John Carpenter: No one’s talked to me about the Big Trouble in Little China remake

When Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson first announced plans to remake 1986 Kung Fu action comedy ‘Big Trouble in Little China,’ one of the first things he mentioned was his hope to involve both original star Kurt Russell and original director John Carpenter in the project.

However, more than a year on from this announcement, Carpenter says he hasn’t been contacted by anyone on the subject.

Asked about the planned remake by Screen Rant, the 68-year old filmmaker and musician says, “It might be crazy… it might be great! I don’t know. Nobody’s told me anything. No one tells me anything [laughs].

“No one’s talked to me about it. Haven’t heard a thing… isn’t it great?”

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Historically, Carpenter has been known to have a relaxed attitude about his films being remade; a good job really, as to date we’ve seen new takes on ‘Assault on Precinct 13,’ ‘The Fog,’ ‘Halloween’ and ‘The Thing’ (though technically this last one was a prequel, and of course Carpenter’s 1982 film was itself a remake). An ‘Escape From New York’ reboot has also been on the cards for some time.

Still, before we accuse Johnson of dishonesty over his ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ plans, it’s entirely possible that Carpenter hasn’t been contacted yet because the film may be on the backburner for the time being.

We can scarcely fail to note that Johnson is among the busiest actors in Hollywood. In 2017 alone he’ll appear in ‘Fast & Furious 8,’ ‘Baywatch’ and ‘Jumanji,’ with ‘San Andreas 2,’ ‘Rampage,’ two ‘Journey’ sequels and DC movie ‘Shazam!’ all on his schedule in the years ahead.

A box office flop on release, ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ went on to gain a devoted cult following on VHS and television, and is now held up as one of the best-loved movies made by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, who also collaborated on TV movie ‘Elvis,’ ‘Escape From New York’ and its sequel ‘Escape From LA,’ and ‘The Thing.’

Kurt Russell – who has co-starred with Johnson in the most recent ‘Fast’ movies – recently said that he had not discussed the project with Johnson either, but remarked, “I don’t think there’s anything too precious to make a remake of.”

Picture Credit: 20th Century Fox, Universal