Kurt Russell Shares His Thoughts on Dwayne Johnson's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA Sequel
As most of you probably know by now, Dwayne Johnson is developing a new Big Trouble in Little China film that will continue the story of John Carpenter’s 1986 classic. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Carpenter will be a part of it.
There’s a chance for Kurt Russell to reprise his role as ol’ Jack Burton, but it’s too early to tell if he will be involved or not. I’ll just say it would be stupid if they didn’t use him, and there’s really no point in making the film if he isn’t included in the story.
In a recent interview with USA Today, Russell said that he “probably won’t be” in the upcoming sequel, but he enjoyed working with Johnson in the Fast and Furious franchise, which means if they did ask him he’d probably do it:
“He's just a really good guy. I like working with him and if he's going to do it, he and his crew will hopefully be able to come up with something that I guess makes the title work.”
Russell went on to say that it’s going to be hard to recapture Carpenter’s look and feel, saying the original movie “was very, very fresh at that time.” He also talked about what made the character, Jack Burton, so great and why it was a hard sell for the studio:
“Nobody had ever done a leading man who didn't realize he wasn't the leading man. He behaves like the sidekick but doesn't know that. That hadn't been done and it was difficult for the studio to get around in terms of promoting it, too,”
In the end, Russell wishes them the best and hopes that they end up making a great Big Trouble In Little China sequel.
“I always say the same thing, which is, well, you've got to make a good movie. I'll still take the original ‘Mutiny on the Bounty.’ ”
When previously talking about the film, one of the producers of the film, Hiram Garcia, offered an update on the film:
"There’s a lot of things going on with [Big Trouble in Little China]. We are in the process of developing that, and let me tell you, the idea is not to actually remake Big Trouble in Little China. You can’t remake a classic like that, so what we’re planning to do is we’re going to continue the story. We’re going to continue the universe of Big Trouble in Little China. Everything that happened in the original exists and is standalone and I think there’s only one person that could ever play Jack Burton, so Dwayne would never try and play that character. So we are just having a lot of fun. We’re actually in a really great space with the story that we’ve cracked. But yeah, no remake. It is a continuation, and we are deep into development on that as well, and I think you’ll start hearing some things about that probably soon."
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This sequel should be based on the comic book that John Carpenter worked on that continued the adventures of Jack Burton. You can read about that here, but there’s the synopsis:
The year is 2020, and hell is literally on Earth. Ching Dai, sick of relying on screw-ups like Lo Pan to do his bidding, has broken the barriers between Earth and the infinite hells, and declared himself ruler of all.
Sixty-year-old Jack Burton is alone in a tiny corner of Florida with only his broken radio to talk to, until one day it manages to pick up a message. Someone is out there in the hellscape, and they know a way to stop Ching Dai."
A sequel without Jack Burton just doesn’t make any sense to me. I think it would be kinda cool to see Johnson as the villain and Russell forced to face off with him.
What do you want to see from a Big Trouble in Little China sequel?