John Carpenter Talks Cult Classic ‘Escape From L.A.’ And Being Open To Directing Again

Maligned on its initial release in 1996, director John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A. has earned itself a growing cult following.

After a decade in development, Kurt Russell reprised the iconic role of Snake Plissken in the post-apocalyptic sequel. After the success of his New York mission, the government sends him to the West Coast to get back a potential doomsday device that is somewhere in the city, now an island and home to an army of nefarious characters.

Thanks to Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, the director’s vision is getting its crispest release yet as it arrives on 4K UHD for the first time.

I caught up with the iconic director to discuss the $50 million budget movie, a piece of his work he has always considered to have been underappreciated. 

Simon Thompson: Escape from L.A. has continued to gather a following over the years, and it’s been a favorite of yours ever since it was released. Is the movie gaining popularity a validation of your love for this film? It seems like people are finally seeing what you saw in it.

John Carpenter:  I don’t know if that’s it or not. I’m just delighted that it’s gaining that popularity. I really dig Escape from L.A., and I always have. I love the hang gliding, and I love Peter Fonda as Pipeline. It doesn’t get better than that.

Thompson: This is a 4K release. Escape from L.A. has been released in various formats over the years, but this will be the crispest version of your vision. Have you ever been tempted to go back and tweak, improve it, or make any changes to it over the years?

Carpenter: No, not for a second.

Thompson: Why is that? George Lucas went back with the Star Wars movies and added or updated things. Do you want to keep your work pure?

Carpenter: He’s a perfectionist, and I’m not. I’m very lazy. I’m done with that movie, and I don’t want to revisit it. I finished it, thank God.

Thompson: It grossed $25 million. What do you remember about the opening weekend of Escape from L.A.? Did you go into any theaters and watch it with an audience?

Carpenter: No, I didn’t do that. I just remember getting calls about the numbers from Sherry Lansing at the studio. In a sense, they were okay because it was commensurate with the first one. I don’t remember what Escape from New York opened with, but this one opened around the same figure, so that was fine. I just thought, ‘Whatever it does, it does.’

Thompson: Now we have social media to gauge how audiences react to a movie instantly. How and when did you find out if it was working for audiences at the time? Were they seeing what you wanted them to see in it?

Carpenter: We only had test screenings with audiences. We’d sit and watch it with them and see what they would pick up on. We had a length problem with Escape from L.A., and we never solved that. It probably should have been cut down a little.

Thompson: What stood out quite early on when it came to things that audiences engaged with? Did it match up with your expectations?

Carpenter: Everybody loved the surfing, which I thought they would. They loved the hang gliding, which I hoped they would. Those things are obvious crowd-pleasers.

Thompson: Was there a lot of stuff that you shot and didn’t make it?

Carpenter: There was some stuff, yeah, but not a lot.

Thompson: Is there anything that springs to mind that you would have liked to have included? Do you have any of that footage anywhere in the archives? Are you an archivist?

Carpenter: No and no.

Thompson: I often ask directors about things they wanted to do in a movie, but it wasn’t possible either because of budgetary or time constraints or because the technology wasn’t available. You had $50 million to make this. Was there anything you wanted to try and realize that didn’t happen?

Carpenter: Well, several things didn’t happen the way I’d have liked them to. Even though we had a bigger budget than Escape from New York, we didn’t have a big enough of a budget. We could have used some more money.

Thompson: Where would you spend that? Would that have been on effects?

Carpenter: Yeah.

Thompson: Kurt was very keen to make this was very involved in it. Escape from L.A. remains his only writing credit. What do you think he brought with his increased involvement that wasn’t already on the table with the first one?

Carpenter: It was his passion for the character and his love for the world we had created. It was a world that I left behind, but he rekindled it, and he rekindled my own love for it.

Thompson: What did he see in Snake that you didn’t see in the character, had missed or hadn’t developed that he saw the opportunity for?

Carpenter: I don’t know exactly what it was, but I think he just wanted to revisit it and relive it. I don’t know if he wanted to change anything, but he enjoyed playing that character, and I think that was the big thing.

Thompson: How much of this were you able to film on location in and around Los Angeles? I know a lot of it was on various sound stages and backlots, including the square at Universal Studios used in Back to the Future for a big scene set in an abandoned theme park. 

Carpenter: Quite a bit was on the streets of Los Angeles. We had an earthquake in 1994, so we used some of those areas. There was one street in the Valley we used that had been destroyed. Oh, man. We didn’t even try to shoot Disneyland. They weren’t going to let us, so we used the backlot at Universal for that.

Thompson: You didn’t even bother putting in the call to Disney.

Carpenter: (Laughs) Oh, no, no, no, they weren’t going to let us get near them.

Thompson: When was the last time you and Kurt discussed doing another Snake Plissken movie? Do you still have discussions about more Escapes? There was a plan for a third one, but that became Ghosts of Mars.

Carpenter: (Laughs)

Thompson: You’re laughing. Is that not true?

Carpenter: Well, I accept it. No, that’s pretty true. Kurt and I don’t talk about it anymore. Kurt feels he’s too old for the role now.

Thompson: If he had one, would there ever be the prospect of Snake’s son taking on the Escape mantel?

Carpenter: I don’t know but maybe. You never know in this business. 

Thompson: Who would you trust to pick that up and run with it? You’ve felt comfortable with Blumhouse and Halloween. Would you want to direct it yourself?

Carpenter: No. I would love to be involved in the music. That would be fun to do. It’s not about trust. There are probably a lot of directors I trust, but I’d want somebody with a passion for it.

Thompson: Does that mean you’re open to pitches?

Carpenter: Well, they’re doing something at 20th Century Studios. I believe they’re working on a reboot of Escape from New York, but I’m not sure what is involved. That’s what I hear, anyway.

Thompson: Something I’ve always wanted to ask you about Escape from L.A. is something that happens with the movie’s ending. Snake looks into the camera and delivers a line. Is that Kurt breaking the fourth wall, or is Snake looking at and talking to someone?

Carpenter: He is breaking the fourth wall. He’s doing what you’re not supposed to do as an actor; it’s transgression.

Thompson: Is that something you wanted or asked Kurt to do?

Carpenter: No (Laughs). That was Kurt. It was something he desperately wanted to do. He also did it in that Tarantino movie, Death Proof.

Thompson: Did you shoot various versions, some with him breaking the fourth wall and others with Kurt not doing that?

Carpenter: No, he was committed. He had so much fun with that. He loved doing it.

Thompson: If you don’t want to make another Escape movie, would you return to directing at all, or are you done with it?

Carpenter: I’m open to directing, but I don’t want to work as hard as I worked on Escape from L.A. and Ghosts of Mars. I worked very hard in those movies. I almost killed myself, and I didn’t want to work that hard again. I love this music business stuff. It’s great, and it’s a lot of fun.

Thompson: That has become like almost a second career for you.

Carpenter: It is a second career, absolutely. I feel fabulous. It doesn’t have the stress, and there isn’t the bulls**t of the movie business. It’s a whole different deal. It’s wonderful.

John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A. arrives on 4K UHD for the first time on Tuesday, February 22, 2022.