Len Wiseman to direct Gerard Butler in 'Escape From New York' remake

Posted Thursday, August 16, 2007 at 1:30 PM Central

by Tim Briscoe

New Line Cinema has tapped Gerard Butler and director Len Wiseman for a remake of the 1981 movie Escape From New York. The original sci-fi action film was directed by John Carpenter and starred Kurt Russell.

Butler, pretty much a household name after 300, will take the Snake Pilssken role in this no-too-distant dystopia. In case you don't remember the original, Pilssken is sent to Manhattan, now a giant prison, to rescue the President after his plane crash lands there.

The original was set in the dark future of 1997 when the U.S. is so crime-ridded that a prison the size of Manhattan Island is necessary. The film spawned a failed sequel, Escape from L.A., in 1996.

Len Wiseman, the man who holds the envious position of Mr. Kate Beckinsale, will direct the remake. Wiseman directed both Underworld films and this summer's Live Free or Die Hard.