While we're on rumours, it seems that the new script treatment for the Escape From New York remake from Jonathan Mostow isn't so hot, in fact the review is pretty scathing.

Previously Ken Nolan, who had written Black Hawk Down, had written a pretty decent script, which is of course no reflection of what the final film would be under a director, but with news of Gerard Butler leaving the production and Jonathan Mostow rewriting the script, things were even more uncertain.

Frankly I don't think that they should even be considering remaking such a classic film, but they're doing it anyway, and if there's anything good to be had out of this it's the fact that as the quality slips away perhaps we just won't see it get remade. Please.

AICN has apparently read both scripts, and while the first one from Ken Nolan was pretty strong and kept with the original feeling, however the new Jonathan Mostow script seems to dump all that in favour of safe politics, over preaching to the audience, and some complete stupidness. Sounds a bit like Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Now you can read the full review over at AICN, but the main hits are the Cabbie role that Snake made an alliance with in the original is watered down to merely finding a map for his escape, the President is now a woman who is idealistically right and won't stop preaching about it, and Snake is a bit of a wet blanket.

Here's a snippet of dialogue that they provide from the new script:

"SNAKE:
Are you gonna shut up one of these days?

PRESIDENT:
No, I’m not. I’m going to lay it on the line.
We have wars being fought, not just overseas, but
here on our own soil. And all we know to do about
any of it is to impose curfews and throw tear gas
at the problem."

Oh dear. To me that sounds awful, and not just the dialogue. Of course I didn't think they should remake the film and I thought there was going to be a very small window to get it right and win over the audience, and perhaps Butler saw that too...or maybe he just saw this script.

Doesn't sound like the Escape From New York remake is going to cut the mustard, not with this script.