Dwayne Johnson might have just joined the DCEU with DC movie Black Adam, but he’s got his eye on a classic ‘80s movie too. He’s been attached to a sequel of Big Trouble of Little China for some years now, and one of the stars of John Carpenter’s original thriller movie isn’t sure it should happen.
Talking to Comicbook.com, James Hong, who plays the villain David Lo-Pan, believes sometimes it’s best to leave something well enough alone. “Without Lo-Pan? How dare he,” Hong jokes. “Well, I think they should leave the classic alone. However, I’d like to reappear in the new one and do something spiritually, like Star Wars where the characters come back and do a reprieve of some kind.”
Dwayne Johnson movies tend to make bank, so Hong has the right idea in looking for some sort of appearance. In a 2018 interview with Collider, producer Hiram Garcia stated Johnson won’t be stepping into Kurt Russell’s shoes as Jack Burton, and suggested this would be essentially a spin-off of some sort.
“We’re going to continue the universe of Big Trouble in Little China,” Garcia said. “Everything that happened in the original exists and is standalone and I think there’s only one person that could ever play Jack Burton, so Dwayne would never try and play that character. So we are just having a lot of fun.”
Released in 1986, Big Trouble in Little China features Jack, a trucker, become embroiled in the magical underworld of Chinatown in San Francisco trying to rescue his friend’s fiancée. The action movie typifies Carpenter’s sense of humour and creative effects, and it’s endured as one of his better productions.
The adventure movie has existed alone since it came out, and if Johnson’s new installment comes to fruition, Hong is definitely someone he should call. “Obviously, because let’s admit it, Lo-Pan is a huge part of that first one, so how can you forget him?” Hong adds.
Black Adam is in cinemas now. Hong is one of the voices on Netflix movie Wendell and Wild, arriving October 28.