John Carpenter isn’t too concerned about the BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA remake. At least, not as much as you are.
The director, who has seen several of his films already receive the remake treatment, spoke very briefly to the Wall Street Journal about the forthcoming re-do of his 1986 cult classic, and he let it be known that he’s basically taking the same stance as he does in all these cases. That is to say, “show me the money.”
“It’s very early in the process,” Carpenter told WSJ via email. “I haven’t spoken to Dwayne Johnson about any of this.”
Johnson, the remake’s star, does appear to be invested in what the original’s fans think, and has even said he wants Carpenter to be involved. For his part, the horror director doesn’t really care, unless we’re talking about the Benjamins: “I’m ambivalent about a remake… On the other hand, it depends on how much they pay me.”
Yes, that’s been Carpenter’s go-to response when it comes to remakes of his beloved films: As long as he’s getting a check, he simply doesn’t mind. (To be fair, he’s being pragmatic about these remakes, most of which probably don’t seek out his involvement. They also don’t taint the original films.)
One remake Carpenter is invested in (more than monetarily, that is), is the proposed ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK film. Carpenter is an executive producer on that, although it remains to be seen just how involved he’ll be. It would seem as though Snake Plisskin is the one character he can’t allow to be tampered with.