The John Carpenter classic has been under the remake microscope for nearly 5 years, with “300” star Gerard Butler supposedly attached to don the eye patch of Snake Plissken. NYMag unravels some details on the film about a U.S. Army Lieutenant turned criminal sent to an apocalyptic New York City to rescue the President:
Much like in the original movie, the authorities have set up shop in the Statue of Liberty (though this time it’s not the police, it’s a private, KBR-like security company)*, and now new prisoners are being processed through Ellis Island. And more importantly, good ol’ Snake remains largely the same. Legally, he has to be. We learned that in order to land the rights, New Line had to sign a contract with John Carpenter stipulating, among other things, that Plissken “must be called ‘Snake'”; “must wear an eye patch”; and that he would — and we’re not making this up — “always be a ‘bad-ass.'”; So, if you ever catch the new Snake watching Grey’s Anatomy or complaining that the senator isn’t “emotionally available,” just know that somewhere, some poor development exec is about to be carted off to jail.
It’s great to know Carpenter put his foot down on his property. Was he in a coma when Rob Zombie obliterated the “Halloween” franchise?
