Here are my three choices;
Sure thing - Chris Hemsworth
Possible - Ben Affleck (looking like he did in The Town, of course)
Long shot - Joseph Gordon Levitt (recent pics of him at the gym show he's bulking up)
John Carpenter already remade this himself once, under the guise of a sequel. It was called Escape from L.A., and it holds the rare distinction of being a movie made by Carpenter, featuring a character everybody likes, co-starring Bruce Campbell...and still being kinda meh. A third film was rumored to take place in space, but that Guy Pearce space-prison movie Lockout basically stole the idea while nobody was caring.
Oh, and guess what...Joel Silver wants to make this new version a trilogy. Because everything has to be. Let me guess - New York gets put on post-Katrina-New-Orleans-style lockdown after a massive terrorist attack?
The primary appeal of the original was that it took a leading man known for playing good guys and made him an asshole, yet still the protagonist. Rather than get Jeremy Renner or Liam Neeson, (or Andrew Lincoln, who I bet is on more than one wishlist) they should try going that route. See if Justin Timberlake could play against type, for example. I mean, why not? If you must do this, at least be creative.
Assuming the idea doesn't make you vomit, who would you pick as the new Snake Plissken?
Tags: Bruce Campbell, Escape from New York, Guy Pearce, John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Snake Plissken
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If we are remaking Escape than how about we remake Fortress?
I can't think of anyone that could take Russell's place. I don't know these young wipper snapper actors. And the actors I do know are a bit too old for the part or just don't do this type of role. Well maybe Ray Stevensen?
Shit, I forgot the thing to do now was to remake movies from the 80s but cast females as the male lead... so... Jennifer Lawrence...
What's that? You say they should get a typical good guy to play the anti-hero?
Paul Rudd / Jason Segel star in... Escape From New Jersey
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Funny you mention Justin Timberlake, few months ago watched a fantastic movie with him as the lead called In Time. People would never agree to it but it would be awesome to see him in a role like this. Of course Lock-out was pretty good as well once I sat down and watched it, and no one bought Guy Pearce in the snake plissken role initially.
Well, based on your idea of needing a nice guy stepping out of his typical role, I'm going to suggest:
John Krasinski
Dwayne Johnson springs to mind... Check him out in the Fast Five feature... Also Fast Six, although I've yet to see that one yet...
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@jmrmpd The Rock is too jacked for the role, unless they want to change the whole thing completely.
Let's just go for broke here and cast Dwayne Johnson...Talk about your "good guy" typecasting.
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"An asshole, yet still the protagonist". That was pretty much Snow (Guy Pearce), from the unofficial remake Lock-Out.
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@Senorpuddin Hamm wants to go the Clooney route, but I don't think that means he wants to star in a Batman and Robin of his own.
@step5555 @Senorpuddin true... True... However! I think as long as they have a good writer and director it might be good
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So we basically want a movie that's Archer trying to escape NYC after some sort of lockdown, then?
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"an asshole, yet still the protagonist" - Okay LYT I'm pretty sure "anti-hero" isn't too obscure a term here, however I agree that people like anti-heroes. Because "heroes" tend to be annoyingly, boringly and unbelievably perfect and they usually only face down "antagonists" that are annoyingly, boringly and unbelievably evil. As to it's popularity, I point out that it was the first big cyberpunk film - no offense Blade Runner, in '81 when everybody was still trying to copy Star Wars this took it to the other extreme - dark gritty hopelessness. It was refreshing.
Oh and as always I say CAST AN UNKNOWN! Stop listening to the morons in marketing with their fingers on the pulse of what's trending - cast a young wannabe with talent and drive, there are plenty out there
@Gallen_Dugall As I understand it, "an asshole, yet still the protagonist" is the PG-13 version of the Anti hero (like Han Solo, or Snow in Lockout).
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@jonap @Gallen_Dugall an anti-hero is just a protagonist that does not act heroicly
Andrew Lincoln is a great choice but he will not want to be typecast as someone who can only do post-apocalyptic movies. This seems more like a contest question but I would like to see Timothy Olyphant. Let him make up for messing with Hitman.
@Canadian.Scott Honestly, if I were Andrew Lincoln and offered the lead role in a major movie, something I've NEVER had before, I would not say, "Naw, don't wanna be typecast."
@LYT Okay then let me change the statement a little and say that if Andrew Lincoln decides to branch out to lead a movie it would not be a remake of Escape from New York. He is probably aware of how rabid fan bases can get and he would need to tread lightly and not go after such a big fish. Look to him to be the lead in a British caper like In Brogues, Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Perhaps he is a better choice to be in The Man from UNCLE?
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@Canadian.Scott he's doing that with Justified on FX, let the man stay on the small screen... He's better there
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David Hayter as Snake!! Oh wait... wrong Snake... Still David Hayter as Snake would be insane... He became super famous for voicing a Plissken rip-off... now he could BE a Plissken Rip-off...
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As much as I don't want to see an 'Escape From New York' remake, I'd like to see Norman Reedus as Snake.
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As long as we're vomiting and casting Snake, how's this?
Let's see... Shia LaBeouf, Michael Cera, Jack Black, Eddie Murphy, Robert Pattinson, and Tommy Wiseau.
All at the same time. The role would just randomly jump from actor to actor each scene (and sometimes in the middle of a scene) with no explanation.
@LYT @RandomChance No that would make this Ed Wood good. Let's save that for something out of my childhood I don't have fond memories of.
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@ZdenkoVoloder ovo je vjerovatno pozvaniji da komentariše moj rođak @rd_plissken :)
@JackBurtonJr @ZdenkoVoloder @rd_plissken It took some time to find out what this meant but it is funny.
The reason NY worked was because that was actually a semi-logical conclusion for what New York would turn into back in the late 70s. Things were that bad.
It's also why Robocop worked - Detroit was, and still is, fucked up. I think the new Robocop's going to be half-decent because of that.
But... New York just isn't that grimy anymore. Good thing for the citizens, bad thing for dystopian sci-fi movies.
@step5555 the new robocop is going to suck, mostly because they ran it into the ground. " hey let's make 2 mediocre sequels and a shitty ass tv show PEOPLE WILL LOVE IT!" Even Peter Weller wanted nothing to do with that franchise after the second one, AND LOOK AT HIM NOW!
@Senorpuddin Eh, it's been long enough now. And I don't know if it's Robocop's fault that it was the first franchise to get blown the fuck up because they didn't realise Frank Miller had run out of ideas.
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@DJRM As long as they don't reveal he's Snake Plissken until about halfway through the movie.
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@DJRM YES.
Not because it would be any GOOD, mind you, but because I will watch almost anything with him in it. I need more Cumberbatch in my life.
Also because the man is so insanely busy and seems to not even bat an eye about taking on 6000 more projects at any given time.
I'll say it. LA had some good scenes. But purposely making a bad, no-budged 70s movie in the 1990s with tons of money is where it failed. The cheap simplicity of New York is what made it the classic it is today.
It will be a trilogy, but the 3rd will be split into 2 parts.
Maybe Channing Tatum as Snake? I'd say Will Smith, but he'd "Will Smith" it up too much.
