Timothy Olyphant set to Escape From New York?
Director Eisner speaks
Timothy Olyphant could be taking on the lead role of Snake Plissken in Breck Eisner’s remake of Escape From New York .
The part was originally played by Kurt Russell in John Carpenter’s 1981 film, which had the one-eyed soldier attempting to escape a futuristic priso🦂n based in an abandoned New York City.
With Eisner and Olyphant having worked together on this year’s surprisingly decent The Crazies , it seems both are keen to re-pair for futureꦦ projects.
And Escape could be just that project. Eisner spoke to Movieweb recently, stating:
“I love working with Timothy Olyphant, and I will be working with him again. He is an amazing actor. A talented guy. And he’s incredibly funny. He needs to do a great comedy, because he is a funny guy. But I will🐻 work with him again. I can promise you that.”
This re-do will shake up the original’s concept, with the remake cannibalising a Snake Plissken origins story with bits of the 1981’s original plot. ( Vulture , who saw the script, said it “nailed the h༒umour in Plissken without slipping into camp”.)
Speaking recently to ComingSoon , Eisner explained other changes, which include settiꦉng the movi🐎e in a penal colony rather than a post-apocalyptic New York.
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“Conceptually, it’s an idea that’s not true today because of the world we live in. So, how the prison is created is going to be different than in Carpente💟r’s version. The anxiety of the world and anxiety of our existence post-9/11 is there, especially the anxiety in Manhattan post-9/11.
“Plot-wise, t♔hey’re different, emotionally they’re very similar. That’s why it’ll be interesting to tackle this movie, to ha𒈔ve a slightly different take but with the same results which is Manhattan is turned into a walled prison.”
With these two on board, could this be a rare good remake? We’re ever hopeful&💎hellip;
Think Olyphant would make for a great Snake?
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the ye🍰ars. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.