John Carpenter films are very much products of their eras and products of one incredibly unique filmmaker. That’s largely why remakes haven’t been so successful in the past. (One look at the remakes of “The Thing” and Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” will prove that.) But that doesn’t mean Hollywood is going to let those properties sit on the shelf gathering dust. Silly movie fan. So, it makes sense that one year ago, Leigh Whannell was signed on to write (and possibly direct) a remake of Carpenter’s legendary “Escape from New York.”
According to a new interview with JoBlo, the filmmaker is well aware that a remake of a Carpenter classic like this requires a deft touch. And the filmmaker knows that a large part of the success of an ‘Escape’ remake is going to come down to who they cast as Snake Plissken. But Whannell thinks he has a pretty obvious choice for that role.
“[Casting Wyatt Russell] seems like the obvious thing to win the fans over,” said Whannell.
Wyatt Russell, of course, is the son of “Escape from New York” star Kurt Russell. And nepotism aside, the younger Russell has been proving himself as quite the capable action actor, most notably in the underrated action-horror film “Overlord” (which interestingly gives Wyatt Russell a very Kurt Russell role). Not only that, Wyatt Russell is going to be one of the stars of the upcoming Marvel streaming series, “The Falcon & The Winter Soldier,” so there’s a strong chance that he’ll be more of a household name by the time ‘Escape’ needs to cast. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, just yet.
As seen with Whannell’s upcoming film “The Invisible Man,” the director isn’t afraid to take a previously-seen concept and flip it on its head. However, the filmmaker doesn’t think that type of radical reinvention suits a remake of “Escape from New York.”
“I feel like a property like that doesn’t have the same freedom as maybe something like ‘The Invisible Man’ does,” he explained. “He has more elasticity as a character because so many people have had their fingerprints on that. There’s been TV shows and comic books, whereas with ‘Escape from New York,’ we’re talking about one definitive movie here and you don’t want to mess with it. We’ll see what happens.”
It must be noted that Whannell offered up the idea that there’s “one definitive” Snake Plissken movie, which is probably music to the ears of those who loathe “Escape from LA.”
As for the status of the film, Whannell has signed on to write the script and hasn’t truly begun that process yet, since he’s still smack dab in the middle of “The Invisible Man” publicity. He does feel like when he takes on the remake, it’s going to be something he will “tread very carefully” with considering the Snake Plissken character is “part of people’s childhood and their adolescence.”
Whannell says that while he’s just writing the script for the “Escape from New York” remake, there is a chance he will also direct, saying, “the door is open for that possibility.”