Lustig (Maniac, Vigilante) and written by Larry Cohen (It’s Alive!, God Told Me To).  And, apparently, a prominent member of that fanbase is Drive and Bronson director Nicholas Winding Refn, who has signed on to produce a prequel to the 1988 original film.

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On the heels of substantial festival buzz Nicolas Winding Refn sat down for a roundtable to talk Bronson, his take on the man the British media once labeled “Most Violent Prisoner.” Refn has been a filmmaker to watch since the first of the Pusher Trilogy debuted, earning accolades for its raw portrayal of low level hustling on the streets of Copenhagen. A decade later he’s managed to pull The Charlie Bronson Story out of development hell, taking it beyond the expected ripped-from-the-headlines account and into the realm of the surreal.

Here’s his candid explanation of what makes Bronson more than a prison movie, why he had no interest in making a standard biopic, and how two very different meetings earned Tom Hardy some hard time as the UK’s most notorious inmate.

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BRONSON, directed by Nicholas Winding Refn (Pusher trilogy), is the story of a notorious British jailbird “Charles Bronson” played by character actor Tom Hardy. Refn collaborated on the screenplay with Brock Norman Brock, based loosely on the subject’s popular autobiography about his time in prison.

Check out our review below…

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