John Carpenter refused to sue Hideo Kojima

Anyone who has seen John Carpenter's awful, yet awesome cult-classic "Escape From New York" from 1981 with the eye-patch wearing Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken knows just how much of that movie has been recycled in Metal Gear Solid. Game creator/director/producer Hideo Kojima lent a lot from Carpenter's classic, such as the hero's looks, behaviour, voice and name.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter John Carpenter talks about why he never wanted to sue Kojima for plagiarism, and it boils down to Hideo being a nice guy. At one point CanalPlus we're looking into launching a lawsuit.

"[CanalPlus] wanted to also go after the video game Metal Gear Solid, which is kind of a rip-off of Escape From New York, too, but I told them not to do that. I know the director of those games, and he's a nice guy, or at least he's nice to me."

The question came after Carpenter and CanalPlus winning a lawsuit against the French director Luc Besson for borrowing a bit too much from Escape from New York when making the movie Lockout. Apparently it has to do with Besson being a competitor, not that he's not a nice guy.