It's been sixteen months since the announcement that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be starring in a remake of John Carpenter's supernatural martial arts action classic BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, and at that time Johnson was quoted as saying that "bringing on John Carpenter in some capacity" was part of the plan to make the remake as good as possible.
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz have been toiling away on the script for the last year, but the project has apparently not yet reached a stage where Carpenter's input has been required, as the director recently revealed to Screen Rant that no one has reached out to him about the remake.
This is how the conversation went –
Screen Rant: We’re also hearing about a remake of Big Trouble in Little China, with The Rock…
John Carpenter: [laughs] I know! It might be crazy… it might be great! I don’t know. Nobody’s told me anything. No one tells me anything [laughs]
Screen Rant: That’s unfortunate to hear. The Rock had said, supposedly, that he was interested in having you involved in some way – but there’s been no outreach so far?
John Carpenter: No. No one’s talked to me about it. Haven’t heard a thing!
Screen Rant: That’s very interesting.
John Carpenter: Yeah – isn’t it great?
Although Carpenter has never seemed overly concerned with what is done with his old properties (just what remake directors say about him), it is somewhat disappointing to hear that he hasn't been contacted about this one yet. You'd think they'd want to get him involved as early as possible…
While the remake continues to be assembled, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA hero Jack Burton, who was played by Kurt Russell in the original film, is returning in the pages of a comic book where he crosses paths with another Carpenter character who was played by Russell. That comic book is called Big Trouble in Little China / Escape from New York.