Sony thought Kurt Russell was too old to play Snake again back in 2001!
John Carpenter has already been remade five times* over and number of future redos now sits at four**. Whether this pisses you off or not, I think we can all agree that we’ve passed the point of getting butthurt over every additional announcement. Let me just get the obvious out of the way now: Big Trouble In Little China will be remade at some point. Starman too, unless someone takes Bridges up on his interview musing about reprising the role. Even Prince of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness, and Black Moon Rising will likely be reborn over the coming decades. It’s going to happen.
I could sit here and lambast the notion that Hollywood feels it necessary to re-purpose Carpenter’s previous works, instead of hiring him for new projects. There wouldn’t be much point though, would there? Not just because of the whole “name brands seem to sell over originals” line of thinking, but because John himself seems absolutely content in enjoying his partial retirement. Let’s be honest here. If John really wanted to be directing again on a regular basis, he could do so. The man still sits atop a multitude of smaller scale projects waiting to be helmed and I find it hard to believe that he couldn’t get at least a few of them made if he REALLY wanted to. After a change of priorities in the late 80s and a rough time in the 90s/00s***, John has every right to enjoy the freedom he has been granted. More power to him!
So yes, Escape From New York is back on deck to be remade again. This isn’t the first time, as previous incarnations over the past eight years have had the likes of Neal H. Moritz, Breck Eisner, Len Wiseman, Gerard Butler, Tom Hardy and Jeremy Renner attached at one time or another. All have withered on the developmental vine and seen the rights return to their owner: Carpenter himself. Another warrior has now arisen to pull this sword from its proverbial stone: uber-producer Joel Silver, with back-up provided by Studio Canal and fellow producers Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman.
Naturally the goal here is to craft a trilogy of post-apocalyptic actioners centered around our antihero, “Snake” Plissken, and reportedly beginning with some sort of “origin story”…whatever that means. Will it completely focus on Snake’s time in the military and save the events of Carpenter’s original film for the sequel? Or will we simply get small glimpses of said past? Who knows. Normally I would be worried about this sort of de-mystification of a cult character. Given Carpenter’s “dos and don’ts” list that he hadn’t written into the contract when New Line previously purchased the rights from him, I am less inclined to furrow my brow at such a notion. I fully expect this to be a more action-oriented (and likely non-satirical) affair than the existing films, especially considering Silver’s involvement.
No writer or director are attached at this time, but I fully expect both will be located by the end of the summer. Until then, who would you like to see tackle this property? And who should take on Kurt’s mantle? On another site, someone suggested that Silver should cast Tom Jane in the lead as an apology for what happened with Bullet To The Head. While I severely doubt that would ever happen, it’s an idea I could get behind with the right writers and director on board.
As a bonus, here’s the bitchin’ secondary theme that John gave Snake in his sophomore romp..
Source | Deadline
* – Assault On Precinct 13 (2005), The Fog (2005), Halloween (2007), The Thing (2011), and The Philadelphia Experiment (2012). Yes, I realize that the ’11 version of The Thing is technically a prequel, but it also serves as a soft reboot.
** – Remakes of Eyes of Laura Mars, Christine, They Live, and now (once again) Escape From New York are in various stages of development.
*** – Something I could easily prattle on about for paragraphs. Perhaps another time.
11 comments
Lockout should’ve been the third Snake Plissken movie. And it should’ve been better.
Oh for the God’s sake, get an original idea, willya?..
Can’t argue with you there.
If they want to follow tradition, they should cast Justin Timberlake.
This could be interesting if something fresh could be done with it…I would suggest Tom Hardy, but he is already Mad Max so that may not be the best idea…but if the same guy can be in charge of both Star Trek and Star Wars, why can’t the same guy be both Mad Max and Snake Plissken…perhaps Joe Carnahan could be involved? Or maybe even Andrew Dominik? Just suggestions…
Remakes never ruffle my feathers. It’s not going to erase the original from existence and hell, it might actually have something insightful to say. But what the fuck is it with stretching a story beyond one film?
Do we need an EPIC hero’s journey for a classic anti-hero? Snake Plissken was formed from The Man With No Name mold; I think it would be a massive misfire if they tried to force backstory to an enigma. I loves me some epics but reserve it for the right material. ESNY is a cynical, gloomy actioner with a special bite. Brevity is a lovely thing.
*ahem* with that out of the way… Josh Holloway for Plissken
Eyes of Laura Mars remake??? Wow. I remember when the ads for that movie were in just about every comic book out at that time. And I like that film. The right director, script, etc. : it’s a good enough storyline that would be worth a remake.
I’d like to see this happen — but yeah, three films would have to rely on one hell of a story arc. Holloway does look dead like Kurt Russell, but I’d love to see Jane as Plissken.
Trilogies!!!! Why does it always have to be trilogies?!?!? To me, there’s not much surprise when a trilogy is already set up before the cameras roll. There’s not enough suspense when you know your lead will potentially come back in parts 2 and 3. Unless they kill the lead at the end of the first one. And then intend to revive him with an ancient ritual sometime in the 2nd or something. In this case, they ought to remake EFNY more closely, and then if it’s granted a sequel, then explore the origin of Snake in part 2. Unless you decide to remake Escape From L.A. Which you shouldn’t. And yes, Lockout should have been retooled as the long proposed Escape From Earth/ Part 3 with original Kurt.
I thought it was Neil Marshall’s Doomsday….
Hollywood has a such a standardized generic mold it would press this through, I guess it is the same as it ever was. I can only imagine an origin trailer where Snake looks up from some sewer or pit at some blue light while a Transformer bass boom plays, then “A LEGEND WILL RISE” shows, then show him kissing some chick. Unless they stick with the character it will be royally fucked up and horrible, and you know what? They won’t, it will suck, Hwood doesn’t know what made films like The Wild Bunch, Death Rides A Horse and Escape From New York so fucking cool, there are no more MEN in Hollywood, they sweep the floors.
At this point only Tarantino or Takashi Miike could make this worthwhile, or the guy that directed Hobo With A Shotgun, but it won’t happen, I think this and The Thing are the only remakes that seriously piss me off and make me wish for the oncoming downfall of the US into a 3rd world sewer.
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