Original Escape From New York Director Addresses Reboot From Scream Directors

Snake Plissken and the dystopian world of Escape from New York is reportedly earning a new installment courtesy of the recent Scream directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, which has largely been shrouded in secrecy, as they are currently working on Scream VI. While some reports claim that original director John Carpenter is involved in the project, the filmmaker himself was recently asked about the project and seemed entirely oblivious to any sort of momentum on such a project, which could either debunk rumors that he was involved or imply that the project is early enough in development stages that he hasn’t heard anything concrete about a new film.

When Variety asked Carpenter about whether he will be involved, the filmmaker replied, “No one told me about it. This is the thing about my career in Hollywood — no one tells me anything. They never tell me things. Have they cast it yet?” After being told how early it was in development and the directors involved, the filmmaker reiterated how detached from such a notion he is, pointing out, “Hey, great. The last I heard was they were developing it where Snake would be a woman. But, no, I haven’t heard about this latest thing. No one wants me around, and they don’t tell me anything to keep me in the dark. It’s safer for them.”

After seemingly overhearing his remarks, Carpenter’s wife Sandy King Carpenter chimed into the conversation, causing Carpenter to clarify, “Apparently, we got an email. My wife tells me we got an email.”

Carpenter himself delivered the follow-up film Escape from L.A. in 1996, with filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez and Leigh Whannell having been attached as developing new installments at various points in time over the years. Gillett and Bettinelli-Olpin were reported as being involved in a new take on the material in November, with the pair offering an update on the status of the project last month.

“Not a remake,” Gillett admitted to Entertainment Weekly. “That’s one of those properties that you can’t [remake], 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.”  

Stay tuned for details on a new Escape from New York.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!