John Carpenter Had To Fight To Cast Kurt Russell In Escape From New York

Snake Plissken, the eyepatch-wearing badass at the center of John Carpenter's 1981 dystopian thriller "Escape from New York," is supposed to be — in a spiritual sense — the same as Clint Eastwood's character from Sergio Leone's Man with No Name trilogy. And if the taciturn demeanor, nihilistic standpoint, and growly voice didn't give it away, Carpenter also has Snake enact multiple scenes opposite Lee Van Cleef, Eastwood's antagonistic co-star in the same trilogy. In a strange piece of casting, though, Snake is played by Kurt Russell. Back in 1981, Russell, as a film star, was still best known for his childhood career with Disney, where he made lightweight, silly, family-friendly movies. His first movie for grown-ups was Robert Zemeckis' 1980 comedy "Used Cars," followed quickly by "Escape from New York." 

After that, Russell would build a career playing a wider variety of roles, including, among other things, action heroes and growling badasses. Indeed, the man now had multiple violent blockbusters and dozens of high-octane thrillers under his belt. But in 1980, Russell was a tough sell as an action star. Indeed, John Carpenter had to fight the executives at AVCO Embassy, the studio behind the film, to get Russell up on the screen. Russell and Carpenter had already worked together on the 1979 TV movie "Elvis," wherein Russel played the titular King, but neither of them was particularly fond of the project. It's perhaps the least "John Carpenter" of Carpenter's movies, and Russell wasn't too happy with the results. 

Fun trivia: Kurt Russell is the only actor to have acted with Elvis (in "It Happened at the World's Fair"), played Elvis (in "Elvis"), and played an Elvis impersonator ("3000 Miles to Graceland"). 

Back in 2013, Russell spoke at the Cape Town Film Festival, and he recalls that Carpenter had to request Russell specifically for the role of Snake Plissken. AVCO wanted Charles Bronson in the role. 

Russell said that "Elvis" wasn't exactly a dream project for him. He didn't want to do it, but he understood that it would be good for his career to appear in a "prestige" biographical TV movie. Russell said that Carpenter was brought onto "Elvis" after he had already committed, so it was happenstance that the actor and the director met. They loved working together, though, with Russell saying that "We learned a language very quickly with each other." The pair resolved to work on another project together as soon as possible. "Let's do this again," Russell recalls saying to Carpenter, "but with something that's completely ours." 

After Russell took a quick jaunt to Australia (he traveled a lot for work), he called up Carpenter, and they were on the same page. Carpenter had found "Escape from New York," and the pair moved quickly to make it. This was a joint project through and through. Russell knew that no one other than Carpenter would think to cast him in a role like Snake Plissken, which put him in a unique position. As Russell recalled: 

"I said, 'I know what I'd like to do with you.' And he said, 'I got that. It's really cool. It's slightly futuristic.' So I read it, and I said, 'This is exactly what I want to do. It's something that I know I can do. [And] I know nobody is going to think of me for except for you, John.' [The studio] wanted Charlie Bronson to do it, and John fought for me. A couple of times in my life, I've gotten to read something — 'Tombstone' was like that — and I just said, 'I'd love to do this.'"

"Tombstone," of course, was the hit 1993 Western wherein Russell played Wyatt Earp. 

Russell and Carpenter would work together again on "The Thing" in 1982, "Big Trouble in Little China" in 1986, and "Escape from L.A." in 1996. It was a creatively lucrative partnership. It's a good thing Bronson was never approached.