It looks like Robert Rodriguez is indeed directing Fox’s Escape From New York reboot. The director was reportedly in talks back in March and had the full support of executive producer/creator John Carpenter.
However, it was never confirmed that talks had been finalized.
Luthor creator Neil Cross was tasked to write yet another draft of the 20th Century Fox incarnation, once it moved to the studio. Deadline spoke with Cross, who says Robert is attached to direct and that he had completed a draft, admitting he might have to go back to do some rewrites. He also states they’ve landed the seal of approval from Carpenter.
“Robert Rodriguez is attached to direct and it’s looking good and exciting. It was quite a challenging script, it’s a challenging thing to reinvent. One of the most terrifying sentences I’ve ever heard in my life is ‘we’ve given the script to John Carpenter’. I crawled around for three days thinking ‘oh my god’ but we got John Carpenter’s seal of approval. He approved it and that’s all I need. You never quite know [if it’s done] but I might need to do some rewrites and do some nip and tuck but in the first approximation, my job is done.”
We were able to confirm with a production source that indeed Rodriguez is directing. This news could both be exciting and disappointing to fans, but it is what it is.
Alita: Battle Angel is still currently in post and won’t be released until July, so it’s unlikely even if the script is finished that Escape could begin filming in Austin, Texas at Troublemaker Studios (expected stage location) anytime before the fall or winter of 2018.
Fox has yet to schedule the project’s production or release dates.
The next step seems to be casting, who should play Snake Plissken?