John Carpenter originally wanted Clint Eastwood or Jack Nicholson to star in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

When director John Carpenter he was developing his 1986 film Big trouble in Little Chinahe was trying to cast a great A-list actor to play good old Jack Burton. Kurt Russell He wasn’t initially on her radar, but he was perfect in the role and it’s hard to imagine anyone else quite like Jack.

Before Russell came on the scene, Carpenter wanted Clint Eastwood OR Jack Nicholson play Jack Burton! He shared this news in an old Starlog article and explained that all the A-list actors he wanted were too busy. Jeff Bridges was also considered.

When it came to Burton, it was actually the studio that suggested the actor. Carpenter explained: ‘I was hoping to get a major star because I thought I would have to compete with Eddie Murphy. Fox wanted Kurt though because they thought he was promising and sexy. I met him and we talked about the project. realised, ‘Wait a minute. This guy could be Jack Burton.'”

As for the competition with Eddie Murphy, the director brought it up because Muphy was making The Gold Child at the time, and the director explained, “The films have a similar theme in that they both explore Chinese legend and magic. Golden Child has one pre-sold ingredient: Eddie Murphy. Big Trouble didn’t, so I had to make a better movie.” Big Trouble ended up being released in July 1986 and Golden Child came out in December.

Ultimately, Carpenter won because Big trouble in Little China it was definitely the best movie! One of the things that made the movie so damn good was Russell as Burton. He was so funny in that role, and he was one of my favorite movie characters when I was a kid. OH! And Russell turned down the lead role of Connor MacLeod in Highlander to be in this film.

Speaking of Burton’s character, Carpenter explained that he was a sidekick who didn’t know he was a sidekick: “Jack Burton is a guy who’s a sidekick but doesn’t know it. He’s a braggart idiot. He’s a crazy American in a world he doesn’t understand.

I don’t think Eastwood or Nicholson could have pulled it off! They’re both great leads, who are very serious actors, and this movie was going to be very different than what we ended up getting. What are your thoughts on this?

Big trouble in Little China it was also originally conceived as a western setting in the 1800s and you can read all about it here.

We talked about this film on our own Secret level podcasts and there’s a lot of fun trivia that we discover and discuss, and we offer some fun commentary too.