Mel Brooks cooks up horror flick Pizzaman

Comedy legend and horror fan Mel Brooks says his next film will be a slasher flick called Pizzaman , with production expected to start this autumn/winter in Illinois.

“I’ve got a script and I’ve got a director,” Brooks told Fangoria . “ Pizzaman was written years ago by my longtime collaborators Steve Haberman and Rudy De Luca. They did Dracula: Dead And Loving It for me, a great horror/comedy film. Then they also did Life Stinks , in which I starred. It was funny and very moving, too. It was one of the best pictures I ever did as an actor. So these guys are not untalented.”

As well as penning the screenplay, Haberman will also direct.

“Steve Haberman is a very good screenwriter and just a natural director who knows everything there is to know about directing a horror movie. Born to do it. Born to be a horror film director. Steve is now in Illinois, scouting locations,” Brooks revealed.

Pizzaman follows a young man who is locked up in an insane asylum for a crime he didn't commit and is sent crazy by his time inside. When he is released he decides to get even with society and the people who put him there and becomes a pizza delivery man to carry out the killings.

“When they told me the plot of Pizzaman , I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ And they said, ‘No, it’s a real great idea for a horror story.’ And they wrote a rather exciting, interesting script, and I worked with them a little bit on it. It’s purely original, based on Rudy and Steve’s insane imagination,” Brooks added.

“And sometimes there are problems, but sometimes there are unexpected victories, where a bad guy that we hate gets in his way. Just like in The Fly , when that tough bastard at the bar tries to break [ Seth Brundle’s ] arm and he easily shatters the other man’s arm. We get kind of a victory.”

According to Brooks, Robin Hood: Men In Tights star Cary Elwes will play a detective in the film, while Stacy Keach is in the frame to play the main villain.