John Carpenter and Kurt Russell are mainly known for their darkly themed movies, like Big Trouble in Little China, a hysterical subversion of their usual movies.
Instead of playing a hard-as-nails badass like Snake Plissken, Russell plays a bumbling buffoon who’s hopelessly unprepared for physical situations and constantly needs to be saved. The movie wasn’t appreciated when it was first released, but it’s since become a cult classic. There are some fascinating stories from the production.
The Movie Was Originally Conceived As A Western
The script that would eventually morph into Big Trouble in Little China was a western set in San Francisco in the 1890s. Jack Burton was a cowboy who spent the movie trying to recover his stolen horse.
The switch to contemporary San Francisco with a focus on martial arts was inspired by the then-recent wave of martial arts movies that utilized delightfully weird special effects.
John Carpenter Was Pressured To Cast A Rock Star As Gracie Law
John Carpenter’s top choice for the role of Gracie Law was always Kim Cattrall, but the studio pressured the director to cast a rock star in the role.
The studio was hesitant to let Carpenter cast Cattrall, because she was mainly known for raunchy comedies like Porky’s and Police Academy.
The First Test Screening Went Extremely Well
According to John Carpenter and Kurt Russell’s DVD commentary, the first test screening of Big Trouble in Little China went extremely well. The ratings were through the roof and they expected the movie to be a huge hit.
Unfortunately, 20th Century Fox did little to promote the movie (which Carpenter and Russell think was simply because they didn’t know how to market a martial arts action fantasy comedy), so it bombed at the box office.
Jackie Chan Was John Carpenter’s Top Choice To Play Wang Chi
wasn’t well-known in America yet, so producer Lawrence Gordon was concerned.
Plus, based on his performances in Battle Creek Brawl and The Protector, Gordon worried that Chan’s English wasn’t good enough. In any case, Chan declined Carpenter’s offer and Dennis Dun was cast in the role.
Kurt Russell Ran And Lifted Weights To Prepare For The Movie’s Physical Demands
Kurt Russell turned down the lead role in Highlander in order to be available to shoot Big Trouble in Little China. In order to prepare for the movie’s physical demands, Russell started running and lifting weights two months before filming.
John Carpenter also required his cast to undergo a week of rehearsals to choreograph the movie’s martial arts fight scenes.
The Opening Scene Was Added By Confused Studio Executives
When Big Trouble in Little China was first shown to studio executives, they didn’t understand that Kurt Russell wasn’t the hero of the story to subvert expectations, so they forced John Carpenter to add the opening scene with Egg Shen in the lawyer’s office to make Jack Burton seem more heroic.
This explains why the opening doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the movie. The movie originally opened with Jack driving to San Francisco.
John Carpenter Hated The Script, But Thought The Story Had Promise
John Carpenter was first offered the chance to direct Big Trouble in Little China in the summer of 1985. When he read the script, he found it to be unreadable, but thought the story had enough interesting elements to commit to bringing it to the screen.
Kurt Russell Got The Flu During Filming
During filming, Kurt Russell came down with a bad case of the flu. For the most part, he could push through it, but in the scene after the visit to the brothel, the sweat all over him in real, brought on by the fever.
Oddly Enough, Rosemary’s Baby Was The Template For One Of The Script Drafts
When W.D. Richter was brought on to do one of the rewrites of Big Trouble in Little China, he strangely used Roman Polanski’s chilling horror classic Rosemary’s Baby as a template.
Just like in Rosemary’s Baby, Big Trouble in Little China explores a terrifying unseen world hidden under a familiar context. Instead of a mystical underworld beneath San Francisco.
The Studio Didn’t Want John Carpenter To Cast Kurt Russell
John Carpenter’s one and only choice for the role of Jack Burton was Kurt Russell, but the studio was hesitant to cast him. They considered Russell to be an up-and-coming star and they wanted an established name like Clint Eastwood or Jack Nicholson to play the part.
However, after both Eastwood and Nicholson turned down the role, Carpenter was free to cast the actor he wanted all along. Having based his performance as Snake Plissken on Eastwood, Russell based his performance as Jack Burton on John Wayne.
