Escape From New York director
John Carpenter (Ghosts of Mars;Gorgon, the Space Monster) recently talked toHollywood Reporterabout his successful plagiarism suit against French director Luc Besson (Léon: The Professional) whose recent filmLockoutrips off Carpenter’s classicEscape From New York.
“Look, CanalPlus is the company that, with me, ownsEscape From New York. They came to me and said, ‘Luc Besson ripped you off onLockout.’ OrLockdown, whatever the hell that was. And they sent me the movie, and yes, he did. It’s the same story. (Laughs) I mean, you can’t do that, can you? You have to change a couple things. He’s after the president’s daughter? Come on. So I took him to French court.”
Carpenter’s side won an €80,000 settlement (CanalPlus sought €3 million), €20,000 of which went to Carpenter.
“[CanalPlus] wanted to also go after the video gameMetal Gear Solid, which is kind of a rip-off ofEscape From New York, too,” Carpenter said, “but I told them not to do that. I know the director of those games, and he’s a nice guy, or at least he’s nice to me.”
John! John! Kojima’s free now, work on a game with him!
Hideo Kojima’s infatuation with Hollywood is long-documented. Snake inMetal Gearis named forEscape From New York‘s Snake Plissken and looks likeTerminator‘s Kyle Reese.Metal Gear Solid‘s Snake would end up looking more like Kurt Russell and even briefly goes by Plissken inSons of Liberty. AlsoMetal Gear‘s Big Boss is just Sean Connery.
John Carpenter Speaks: Directing Legend on Secrets of ‘Halloween,’ Plagiarism Case Against Luc Besson[Hollywood Reporter]
