I was reading the “Recast Your Favorite Movies – 2011 Edition!” thread and recalled an idea I had a couple of months ago. I was revisiting a particular film on Netflix Instant that I hadn’t seen in a very long time and was enjoying the hell out of it. Halfway through its running time, it struck me that it would have made a great sequel to one of my favorite franchises.
Naturally, I went about typing it all up. I altered the basic information of who worked behind the scenes on the project. I changed some of the cast, but left much of it intact. Long story short, it turned out to be a large undertaking that has taken quite a bit of my time. Considering I’m now writing this blog on the site, I felt it was almost a waste to toss such an effort into a thread. So I decided to cut & past the whole thing and publish it here. I will place a link for it in there (as well as in my blog’s own thread), but here is the piece for you enjoyment……
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Hot off of finishing post-production on In the Mouth of Madness, John Carpenter dives into a project almost tailor-made for him. Naturally, he tweaks it a bit to suit what he wants to do, perfecting it even further…..
John Carpenter’s
NO ESCAPE (1994)
Directed by John Carpenter
Screenplay by Michael Gaylin & Joel Gross and John Carpenter & Nick Castle
Based on the novel “The Penal Colony” by Richard Herley
Produced by Debra Hill & Kurt Russell
Cinematography by Dean Cundey
Music by John Carpenter & Alan Howarth
Starring:
– Kurt Russell as ‘Snake Plissken’
– Lance Henriksen as ‘The Father’
– Stuart Wilson as ‘Marek’
– Kevin Dillon as ‘Casey’
– Kevin J. O’Connor as ‘Stephano’
– Donald Pleasence as ‘Killian’
– Ian McNeice as ‘King’
– Keith Carradine as ‘Dysart’
– Sam Neill as ‘Warden’
– Keith David as ‘Hawkins’
– Peter Jason, Robert Carradine, Roddy Piper, Mark Hamill, Alice Cooper, Michael Pare, Tom Atkins, and Charles Cyphers all make an appearance in various supporting and cameo roles.
It’s just as great as Escape From New York and is a rousing success. John’s creative inspiration is rejuvenated and his career unfolds as such…..
1995 – John produces a solid remake of Village of the Damned for Universal Studios, with his buddy Tommy Lee Wallace in the director’s chair. It is a modest success and Universal is happy with the results
1996 – John gets to make his passion project remake of Creature From The Black Lagoon with Jeff Bridges and Kurt Russell as the male leads.
1998 – With three hits in a row, Carpenter is given a big budget to adapt John Steakley’s Vampire$ starring James Woods & Alec Baldwin (reuniting after The Getaway remake). The box office starts out meager, but once Tarantino praises it for the Peckinpah-esque bloodpath of a modern day western it is, the film becomes a sleeper hit. John also produces Halloween: 20 Years Later, again directed by Wallace. The resulting film makes it a perfect “trilogy” capper when paired with the first two installments of the series. Carpenter stays on board the franchise as a producer and the remaining films are one-shot horror flicks set around or about the holiday of Halloween………..his initial dream fulfilled.
2000 – A pedestrian Carpenter pastiche of a script comes across his desk. It’s mediocre as hell, but it has a hook that John decides to exploit. Ghosts of Mars hits theaters, but doesn’t so hot do to its gonzo nature and Evil Dead-esque sense of humor. It makes enough money to not be an embarrassment, so his career doesn’t suffer. It manages to gain a huge cult following over the years because many see it as a the perfect phantasmagorical sci-fi companion piece to Big Trouble In Little China.
2001 – Universal calls up John for a favor. They want to sign him for a five picture deal, so long as the first one is a sequel to The Thing. John happily agrees, as he has always wanted to follow-up the film anyway. Russell and David return. Bottin is coaxed back to do the FX, most of which are practical. Pre-production begins shortly before JC’s next film hits theaters. Escape From LA is released. While not as good as the first two, it is still viewed as a worthy entry in the franchise………….although it performs poorly at the box office.
2002 – The Thing Lives! is released on Halloween and is a decent hit.
2004–2008 – John branches out from the horror genre and is successful for the most part. He releases three films during this time period: one is a period gangster epic with James Woods and the other two are full-blown westerns (one with Jeff Bridges and the other with Michael Biehn).
2011 – Tommy Lee Wallace’s The Ward is given a limited release with positive results.
2010 – Once Upon A Time In Post-Apocalyptic America, the fourth entry in the Plissken franchise, hits theaters. It’s a full-on dypstopian western set in the aftermath of EFLA, with Plissken wandering about a lawless America working as a bounty hunter for hire. Done on a lower budget than the last two entries, it performs admirably. Carpenter promises one more run with the character and gets Megan Ellison (a fan of the franchise) to back him financially. He also speaks of a few non-genre low budget projects that they might do together. He also teases the possibility of More Trouble In Little China becoming a reality.
2012 – Escape From Earth, coming Fall 2012!
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Thoughts?