The Hollywood Reporter have word that 20th Century Fox has finally hired a screenwriter to tackle their newly acquired remake/reboot of John Carpenter’s Escape From New York, one of the more popular Carpenter films and iconic cult characters with Snake Plissken.
Neil Cross the creator of the Golden Globe winning British series Luther, will now write the film’s script, leading us to believe previous outlines from other incarnations have been thrown out completely. Cross also wrote on the Guillermo del Toro projects Pacific Rim and Mama, so it’s not like he’s never handled genre material before. He was also announced as a writer on the remake of The Day of The Triffids.
They mention that the studio hopes this to be a remake project on the level of their Planet of The Apes revival, which could be great news for fans a bit on edge about the project even happening.
If the studio indeed wants this to succeed on the level of Apes, they’ll need to hire a director with a fantastic vision and a love of genre material.
I’m curious if they’ll approach Matt Reeves and offer this to him after he finishes War for The Planet of The Apes. He’s the type of director already at Fox that could make this material work, and expand upon it to make it a bit more than just a rehashing. Even if the studio went for a PG-13 rating, a director like Reeves could keep the tone and darkness intact, with his involvement a rating wouldn’t even matter.
The talk for while has been that the film would take place slightly before Snake’s incarceration, setting-up what this world is like beyond the city-wide prisons scattered across the United States. Before taking to a life of crime Plissken was a war hero, something that has been hinted to but never really explored.
Casting rumors and links have been all over the place, when it was still at another studio names like Gerard Butler keep getting brought up by sites. It wasn’t until recently that a rumored wish-list of hopefuls included Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim, Green Street Hooligans, S.O.A., Crimson Peak) , Jon Bernthal (Exo Zombies, The Walking Dead, Wolf of Wall Street, Daredevil Fury, Sicario) , and Dan Stevens (The Guest, Downton Abbey, Walk Among The Tombstones).
Dan would eventually downplay the rumors, as just that. I’d rather see Stevens tackle Marvel’s Netflix series Iron Fist as Danny Rand instead, but whatever he ends-up doing after Disney’s Beauty and The Beast, might to have a bit more of a punch to it. This could be perfect part for him after a film The Guest, but being apart of that Disney family might lead to other roles.
Jon Bernthal on the other hand I think would really do the material justice, and we’ve seen him play these really hard-edged characters, making him a perfect candidate for Snake. The only issue would be the extent of his Marvel contract, and if he’s committed or will be obligated to make more shows/movies, and possibly star in his own Punisher series in the near future.
Having Neil Cross involved makes me super excited for the prospect of Idris Elba getting involved, even if it’s not a huge role, I could see him playing a character like Hauk or The Duke, that’s if these characters even exist in this new movie.
Who should direct and star in Fox’s remake of ‘Escape From New York’?
SOURCE: HOLLYWOOD REPORTER