Gerard Butler has signed on to star in the remake of John Carpenter's 1981 action Escape From New York for producer Neal Moritz; no studio is attached.

Ken Nolan is writing the screenplay; Butler would play Snake Plissken, the one-eyed convict who's charged with heading into the inescapable maximum security prison formerly known as Manhattan to liberate the U.S. president, notes Variety. Kurt Russell originated the role and reprised it in the 1996 sequel, Escape from L.A..

A studio deal is set to be made late this week.

Escape From New York was released July 10th, 1981 and stars Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Season Hubley, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau. The film is directed by John Carpenter.