Carpenter Escapes Authority In 'L.A.' [CNN/Aug 23/1996] By Dennis Michael


Even in the trailers, Escape From L.A. tweaks the status quo, poking fun at a future U.S. government that's banned unapproved marriages, freedom of religion, smoking and red meat.

John Carpenter has made a wide variety of films over his career, but rarely has he put out an overt "message" film. Covert messages, though, are there by the dozens.

"I don't know quite what I am. I'm not really political," Carpenter claimed in an interview with CNN. "But I hold this great hatred of authority... I really do not like authority too much."

And so, along with having the fun of bringing back Kurt Russell as the anarchist character Snake Plisskin, Escape From L.A. gives its director a lot of targets to tweak.

"We took the catastrophes that have befallen us here - unfortunately we've had earthquakes and riots and mudslides, we've had some big hits, and yet we still keep going," Carpenter said.

The premise of Carpenter's latest movie, the sequel to Escape From New York, is that Los Angeles was ripped from the rest of the country by a devastating earthquake. The new island was then declared no longer part of the United States, and becomes the deportation point for all people found undesirable or unfit to live in the "New Moral America."

It is "what might happen to America if it became a political theocracy," said Carpenter, "and they would deport the morally guilty into the Island of Los Angeles. So it's a refugee island."

Carpenter says he still recalls the days in Hollywood when "B" movies were deliberately produced. They might not get the money the "A" pictures did, but had rewards of their own, because they didn't have to be as straightforward as the "A" list.

"You could sneak things in there, a little juice in there, thematic material," Carpenter said. "You didn't have to hit people over the head with it, but you could present something that would give the audience a little bit of a charge."

For those audiences who might hanker after one more charge from Carpenter, Russell and their shared alter ego, Snake Plisskin, Carpenter says there is a chance. "We have one story left, one place left we can escape from," he said.

"If the audience wants to see it or if you have the money to back it, we'd be willing to do it, and the last place is Earth. Escape From Earth... that would be the last one in the trilogy."

And if there is an Escape From Earth, you can bet there's probably going to be a few messages in there when it comes.