6/19/2023 0 Comments Snake escape from ny gifIt took 15 years, but Carpenter and Russell eventually returned to the world of Snake Plissken with 1996’s Escape From L.A. Carpenter hasn't ruled out a third movie. So, to fix that, Carpenter later added a shot of her body that he and Barbeau filmed in their own garage. The problem with that was that he never shot footage of Maggie’s body, only of her being hit by the Duke’s car. So for one of the only real moments of emotion in the film, her death, Carpenter wanted to make it clear that Maggie really was gone. Rialto PicturesĪccording to Russell, there’s only one character in the film, other than himself, that Snake Plissken cares about: Maggie, the tough woman played by Carpenter’s then-wife, Adrienne Barbeau. Donald Pleasence wrote his own backstory.Īdrienne Barbeau co-starred in the film alongside Isaac Hayes and Harry Dean Stanton. You won’t see Curtis in the film, but you may hear her: She's believed to have lent her voice to the narrator role under the pseudonym Kathleen Blanchard. If Halloween hadn’t worked out, it’s doubtful Carpenter ever would have made Escape From New York, so he called upon his Halloween star to participate when it finally happened. Three years prior to Escape From New York, Carpenter directed his breakout hit: the slasher film Halloween, which also proved to be the breakout film for star Jamie Lee Curtis. Jamie Lee Curtis may have made a cameo in Escape From New York. A piece of padding was attached to Baker’s neck to absorb the blow, but both Carpenter and Russell recalled the wrestler was a little on edge before the stunt took place. Carpenter hired a pro wrestler to fight Russell.įor the sequence in which Snake has to fight a fellow prisoner, gladiator-style, Carpenter hired actual pro wrestler Ox Baker, who was so rough and real when rehearsing the fight scenes that Russell’s stuntman only gave him one piece of advice: “Good luck.” Russell had the last laugh, though, because he had to hit Baker in the back of the neck with an actual baseball bat studded with nails. We were extremely careful, and cleaned up our messes afterward." 8. They'd had a bombing three months earlier, and were worried about trouble. It wasn't easy to get that initial permission. "They let us have the whole island to ourselves. “We were the first film company in history allowed to shoot on Liberty Island, at the Statue of Liberty, at night," Carpenter said. According to Carpenter, the City of New York granted his crew unprecedented access. Though much of the film was shot elsewhere, Carpenter did secure one key piece of New York City iconography for on-location shooting: Liberty Island, for the sequence in which a helicopter flies by the Statue of Liberty and the film establishes that it’s now a headquarters for security forces. The crew was given unprecedented access to Liberty Island. “I said to John, ‘I think it’d be cool to wear an eyepatch.’ I think a lot of guys would have gone, ‘Well, I don’t know …’ but John immediately went, ‘That’s great! I don’t think anybody’s worn an eyepatch since John Wayne in True Grit!'” 7. According to Russell, he suggested it to Carpenter, who immediately likened the idea to a favorite Western hero. One of the most iconic things about the film is Plissken’s eyepatch, and apparently that wasn’t in the script. The eyepatch added to Plissken's mystique, and it's all thanks to Russell. James Cameron was part of Escape from New York's crew. Carpenter dismissed Norris as too old, and preferred Russell over Jones, so he fought for his young star, and eventually-obviously-won. The studio, on the other hand, wanted a star like Tommy Lee Jones or Chuck Norris for the part. He wasn’t an action star, but Carpenter thought he was the right choice to play Snake. John Carpenter had to fight to cast Kurt Russell.Īt the time of the film’s production, Kurt Russell was an actor best known for his work in Disney projects like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. “Anybody with a snake tattooed on them someplace … that’s my kinda hero,” Carpenter said. When writing the original script for the film, Carpenter was in search of a name for his main character, and it just so happened that a friend of a friend actually knew a person named “Snake Plissken,” who Carpenter described as “a kinda high school tough guy,” complete with a snake tattoo. Audiences ultimately found it confusing, so it was cut. Carpenter initially shot an elaborate opening sequence featuring Snake and an accomplice pulling a bank robbery, then fleeing on a hot-wired train before being captured. But Carpenter’s original plan was to show the audience how he landed in prison in the first place. When we first meet Snake Plissken (Russell), he’s already a notorious prisoner and former war hero being given a shot at freedom.
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