Wanna know what Kurt Russell thinks of the Escape From New York remake?

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

We've known for a while that producer Joel Silver and Studio Canal have plans to remake John Carpenter's cult classic ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and while the idea of the remake left some fans in an uproar we unfortunately live in a day and age where Hollywood has seemingly run out of original ideas and feels the need to reimagine some of the classics we all love.

At the moment the proposed remake of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK is still in the works, but according to Silver it could be quite some time before it heads in front of the cameras. Recently IGN caught up with the original films star, Kurt Russell, to get his opinion on the remake. Hey, it's Snake's world…we're just livin' in it.

Russell says of the remake…

"There's nothing wrong with the concept of doing something. I just think that my only thing about that is, when I think of remakes — and I've done remakes that I didn't think should have been done — I only think remakes make sense if you take an idea that was flawed, a script that was flawed, perhaps they didn't have enough money to make it correctly, maybe a character or two was not particularly well-played or could be fixed. If it had a problem that you'd say, 'God, if you just do that, that's a great movie,' or, 'If that movie had so-and-so in it, it could be great! Imagine that with so-and-so in it. Imagine that done this way.' Then that to me makes perfect sense as to why they would do a remake."

He continues…

"When you get into deeper trouble is when you do a remake just because you loved something, and you now want to ignore why you loved it, and you want to see it again fresh, and you get away with the idea of thinking, 'Well, these audiences haven't seen that.' Then the minute you do that, there's still enough of the — especially today, with the advent of DVDs, Netflix and stuff like that — you can still see that original movie right next to the remake, and you say, 'What was the reason for you doing that?' You've got this iconic thing, and you break it down."

When asked if he would ever consider returning to the role himself, Russell replied…

"He's a great character.  But no, I'm too old. Snake's a man in his prime. He's an American man absolutely in his prime. He's a really good character."

You may remember that we reported that Tom Hardy and Jason Statham were two of the actors who had been talked about to take on the role, should the remake go forward. When asked who, if anyone, he thinks might make sense to play Snake if they do end up making the film, Russell replied…

"Someone said, 'What about Gerard Butler?' I said, 'Well, the one thing that I can tell you that I know about Snake, and the Snake Plissken world that I know, is that he's very American.' There's a reason that's a baseball bat with nails. It's not a soccer ball. It's a baseball bat with nails. In LA, it's basketball. These are generic to who he is. He's an American. So, to me, it's important I think that, unless you're going to change the dynamic — and if you're going to change the dynamic, then you're getting into something I'd have to see and say, 'Well, why do you call it Escape from New York?' You gotta understand, when this movie was done, New York was in serious trouble. It was on its way to becoming blown up of its own accord, so why not turn it into a prison? People laughed at the idea. They laughed, because it was, like, 'You know, why not? Turn this sh**-hole into a prison! Let's let the prison airplane go down there, and, oh my God, this is great!' So there are times that are right for certain things. But if somebody's got a great idea, sure! I hope they come up with a great idea."