Escape from New York
1997. New York City is a walled, maximum security prison. Breaking out is impossible. Breaking in is insane.
Country
Genre
Budget
$6 000 000
Revenue
$25 244 626
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Larry J. Franco, Debra Hill, Jake Eberts
Operator
Composer
Artist
Joe Alves, Chris Horner
Audition
Pegi Brotman
Editing
Todd C. Ramsay
All team (84)
All team (84)
Short description
In a world ravaged by crime, the entire island of Manhattan has been converted into a walled prison where brutal prisoners roam free. After the US president crash-lands inside, war hero Snake Plissken has 24 hours to bring him back.
What's left behind the scenes
- Carpenter and the film crew agreed with the city government of East St. Louis that the electricity would be turned off during nighttime filming. Filming took place from August to November 1980. Carpenter recalled that for about two and a half months he didn't see daylight at all, because the crew finished filming at 6 a.m., and he went to sleep at 7 a.m. and woke up around 6 p.m.
- The only scene filmed in New York is one of the characters walking with the Statue of Liberty in the background.
- The end credits state that Joe Anger played Taylor. However, this character does not appear in the film itself. His scenes (the bank robbery) were cut from the film, but his name remained in the closing credits.
- Before meeting Plissken, almost every character in the film believed him to be dead. The same joke was used in "Big Jack" (1971).
- The studio wanted Tommy Lee Jones to play Snake Plissken.
- John Carpenter has an acquaintance who knew a guy in Cleveland named Snake Plissken, who everyone believed was dead. Carpenter borrowed the name and also added comments from the characters to the film about the supposedly deceased Snake.
- Donald Pleasence came up with a backstory for his character explaining why the President speaks with a British accent. However, Carpenter did not use his idea.
- When Snake first meets Cabbie, "Everyone's Coming To New York" is playing.
- The scenes on the streets of New York were filmed in St. Louis after a devastating fire that occurred in the city.
- The studio also considered Charles Bronson for the role of Plissken. However, John Carpenter was against this choice, as he believed Bronson was too old for the part.
- John Carpenter wrote the screenplay for "Escape from New York" in 1976, following the Watergate scandal. According to the director, the screenplay he wrote was "brutal, scary, and unusual," and therefore no studio wanted to undertake its adaptation. Carpenter was inspired by the popular film "Death Wish" at the time. He liked the depiction of New York as a kind of jungle and wanted to create his own science fiction film based on a similar principle.
- Kurt Russell followed a strict diet and exercise regimen to build muscle mass. Even between takes, Russell tried not to break character, but he preferred to remove the eye patch at those times, as prolonged wear negatively affected his vision.
- Clint Eastwood, Nick Nolte, Jeff Bridges, and Chuck Norris also auditioned for the role of Snake Plissken.
- Jamie Lee Curtis reads the voice-over at the beginning of the film, but her name is not mentioned in the credits.
- Recreating the setting – a semi-destroyed New York – became a problem for Carpenter, as the film's budget was low. The director and production designer Joe Alves decided not to film in real New York, because depicting it as a ruined city was too difficult. Carpenter suggested filming on a studio lot, but Alves wanted to film on real streets and rejected the director's idea. Assistant producer Barry Bernardi, at the behest of Carpenter and Alves, went on a trip across the country to find "the worst city in America." Bernardi suggested filming in East St. Louis.
- The name of the main character, Snake Plissken, was changed to Hyena when the film was shown in Italy; in Korea, the character played by Kurt Russell is called Cobra.
- The Duke of New York’s car is a 1977 Cadillac Fleetwood.
- The shot of the helicopter flying over Central Park was filmed in San Fernando. The building models in the background were made by future filmmaker James Cameron.
- Some music from 'Escape from...' was borrowed for 'Planet Terror' (2007).
- The computer model of New York that Snake sees on the monitor in the glider is actually not computer graphics. At the time of filming, such computer effects were too expensive. Therefore, to create the illusion of a computer model, the special effects team built a model of the city, painted it black, attached a strip of white color to the miniature buildings, and filmed the result of their work with a film camera.
- The main character of the “Metal Gear Solid” computer game series, Solid Snake, was created based on Snake Plissken. Hideo Kojima, the creator of “MGS,” personally confirmed that “Escape from New York” is one of his favorite films, and Solid Snake was created based on Plissken.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
