10 Ridiculously Long Periods Between Movie Character Appearances

10. Kurt Russell As Snake Plissken (15 Years)

In 1980, Kurt Russell was desperate to escape from his Disney-clean image. Knowing he needed a dark and gritty change to avoid type-casting, Russell teamed up with his Elvis (1979) director John Carpenter to create the iconic Snake Plissken character for Escape from New York.

The producers pushed for known grizzled action stars such as Charles Bronson, Nick Nolte, and Tommy Lee Jones. Carpenter insisted upon Russell, though, and won out in the end. The pair would then go on to work together again in The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China.

Though Snake was Kurt Russell's favourite character, it would take 15 years before he'd return to the eye-patch wearing ex-con. Despite having both Russell and Carpenter back in the fold, Escape from L.A. ultimately ended up as a box office disappointment.