Kurt Russell says his recent trip to New York City “reminded me a little too much” of his Snake Plissken days.
The actor, who played the eye-patched antihero in John Carpenter’s 1981 cult classic “Escape from New York,” spent about a week in Manhattan earlier this month. He went for a few meetings and a little sightseeing. He came home with a very different picture of the city than the one he remembered.
“The city has really gone to hell,” Russell said. “Half of Manhattan is unsafe, and don’t even get me started on Brooklyn and Queens.”
In the movie, Manhattan has been turned into a walled-off maximum-security prison, overrun by gangs and abandoned by everyone else. Russell joked that the real thing isn’t quite there yet, but it’s getting closer than he would like.
“When we made that film, it was supposed to be science fiction,” he said. “Now I walk down the street and I’m looking over my shoulder like I’m back on set.”
The trip was supposed to help him make a big decision. After 30 years in Florida, Russell had been seriously thinking about moving back to the Big Apple. He said he missed the energy, the restaurants, and the theaters, and liked the idea of being closer to old friends in the business.
Not anymore.
Russell said what he saw on the streets, combined with the direction of city politics under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, made the choice easy. He pointed to crime, rising costs, and what he described as a city government more interested in big ideas than basic safety.
“It’s tough to say whether communism or Sharia law will win, but it will be one of them,” Kurt said.
The comment set off a storm online. Supporters said Russell was only saying what plenty of people have been thinking, and many shared their own stories of leaving New York in recent years. Critics called the remark offensive and said he was painting millions of people with a broad brush.
Russell didn’t seem interested in walking it back. He has long been one of the few Hollywood stars willing to speak his mind about politics, and he has never been shy about his libertarian streak.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said crime numbers in parts of the city have improved and invited Russell to “come back and see the real New York.” Russell said he’d pass.
“I’ve seen it,” he said. “I don’t need the sequel.”
Fans of the actor noted the irony that Snake Plissken, the ultimate outsider, would probably feel right at home in the city’s current mood. Russell laughed when someone brought that up.
“Snake would survive,” he said. “But Snake didn’t have grandkids.” For now, he says he is staying put in Florida, where the weather is warm and the streets feel safe.
Good choice, Kurt.