While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the news that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was planning on starring in a remake of John Carpenter’s Big Trouble In Little China, I must admit that this latest news makes me breathe a bit easier.
Johnson told EW:
I loved reading the reactions from the fans, that they were so polarized – I’m the same way. My response is: know that I come to the project with nothing but love and respect for the original, which is why we want to bring on John Carpenter.
I loved the original when I was younger and I loved the main character – all the characters. It felt like if we surrounded ourselves with the right group of people, the right writers who loved the movie too and wanted to honor it, bring on John Carpenter in some capacity … If we did that, then we have a shot at hopefully making something good.
Let’s see what feels good, what we can come up with and then go from there. And as we write it, if the whole thing starts to stink up, then we thank everybody for their efforts and accept this just couldn’t make it.
Hearing that he wants the maestro of horror himself to be a part of the creation is a great first step. Also, admitting that if the project doesn’t seem to be going in the right direction that they won’t push it is pretty fantastic, even though I’m sure it’d have to be absolutely god awful for that to happen.
Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz (X-Men: First Class) are in the process of creating the script, which is based off the 1986 fantasy/action/horror film. Johnson would star as Jack Burton, who was originally played by Kurt Russell.
Meanwhile, director James Wan, who directed Johnson in Furious 7, signaled his approval today via Twitter.