Earlier this month, producer Joel Silver indicated that his oft-discussed Escape from New York remake is still in the works. The film has become a cult classic since its initial release in 1981 and Snake Plissken, the central character, one of Kurt Russell's most iconic roles.
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The actor's busy doing press for his upcoming comedy The Art of the Steal; which will be available on Video-On-Demand from February 17 and opens in theaters on March 14 (stay tuned for more on that). We were able to sit down with Russell to talk about the movie. During the course of our conversation, we touched on the proposed Escape from New York remake, if there's any value in it, if he would ever return to the role himself, and who, if anyone, could be the next Snake.
Russell in Carpenter's cult classic film.
As a general rule, Russell isn't a big fan of looking back, but he does have the understanding that many of his films have continued to resonate over the years. "I love it when I'm doing it," the actor explained. "And I try to really realize that this is the only opportunity I'm going to get to do this. It's the only opportunity I'm going to get to put on it film, and hopefully, it's long over when somebody says, 'What is this? Big Trouble in Little China -- let's check this out.' Then they go, 'Wait a minute, when was that made? What were those guys doing? That was great!'"
What can I say?' They didn't get it.
"I do think that I was aware of the stuff we were doing," the actor continued. "I've often been aware of things that I've done that we knew at the time wasn't necessarily going to catch the zeitgeist of what was going on, you know, in a popular sense. Nor was it going to catch the eye of the critic or the reviewer in terms of being story-worthy or being worthy of anything other than a sarcastic comment about a dystopian world, dismissing it because they didn't look at it as anything else. It's like, 'Sorry you bit into the donut, you took a bite, you didn't love it, and now you're kind of miffed, because there are lots of people who like that whole donut, man. As a matter of fact, it's there favorite donut. You didn't get it, what can I say?' They didn't get it."
"There's nothing wrong with the concept of doing something," Russell said of the proposed Escape from New York reboot. "I just think that my only thing about that is, when I think of remakes -- and I've done remakes that I didn't think should have been done -- I only think remakes make sense if you take an idea that was flawed, a script that was flawed, perhaps they didn't have enough money to make it correctly, maybe a character or two was not particularly well-played or could be fixed. If it had a problem that you'd say, 'God, if you just do that, that's a great movie,' or, 'If that movie had so-and-so in it, it could be great! Imagine that with so-and-so in it. Imagine that done this way.' Then that to me makes perfect sense as to why they would do a remake."
When you get into deeper trouble is when you do a remake just because you loved something, and you now want to ignore why you loved it.
When you get into deeper trouble is when you do a remake just because you loved something, and you now want to ignore why you loved it, and you want to see it again fresh, and you get away with the idea of thinking, 'Well, these audiences haven't seen that.' Then the minute you do that, there's still enough of the -- especially today, with the advent of DVDs, Netflix and stuff like that -- you can still see that original movie right next to the remake, and you say, 'What was the reason for you doing that?' You've got this iconic thing, and you break it down."
Call me Snake.
What happens is you begin to get that rat smell. You just think, 'You're just gonna make money.'
"If you're talking about Escape from New York, there's a reason that movie is lean like it is," Russell elaborated. "It's Snake's world. It's not just Escape from New York world, it's Snake's world. Well, what's that got to do with it? Well, look what Snake is. Look at who's playing him and what he's thinking. That guy's kinda got him. If you really watch it, he's doing something there that's a little more than I thought at first. I kinda feel bad for him, but he kind of annoys me. I find him slightly obnoxious. But at the same time, if there's a building on fire, I'm gonna get behind that guy. You begin to say, 'Well, so the character has no flaw there. What about the guy playing him? Eh, they kinda like that too.' Why are you making this again?"
Did someone say remake?
There's no reason not to do remakes, unless there's a reason not to make a remake.
"What happens is you begin to get that rat smell," the actor said. "You just think, 'You're just gonna make money.' That's dangerous. I'm the first person to stand in line and say, "Oh, that's a great idea, to take this and do it that way, and take this person and put him in that. That's a great idea! I think that's great.' I don't have a problem with remakes. There's no reason not to do remakes, unless there's a reason not to make a remake. To me, that's what you have to face. Like I said, nobody's got a corner on the market of making or not making remakes. I think there are some movies that could be remade -- and I won't mention them, because I think the acting is stilted. I think the acting is actually stilted -- not that good -- and if you made a remake of it, it could be better. But generally, to me, you should be looking for story flaws that you could fix."
Would Russell play snake again?
"He's a great character," the actor said when asked if he would ever consider returning to the role himself. "But no, I'm too old. Snake's a man in his prime. He's an American man absolutely in his prime. He's a really good character."
The one thing that I can tell you that I know about Snake is that he's very American.
Tom Hardy and Jason Statham were two of the actors who had been talked about to take on the role, should the remake go forward. When asked who, if anyone, he thinks might make sense to play Snake if they do end up making the film, Russell replied, "Someone said, 'What about Gerard Butler?' I said, 'Well, the one thing that I can tell you that I know about Snake, and the Snake Plissken world that I know, is that he's very American.' There's a reason that's a baseball bat with nails. It's not a soccer ball. It's a baseball bat with nails. In LA, it's basketball. These are generic to who he is. He's an American. So, to me, it's important I think that, unless you're going to change the dynamic -- and if you're going to change the dynamic, then you're getting into something I'd have to see and say, 'Well, why do you call it Escape from New York?' You gotta understand, when this movie was done, New York was in serious trouble. It was on its way to becoming blown up of its own accord, so why not turn it into a prison? People laughed at the idea. They laughed, because it was, like, 'You know, why not? Turn this sh**-hole into a prison! Let's let the prison airplane go down there, and, oh my God, this is great!' So there are times that are right for certain things. But if somebody's got a great idea, sure! I hope they come up with a great idea."
The Art of the Steal is available on VOD now and will hit theaters on March 14th.
Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @RothCornet and IGN at Roth-IGN.
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