Escape From New York Remake: 10 Actors Who Should Play Snake Plissken

10. Kurt Russell (Obviously)

It’s been more than two decades since he last played Snake (in the less than ecstatically received Escape From L.A.), but not considering Kurt Russell seems like an insult.

Few people remember that Carpenter and Russell first worked together on the Elvis TV movie, which prompted the filmmaker to consider Russell for future parts, figuring that if he could pull off playing The King he could do anything (weirdly enough, Elvis played a character named John Carpenter in Change Of Habit, his final film).

Of all the movies on Russell’s resume – and he was in much bigger films than Escape From New York, including Backdraft and Stargate – Plissken is arguably the character he’ll be remembered for. Russell gives him a swagger that in the hands of a lesser actor would make him seem like a laughable caricature of a spaghetti western antihero, but whenever he growls at someone to “Call me Plissken”, the audience isn’t laughing.