Leigh Whannell writing script for Escape from New York remake

[Jello Biafra]

Leigh Whannell has booked his second big studio project in less than a week.

Just days after closing a deal to write and direct The Invisible Man for Universal, the Australian-born filmmaker is taking on another studio franchise, Fox’s Escape from New York.

Whannell will write the script for the remake of the John Carpenter 1980s classic. Sources say that while there is no deal for him to direct, the door is open for that possibility.

Neil Cross, the creator of the BBC crime series Luther, wrote the most recent iteration of the project that Robert Rodriguez was attached to direct.

Whannell, however, is kickstarting Escape with a new vision for the project that sources say will retain elements of the original but bring new ideas to the table. One of Whannell's goals is to avoid the bloated tentpole remake path that afflicted the reboots of other 1980s-era movies such as Robocop and Total Recall.

Leigh Whannell to Tackle 'Escape From New York' Remake for Fox (Exclusive)

 

[TheGodling]

Whannell, however, is kickstarting Escape with a new vision for the project that sources say will retain elements of the original but bring new ideas to the table. One of Whannell's goals is to avoid the bloated tentpole remake path that afflicted the reboots of other 1980s-era movies such as Robocop and Total Recall.

All this fukking code language just to say 'hey, we fukk up remakes all the time but we hope to avoid that here'.