OK, so the news that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was playing Jack Burton wasn’t met with a lot of enthusiasm here at FTN HQ (or at many other places) (here) but now The Rock himself has responded to the backlash…
Hey, look, we like Johnson, but we LOVE Big Trouble In Little China, ok?
Now, chatting with EW, the actor has responded to the fan reactions and, dammit, does he have to be so likeable?!
Ok, here’s what he had to say: “I loved reading the reactions from the fans, that they were so polarized – I’m the same way. My response is: know that I come to the project with nothing but love and respect for the original, which is why we want to bring on John Carpenter.”
The fact that they are trying to get original movie writer/director John Carpenter back on board is a big deal, especially since Carpenter said last week he wasn’t involved (here).
He goes on to say that he’s a fan and if it’s not working the plug will be pulled: “I loved the original when I was younger and I loved the main character – all the characters. It felt like if we surrounded ourselves with the right group of people, the right writers who loved the movie too and wanted to honor it, bring on John Carpenter in some capacity . . . If we did that, then we have a shot at hopefully making something good.
“Let’s see what feels good, what we can come up with and then go from there. And as we write it, if the whole thing starts to stink up, then we thank everybody for their efforts and accept this just couldn’t make it.”
While we’re still against this remake, this does make us feel a little better… but we’re standing by the meme we made at the top of the page.
That said, like the Ghostbusters reboot, this is special to us and we would love nothing more than to be able to say it’s a great new version… so let’s hope it happens. In both instances.
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