After years and years in development, Robert Rodriguez is the next director attached to Escape From New York, the remake of John Carpenter’s iconic 1981 film that’s set up at 20th Century Fox, says Deadline.
The biggest takeaway from the report is that Carpenter will be an executive producer and have a big say in the tone of the project.
The hope is to reinvent the property with an eye toward launching a Planet of the Apes-like franchise.
The original Escape From New York, hatched by Carpenter after the Watergate scandal, was set in a futuristic Gotham circa 1997. Kurt Russell of course played Snake Plissken, an eyepatch-sporting tough guy who is conscripted to rescue the President of the United States after Air Force One — en route to a summit that could head off World War III — goes missing after it crashes in New York, which has been relegated to a maximum security prison. Plissken, a former special forces operative convicted of trying to rob the Federal Reserve, is given 22 hours to liberate the president and a tape he carries which holds the key to peace. If he fails, he’s wired to explode.
Neil Cross (Luther) is penning the script, which we’re told is a prequel. Here’s 10 things that were revealed from the screenplay.
I’m personally not a huge Rodriguez fan, although his Grindhouse style could work well in a film that takes place in a gritty, dystopian future.