ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Remake Finds a New Writer
The more I watch Escape From New York, the more I love it. Everything about it — Kurt Russell's iconic performance as Snake Plissken, John Carpenter and Nick Castle's terrific script, the A+ production design, all of it — coalesces perfectly into Carpenter's singular vision. Each time I watch it, it jumps up a few spots on my personal favorite movies of all time list.
While I typically try to be open-minded about remakes, I'm not thrilled about this one. I'm of the mindset that if remake culture is going to continue, Hollywood should find movies that have great premises but weren't classics the first time around and remake those. For something as special as Escape From New York, I just don't think a remake is warranted. (Did you guys see the remake of The Thing? Have we learned nothing?) But a lot of people disagree with that, and a remake has been chugging through development hell for nearly a decade with people ranging from Gerard Butler to Charlie Hunnam being eyed to wear Plissken's eye patch. 20th Century Fox acquired the rights a few months ago, and now The Wrap's Jeff Sneider brings the latest news: the project has a new writer.
I still haven't seen Luther (it's been sitting in my Netflix queue for like three years), but it's going to be tough for anyone to recapture the sort of "f*ck you" attitude of the original script, not to mention Russell's performance. Let the fan casting begin anew in the comments below about who should play Snake this time around.