Kurt Russell broke his silence on the latest attempt to remake his 1981 sci-fi cult classic Escape from New York.
The actor told MovieWeb that he’s heard over and over again about attempts to remake various movies he’s starred in over the years, only for the filmmakers to “get close to doing it” and realize “it’s a little tougher than you think.”
So when it comes to reports of a new Escape from New York film, Russell has “heard this before.” If the project finally gets off the ground, then he’ll wish them “good luck.”
Russell admitted he’s not a huge fan of remakes. However, he was willing to return to the world of Escape from New York for the 1996 sequel, Escape from L.A., because “we were running out of time for me to be able to do it, and you can run the two movies back-to-back, and Snake looks like Snake.”
It took 15 years for Escape from New York to receive a sequel, but when it finally happened, “it was fun to get back in the saddle.”
“They’ve talked about this ever since John and I did that movie, and Snake’s a great character. I always think that remakes in general are not something that excites me very much. I did one with John on Escape from L.A., and it was fun to get back in the saddle, as it were, all those years later.
“We did it because we were running out of time for me to be able to do it, and you can run the two movies back-to-back, and Snake looks like Snake, and Snake’s still Snake. A lot of the things that I’ve done in my life, they’ve always talked about making sequels or redos on them, and they find out when they get close to doing it, it’s a little tougher than you think. So I’ve heard this before, and if they do it, great. We’ll see what happens, and good luck to them.”
Escape from New York stars Russell as a former Special Forces soldier named Snake Plissken who becomes a criminal.
The film takes place in a dystopian version of the United States in which Manhattan Island has been turned into a maximum security prison. Snake is tasked with one of the biggest undertakings imaginable: saving the U.S. president when his hijacked airplane crashes.
Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Season Hubley, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Frank Doubleday, Douglas Baker and John Strobel star in the film with Russell.
Halloween’s John Carpenter directed and co-wrote Escape from New York, which is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a critic score of 85% and a box office haul of $50 million.
Both Carpenter and Russell returned for Escape from L.A., but the sequel, which also starred Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier and Bruce Campbell, failed to match the original’s critical and financial impact, with critics giving it a 57% Rotten Tomatoes score.
After Escape from L.A., Russell went on to appear in movies like Vanilla Sky, Miracle, Poseidon, Furious 7, The Hateful Eight, The Fate of the Furious, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and F9. On the small screen, he has starred on Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and The Madison.
As Russell indicated, there have been numerous attempts over the years to remake Escape from New York. New Line and 20th Century Fox attempted to develop reboots, with Len Wiseman, Brett Ratner, Breck Eisner and Robert Rodriguez circling the project at various points in the development process.
In 2022, Radio Silence signed on as directors, with Carpenter, Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman serving as producers.
Then just last month, StudioCanal announced at CinemaCon that it was developing a remake of Escape from New York. It’s unclear if Radio Silence, who are directing The Mummy 4 (which will be released in October 2027), are still on board as directors.
Escape From New York ](/db/movie/escape-from-new-york/)
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Science Fiction
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Nick Castle, John Carpenter
Debra Hill, Larry Franco
Police Commissioner Bob Hauk