Russell’s portrayal of ex-Special Forces soldier Snake Plissken in 1981 cult classic Escape from New York was a major influence onMetal Gear franchisecreator Hideo Kojima.
Russell was also the top choice to voice Solid Snake’s “father,” Naked Snake/Big Boss, inMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, however, he declined the role – and now we know why.
Why Kurt Russell turned down Metal Gear Solid 3
Russell explained that he wasn’t interested in cashing in on the popularity of his Snake Plissken performance in a career retrospective session withGQ.
“I come from a different era,” he said. “I wasn’t interested in expanding financially off of something we had created or that I had created in terms of a character.” Russell also made it clear he has no interest in revisiting the Snake Plissken part (or pastiches of it) without Escape from New York co-writer/director John Carpenter.
“I’d look at [a project] and say, ‘That’s not written by John,'” he said. “That doesn’t smell right. John’s not here to do this. I’m not gonna do that. Let’s go do something new, let’s do something fresh, let’s go create another iconic character, rather than saying ‘What can we bleed off this iconic character?'”
These statements track with Russell’s filmography to date. The star has only reprised the Snake Plissken role once, in 1996’s Escape from L.A., which was also co-written/directed by Carpenter.
Leon is a freelance Movies and TV writer at Dexerto. His past writing credits include articles for Polygon, Popverse, The Escapist, Screen Rant, CBR, Cultured Vultures, PanelxPanel, Taste of Cinema, and more. Originally from Australia, Leon is currently based in the UK.
