New Line has put Escape From NY back on track thanks to a new script rewrite from Allan Loeb, the man behind Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.
According to NY Mag’s Vulture blog “Loeb nailed the humor in Plissken without slipping into camp, and he changed Snake’s rescue-mission target from a president to a female senator, thereby upping the banter quotient.”
(Side note- I’m endlessly amused by the idea of the studio actually measuring the banter quotient. Some suits in New Line going “I really like this script, but I’m concerned about the banter quotient. Can we up that?”)
One other reason the script rewrite was so desirable was because it would be so cheap to shoot. Unlike the original that featured a destroyed NYC after World War III blew it to pieces (that was then transformed into a giant prison), this Manhattan was hit by a dirty bomb and evacuated, leaving things intact yet deserted.
“It is not a disaster movie,” says a source close to the project. “It is an exposé of an ecosystem, if you put a huge wall around Manhattan and then dropped in the most fucked-up, dangerous criminals on Earth.”
The authorities this time (a private security company, not the police) have once again set up camp in the Statue of Liberty and have prisoners being processed through Ellis Island. Clever.
While these seem to be relatively minor changes in the long run, John Carpenter isn’t letting his baby go without some important stipulations. For example, he forced New Line to sign a contract with him that Plissken “must be called ‘Snake'”; “must wear an eye patch” and, most awesome of all- “must always be a ‘bad-ass.” Seriously.
Good for him- last thing we need is a metrosexual Snake. We’ll just have to see if there’s another Duke of NY, A #1 out there.
Let the dream casting commence!
37 comments
Plissken "must be called 'Snake'"; "must wear an eye patch" and, most awesome of all- "must always be a 'bad-ass."
Colin. Firth.
This is, again, unnecessary. Snake was already done, and done exceedingly well. I still don't know why they remake the good stuff…
"without slipping into camp" – the first two films were campy as hell! And it was great.
Carpenter said nothing about being Mexican. Danny Trejo in an eye patch. Nuff said.
I just want to see the lawsuit where a court of law has to decide if New Line breached its contract by failing to depict a character in a "bad-ass" enough fashion.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.
Til Schweiger… if he can pull of an American accent(Snake doesn't talk much), would get my vote.
The studios have already decided on Sam Worthington
I'd be all about this if Adrienne Barbeau were cast as the female senator. However, I don't know about The Duke. Kinda hard to outdo Black Moses on that one. Duke of New York, A#1!
Sounds like they'll be casting a female capable of projecting authority, being a Senator. Somebody wise. I'm smelling a comeback for J-Lo!
Sounds kind of like DMZ…though I guess DMZ was inspired by the original
Laurence Fishburne would be great as Snake!
Not for nothing, but why does carpenter all of a sudden start caring about remakes of his movies? He obviously didn't bat an eye when THE FOG and HALLOWEEN were being turned into audience-hating shitstorms, so why now? Snake Plissken is legendary, to be sure, but so are Mike Meyers and MacReady, and I doubt he'll have much to say about THE THINGs prequel, either. As long as they get Jensen Ackles in there instead of Cementface Worthington, all could be well.
@12: Because Carpenter and Nick Castle still partially own the character of Snake Plissken. He had no creative control on any of the remakes you mentioned, nor especially on The Thing.
Josh holloway is ideal for snake
"Unlike the original that featured a destroyed NYC after World War III blew it to pieces"
What? I don't recall this at all. It was turned into a prison and the damage we see (which is pretty cosmetic) is due to nobody running the place. It isn't blown to pieces at all.
Gads, Worthington again? He seems like a really nice guy in interviews, but he's a really inconsistent performer in his Hollywood movies (he's consistent but kind of bland in his Aussie movies). I don't think his training or whatever allows him to deal with the shifting sands of big studio productions. Russel was an old pro by the time he did Plissken which I think is why the character is so solid in the original despite all the craziness. I would have voted for Gerard Butler but he seems to have blown his A-List wad. Ackles needs a break-thru role for sure, but he's not elevated enough for this character yet. He has to do some super low-budget thing that kicks ass and launches him into franchise remake movie level.
the rock. inevitably.
No matter how hard I try I can think of no one more bad-ass than Kurt Russel…
Who could play the Duke? Ice Cube. He already nailed it in Anaconda. "You mean there snakes out there dis big?!!!
Morgan Freeman as the Duke…
ERIC BANA as Snake please. He's got the physical presence, the ability to be bad ass with just a look (eg. Chopper) and a wicked sense of humour. He'd knock it out of the park, unlike those charisma free duds Worthington and Butler.
A Bronsonesque re-up?
tom waits as ernest borgnine
I wouldn't be cheerleading this remake on… It's terrible that Hollywood continues to butt-rape itself silly for utter lack of originality. Where are the John Carpenters of today… and why won't studios support them and their crazy-assed ideas instead of rehashing old ideas that were PERFECTLY EXECUTED THE FIRST FUCKING TIME. Jeeze… this is truly getting ridiculous, but as usual the only thing that matters is the studio's bottom line and that first-weekend gross. Bleah.
Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, The Thing (yeah, I know it's a "prequel"), and now this. Please, Hollywood, stay the fuck away from Big Trouble in Little China. At least do that for us.
Eric bana please.
If we have to have an Aussie standing in for an American, can we just go with Russell Crowe? (At least half his name is right..) And I second the idea of Morgan Freeman playing the Duke. Never happen, but I can dream…
Oh, wait a sec, wasn't EFNY already remade as Doomsday?
josh holloway IS snake
Ah, the irony of fanboys crying about someone remaking a sci fi classic directed by John Carpenter, the director of The Thing.
Sequel, please – Kurt proved in Grindhouse that he's still got it… then let him hand over the reigns to his son, Shia LaBeef… hang on…
So the security force has been outsourced? WTF..
It's going to have to try to suck harder than half of Escape From LA, but I have faith in it at least trying to. BTW, Tom Waits is GENIUS fan casting! Kudos!
FUCK ALL YOU FAT FUCKS!!!
terry crews as the duke
Is it irony if they make it 3D?
It's going to be totally different because it won't take place after everything was destroyed in WWIII? Fucking what? What they're describing the remake to be like sounds EXACTLY like the original. A wall was built around Manhattan. The end. No WWIII was ever mentioned in the original. In fact Snake got sentenced to prison because he was caught trying to rob a modern looking bank (with robots!). Unless they throw a really good director and actors at this thing, I think it'll be just another ho-hum remake at best.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/newsnake/
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