The Rock Says: Calm Down, We’ll Bring In Carpenter

Last week we posted some news that Dwayne Johnson unilaterally revealed that he was pushing forward with a “Big Trouble in Little China” remake.  The reaction was decisively negative in the comments section and opinion across the internet at large pretty much reflected the views of our readers.

Possibly worse, John Carpenter, who directed the original, hadn’t even been consulted.  Ever the tactician, The Rock however has his finger on the pulse and has spoken to Entertainment Weekly about the backlash…

“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.”

Johnson also says that if there are signs that the movie is going to suck, he’s going to pull the plug.

“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. 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.”

I suppose that sounds somewhat encouraging, as opposed to, say, forcing the movie ahead and recruiting people to come in and call it a “straight 10”, after it becomes obviously poor.  As opposed to taking the stance “I need this movie to be a financial success, now turn up and see it”.