Breck Eisner Talks about his ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Remake Possibly with Timothy Olyphant as Snake

As you may have heard Crazies director Breck Eisner is attached to direct the remake of Escape From New York. I thought Eisner did a great job with The Crazies, and as much as I dislike the fact that Escape from New York is being remade, I'm looking forward to seeing what Eisner does with it. If anyone could remake this movie the right way, and make fans of the original film happy, it's Eisner. The guy is resourceful and talented.

He recently gave a little update on the project telling comingsoon the following,

I'm a huge fan. As a kid, I absolutely loved that movie. And Snake is such a bad-ass. The interesting thing about 'Escape from New York' is that it was a comment on the urban decay and the suburban flight coming out of the '70s and early '80s. Conceptually, it's an idea that's not true today because of the world we live in. So, how the prison is created is going to be different than in Carpenter's version. The anxiety of the world and anxiety of our existence post-9/11 is there, especially the anxiety in Manhattan post-9/11. Plot-wise, they're different, emotionally they're very similar. That's why it'll be interesting to tackle this movie, to have a slightly different take but with the same results which is Manhattan is turned into a walled prison.

The film will be based on a script by Allen Loeb (21, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) And Eisner said that more work on the script will be done before they start shooting.

I would be surprised if I found a script that I was just ready to make. I'm bringing on another writer this week and we will do a pass on the latest draft by Allan Loeb. We'll be doing a significant pass on that.

Eisner then told MovieWeb in an interview that he is interested in working with Timothy Olyphant again, and he is definitely interested in casting him as the main character Sanke Plissken.

I love working with Timothy Olyphant, and I will be working with him again. He is an amazing actor. A talented guy. And he’s incredibly funny. He needs to do a great comedy, because he is a funny guy. But I will work with him again. I can promise you that.

Creatively, he would be great for it. We have not yet discussed internally within the studio who will play Snake Plissken. There are many factors that go into those discussions. First and foremost, obviously, is the creative one. We can’t make the movie unless we get the perfect Snake Plissken, and that’s a tall order. There are very few guys that could do it. He would definitely be one of the guys who could. There is no question about that.

I have no objections at all to Olyphant possibly taking on the role of Snake. I think he's a great choice for the part, and I hope he is the guy that ends up being cast. For those of you who aren't excited about this remake, I think you'll end up being pleasantly surprised when it comes out.

What do you all think about what Eisner had to say about the movie, and the possibility of Timothy Olyphant playing Snake?

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