Veteran comedy filmmaker David Zucker has spoofed disaster movies with comedy classic Airplane! and horror movies with the Scary Movie franchise. Now he has set his sights on a new target: classic film noir and caper movies.
Zucker and his frequent collaborators Pat Proft and Michael McManus have reunited for The Star of Malta, a period comedy that RainMaker Films will produce and finance.
Zucker will direct and co-wrote the script with Proft, the creator of the Police Academy movies who worked with Zucker on several Naked Gun and Scary Movie pics, and McManus, who worked on Hot Shots Part Deux and Mafia!
Set in late-1940s America, Malta follows prizefighter Joe Medina, newly released from prison for killing his opponent in the ring, as he pursues his love, Harriet Evans, to Hollywood. Hitchhiking west, he accidentally gains possession of a highly sought-after but cursed gemstone, known as The Star of Malta, and proceeds on an accidental murder spree, leaving a trail of people he never intended to kill.
Producing for RainMaker Films is Corey DeSalvo. Clay Pecorin and Russell Geyser will executive produce.