Legendary filmmaker John Carpenter is as well known for his sci-fi action movies as his horrors, and Kurt Russell has appeared in both of the master’s main styles. As part of their collaborations, the pair worked together onEscape from New York, with Russell playing Snake Plissken, who appeared again in the sequelEscape From LAin 1996.
Speaking toTotal Filmrecently, Carpenter said that he could really seeSnake Plisskenreturning in two more stories. Although it is unlikely that Carpenter would direct another outing for the character in a movie, with his interest in directing in general having waned lately, and Russell would most likely be too old to play the character even if Carpenter was up for it, that doesn’t mean that the Snake couldn’t be seen again in another medium.
“He’s a character that Kurt is passionately fond of. He convinced me to do the sequel,“John Carpentertold Total Film. “There’s probably a third or maybe even fourth story about Snake. I don’t know if we’ll ever make it, but I think that he deserves it.”
While Carpenter hasn’t directed a film sinceThe Wardin 2010, his career has seen him mostly write, direct and score his own movies which has made each feature a rather time consuming affair. Carpenter has spent much of the last decadeconcentrating his attention on creating music, and it is unlikely that he will be in any rush to get back behind the camera considering comments made on the subject of whether he would consider just being a director.
“No. That’s hard work also. See, you’re talking about hard work,” Carpenter previously toldComicBook.comwhen asked about directing a script by someone other than himself. “Come on, man, you’re talking about a lot of work. You never say never in this business. But a script will come along, and I read it and say, ‘Wow, I got to do that.’ I just don’t know. We’ll see. I’m open to it.”
When it comes to his characters having a life after Carpenter’s movies, another Kurt Russell part, that of Jack Burton fromBig Trouble in Little China, has found his adventures continuing in comic book form, so there is nothing to say that Snake Plissken could end up following suit. When a character has something worth saying, then there are many mediums out there to be used to help them say it. While Carpenter may think there are new stories to be told, there has been talk of a reboot of the originalEscape From New Yorkbeing in development from The Invisible Man’s Leigh Whannell.
Last year, Whannellspoke about the potential rebootin an interview, saying, “I feel like a property like that doesn’t have the same freedom as maybe something likeThe Invisible Mandoes,” Whannell shared withComicBook.comabout Snake Plissken back in 2020. “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 withEscape 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.”
Would it be better to leave the cult classic story along and proceed with some form of new story featuring the character? Or should it be left alone entirely? With many reboots and remakes failing to make any kind of improvement on an iconic original, I think we already know the answer to that. This news originated atgamesradar.com.
