Len Wiseman is in the lead to helm the remake of "Escape From New York," says the Hollywood Reporter.  The "Live Free or Die Hard" director is in negotiations with New Line Cinemas.  Ken Nolan, who penned "Black Hawk Down," wrote the script, which combines elements of the original film with an actual backstory for antihero Snake Plissken.  The big name already attached to play Snake?  Gerard Butler, of "300" and "Phantom of the Opera" fame.

The original "Escape From New York" was a standard post-apocalyptic tale from 1981.  Plissken (Kurt Russell) was a convict coerced to rescue the President of the United States from New York City, which had been turned into a giant prison.  The flick was popular enough to spawn a sequel, "Escape From L.A.," in 1996.