Escape From New York remake lands at Fox; John Carpenter creatively involved

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

After a tortured history of rights changing and many scripts being passed on, the ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK remake is finally moving forward at 20th Century Fox. The last news we shared surrounding the project, Charlie Hunnam (PACIFIC RIM, Sons of Anarchy), Jon Bernthal (THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, The Walking Dead) and Dan Stevens (THE GUEST, Downton Abbey) were the front runners to take over for Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken; at this point though, there are no actors attached to the role.

John Carpenter will be an executive producer on the film, which isn't too surprising considering it's his baby they’re messing with. The 1981 classic was something of an awakening for me when it comes to the sci-fi action genre; I wore out the VHS tape on this one, that's for sure. I can’t say I’m excited or surprised for the remake, but there is an audience for everything and that’s the business we love, go figure. Carpenter will apparently "exert creative influence" over the film, meaning he’s going to take their money and go back to bed I think. I say that because back in 2014 during a Halloween Q&A at Beyond Fest, Carpenter said this about remakes of his films:

What I do is, I sit on my couch, I extend my hand, and a check drops [into it]… They remake everything these days, it doesn’t mean anything. They just remake it because they think that the audience is so stupid that they won’t go see anything original. They look down on you, don’t you see that? I just want to get the check, that’s all I give a shit about.

He really didn’t seem to hold back there did he? Also worth noting, Joel Silver no longer appears to be attached now that The Picture Company has taken over producing duties. That seems like a pretty big lose and leaves behind some major creative shoes to fill in terms of making the best out of this project.

So who should direct and who should star as Snake?