We have yet another update about the long-gestating and heavily questioned reboot of John Carpenter’s 1981 film Escape from New York. The project’s most recent director, Zack Snyder, has given a sense of when his adaptation will take place. Plus, his views on casting Snake Plissken, an iconic role for Kurt Russell.
“The approach is… the movie’s going to be set in ’97… from the perspective of 1981,” Snyder told the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “The war between the United States police force and… the criminal elements takes place, I think, July 9th, 1981 – which is the release date of the original movie. And then the rest is pretty much Escape from New York.”
“Talk about a movie that is the perfect combination of kitsch and camp. It’s all the things. That’s why I love it, you know?” he adds. “But also it’s, [in] a way that’s satire and can get to us. We can make comments about… government and all the… overreach or whatever you want [to] call it… the people’s liberation front of America, right? You know, all that stuff is very, like, that’s in the headlines. I think it’s quite current in some ways.”
That synopsis is pretty much what we all were expecting. As Snyder points out, the movie is amazingly campy, and because of that, Escape from New York probably wouldn’t hold up to modernization well. Keeping his universe in the same timeframe makes sense.
But What About Snake?
The only thing more questionable than remaking a legendary Carpenter film is recasting the beloved character of Snake Plissken. When asked if he has someone in mind for Snake, he responded: “I may.”
When pushed if it was an actor he had worked with before, he said, “I’m not going to say.” But he did hint at just how faithful an adaptation he plans to make this. “He better look like Snake, or I’ll walk out.”
Which once again makes us ask the question: why remake this?
Revolving Door of Directors
At this point, fans are as attached to a director on this project as they are to a 3rd-grade class pet. Considering this project already has a very high turnover rate. In 2022, Radio Silence was set to direct this reboot for The Picture Company, through a deal with StudioCanal. In 2017, both Robert Rodriguez and Leigh Whannell were attached to direct for 20th Century, which had the rights at the time. Before that, it was New Line, which had directors like Len Wiseman, Brett Ratner, and Breck Eisner attached at various points.
We’ll keep you posted on updates about the newest reboot as they become available. You can watch the full interview below:
