Many fans of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK weren’t exactly ecstatic about the recent news that notorious antihero Snake Plissken is returning with a different actor (300’s abdominable king Gerard Butler) in the role. Guess what? Kurt Russell ain’t either.
The increasingly vocal veteran (look around online for his recent comments on TOMBSTONE) is out helping pimp GRINDHOUSE, in which he plays a sadistic stuntman who vehicularly slaughters hot chicks, and has expressed his displeasure at his iconic role being recast. Besides taking umbrage with the inherent Scottishness of the new Plissken, Russell says “I didn’t play Snake Plissken, I created him!“
And when asked about the possibility of doing a cameo in the remake, but in a different role, Russell was equally candid: “F*ck that! I am Snake Plissken! It’s like Sean Connery always watching someone else do their version of Bond. I think one of the things, for instance, about Escape From New York that appealed to me was that it wasn’t a special effects extravaganza. It’s a quiet, dark world and it revolved around watching the behavior of this one guy. He’s a fascinating character. In fact, he’s the most complex character I’ve ever played.“
In addition, the remake’s producer Neal Moritz has stated that the updated ESCAPE will indeed reveal more of Snake’s mysterious past, calling it “almost an origin story”. It’s unknown at this stage how much time that leaves for all the entering and subsequent escaping of New York, but since it comes from the producer of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS and STEALTH, it will probably be done in an EXTREME (and relatively brainless) manner.
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