Rob Zombie isn’t a name you’d typically associate with sports, but the musician turned filmmaker is stepping away from the horror genre for his next picture which will focus on the 1970’s Philadelphia Flyers, better known to hockey fans as the Broad Street Bullies. Zombie recently spoke with Artisan News about the project and gave an update about casting and when filming will take place.’

Zombie says that the script was the hardest part about the project but it has been finished and is ready for shooting. As far as actors go, the director says that hockey is the hardest sport to try and replicate on film.

“You can easily be able to fake playing baseball or football, but hockey,” Zombie said, stroking his beard, “Those guys are superior athletes and I think we’re going to need to find actors who are already good skaters or players who are good actors.”

Directing a movie about the Broad Street Bullies couldn’t be a larger departure for Zombie who is clearly trying to stick out in the world of filmmaking. His last picture, Lords of Salem was a stunning visual art house film that won over critics and has gotten Zombie a ton of street cred in filmmaking circles.

If he can pull off a period piece about the Philadelphia Flyers, waters he’s never tread before, then it’s safe to say that Zombie will have fully arrived as a filmmaker rather than being known as a musician just trying to be a filmmaker. Broad Street Bullies is set to begin filming before the end of 2013 but a tentative release date has not yet been made.