More on Snake Plissken's Return

Action anti-hero goes anime

By John Thonen     August 05, 2002
Source: Hollywood Reporter

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news last week that Snake Plissken, the anti-hero of director John Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and ESCAPE FROM L.A., is in the process of making a comeback which won't put him back in theaters, but rather in people's homes. Activity is already underway to bring the character, played by actor Kurt Russell in both films, into the world of comic books, video games and anime within the next couple of years.

The San Diego ComiCon last week premiered a sample of the comic, JOHN CARPENTER'S SNAKE PLISSKEN CHRONICLES, which is planned to hit comic book stores at the same time as MGM's planned ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK DVD special edition. Video game publishers will soon start bidding on the rights to create a game featuring the character. Such a game could also possibly be based on the film itself; Kurt Russell has reportedly already agreed to do voice work for the game and to doing motion capture work to help in creation of the digital character.

The biggest news for Plissken, however, is the plans of producer Deborah Hill (who produced both of Snake's theatrical adventures) to continue the character's story through an anime styled feature film. "We want to take Japanese sensibility and combine that with Western storytelling," Hill is reported to have explained about the project. Once again, Russell is reported to have agreed to voice his character for the animated project.

Hill also said that "When we made the original film in 1981, there was no video or DVD or video games. [We] want to relaunch Snake Plissken back into the vernacular of pop culture." This latest flurry of activity involving the character was apparently brought about during currently unsuccessful attempts by Carpenter and Hill to launch a TV series featuring Plissken and his adventures. "We introduced a lot of legends in the first two films and with the comics, novels, video games and anime, we'll be able to explore some of these things. How did Snake lose his eye? What happened in the Battle of Cleveland or at the Battle of Leningrad? What is New Las Vegas? We'll explore these stories as well as introduce new stories."

There's been no comment so far from Carpenter as to the extent of his involvement in Hill's plans, though he apparently will not be writing the script for the anime project. However, since Plissken was created by Carpenter in his script for ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, he will likely benefit considerably in a financial nature.

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