Original ‘Escape From New York’ Co-Writer Weighs in on Reboot Plans

Nick Castle portrayed the masked Michael Myers in the original Halloween, which led to many other collaborations with director John Carpenter. The pair wrote Escape from New York, which Carpenter directed, with Castle confirming that he hopes any potential reboot of the franchise will only move forward with Carpenter’s blessing.

“You know, I keep hearing this and that actor is gonna get involved and this production company,” Castle shared with ComicBook.com. “I just sit back and hopefully the checks will come in. We’ll see. Of course, I would hope that John is involved somehow so that it has his signature, ’cause I like it when companies and filmmakers that are using the material have a certain respect for where it came from.”

One of the last updates on the project came at the end of 2017, with writer Neil Cross claiming that Carpenter had given his blessing for that iteration of the script.

“Robert Rodriguez is attached to direct and it’s looking good and exciting. It was quite a challenging script, it’s a challenging thing to reinvent,” Cross shared with Deadline. “One of the most terrifying sentences I’ve ever heard in my life is, ‘We’ve given the script to John Carpenter’. I crawled around for three days thinking, ‘Oh my god,’ but we got John Carpenter’s seal of approval. He approved it and that’s all I need.”

Another collaboration between Castle and Carpenter came in 1986 when the duo, plus Tommy Lee Wallace, created the musical group The Coupe de Villes, who wrote the title song for the Carpenter-directed Big Trouble in Little China. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is currently attached to a new iteration of that film, which Carpenter isn’t as fond of as other recent projects inspired by his works.

“They want a movie with Dwayne Johnson. That’s what they want. So they just picked that title,” Carpenter shared with CinemaBlend. “They don’t give a sh-t about me and my movie. That movie wasn’t a success.”

One project that won over Carpenter so much that he not only gave his blessing to the concept but even crafted the score for was last year’s Halloween. That sequel saw not only Carpenter’s return, but also the return of original star Jamie Lee Curtis, who had last appeared in the franchise with 2002’s Halloween: Resurrection.

The film also saw Castle’s first return to the series since he appeared in the 1978 film, contributing Michael Myers’ ominous breathing throughout the film and even sporting the mask in a brief scene.

Halloween is out now on Digital HD and hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on January 15th.

What do you think about Castle’s remarks regarding the Escape from New York reboot? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!