Many filmmakers have borrowed ideas from Carpenter over the years, with the most recent example being Tarantino recreating the paranoid, snowbound atmosphere of The Thing for The Hateful Eight; he even borrowed leading man Kurt Russell. Some people take the homage too far though, which is what writer/producer Luc Besson did with space thriller Lockout. The movie starred Guy Pierce as a chain-smoking, sarcastic badass named Snow, whos sent to a space prison to rescue the Presidents kidnapped daughter. If that sounds a lot like the plot of Escape From New York/L.A. than Carpenter would agree with you, and there are lots of other similarities too. Carpenter and EFNY rights holders StudioCanal took Besson and his company to court over it, and eventually won a modest settlement when the judge ruled in their favour. Besson should try to find the silver lining in the ruling though; at least it means somebody actually saw Lockout. Which other facts about John Carpenter do you think deserve to be on this list? Share your favourites below in the comments thread.
