Wyatt Russell won't be taking on one of his father's most iconic roles, Snake Plissken.
Kurt Russell played Snake to acclaim in Escape from New York and Escape from L.A in 1981 and 1996 respectively. Both movies were directed by John Carpenter, and in recent years there has been increased speculation about a potential remake or even a sequel.
Escape from New York features a dystopian future in which Manhattan has been constructed as the only maximum security prison in the United States. When the president's plane crashed within the walls of the prison, criminal Snake is tasked with rescuing him in exchange for a pardon.
It is recognised as one of the best action movies of the 1980s.
Should a remake happen, the producers will need to look elsewhere for a new Snake, though, as Wyatt Russell isn't interested.
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"Although that’s very kind, that will not be happening," Wyatt previously told Esquire when informed that there was actually online clamour for him to be cast as Snake.
"There will be no Snake reboot from me, that’s like career suicide 101. That’s like what not to do. I don’t know if anybody else could be Snake Plissken. Good luck, go get ‘em, I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I just don’t know how it’s possible.
"And for me, if I really wanted to get people sending me hate mail, I think that’s what I should do. I will not be ever doing anything like that."
Escape from New York remake
There have been several directors linked with helming a remake or sequel to Escape from New York over the last decade including Brett Ratner, Leigh Wannell and Robert Rodriguez.
It has now been taken on by the team at Radio Silence (Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Chad Villella) who are behind the hugely successful last two Scream movies.
In 2022, it was confirmed that their movie would be a sequel, not a remake.
“We’re very excited to be working with 20th Century on that,” Villella told Entertainment Weekly.
“We’re developing our take, and hopefully, it will be going to script sometime in the New Year, and just really starting to lay the groundwork for that. But very early stages.”
“Not a remake,” added Gillett.
"That’s one of those properties that you can’t , it’s sort of untouchable to us, and lives in its own stratosphere in terms of how important it is to us, and how much we love it. So it’ll be not unlike Scream, I think, a nod to, and a continuation of, what we love about those characters and that world.”
Related Movies
Escape from New York
Scifi / Action
1981 • 99 minutes
Escape from L.A.
Action / Scifi
1996 • 101 minutes
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