According to the latest update on the long-gestating remake of John Carpenter’s dystopian action film, the screenwriter tasked with reinventing the celebrated action film is none other than the creator of the hit BBC crime drama Luther, Neil Cross.
The Hollywood Reporter indicates that a host of screenwriters were contending for the gig, with Cross finally winning out. 20th Century Fox is reportedly hoping to replicate the success of its rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise with a similarly fresh take on Escape From New York.
Set in a dystopian future in which the island of Manhattan has been turned into a maximum security prison, the original film cast Kurt Russell as the iconic, eyepatch-wearing antihero Snake Plissken, who’s sent on a dangerous mission to rescue the kidnapped U.S. President somewhere on the island. Carpenter co-wrote and directed both the 1981 original and its sequel, the 1996 film Escape From L.A.
Carpenter will reportedly serve as an executive producer on the remake of Escape From New York, which has yet to find a director.
Best known for crafting all three seasons of Luther, which earned multiple Golden Globe Awards and Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and helped turn star Idris Elba into a sought-after leading man in Hollywood, Cross is known for his attention to character development and the gritty tone of his television and movie projects.
Along with creating Luther and the 2014 pirate series Crossbones, Cross also penned the script for the under-appreciated 2013 horror film Mama and is working on a feature-length Luther television movie.
There’s no word on when the remake of Escape From New York will officially begin production.
