avco embassy pictures the films financial backer preferred either charles bronson or tommy lee jones to play the role of snake plissken to carpenters choice of kurt russell who was trying to overcome the "lightweight" screen image conveyed by his roles in several disney comedies carpenter refused to cast bronson on the grounds that he was too old and because he worried that he could lose directorial control over the picture with an experienced actor at the time russell described his character as "a mercenary and his style of fighting is a combination of bruce lee the exterminator and darth vader with eastwoods vocal-ness" all that matters to snake according to the actor is "the next  seconds living for exactly that next minute is all there is" russell used a rigorous diet and exercise program in order to develop a lean and muscular build he also endeavored to stay in character between takes and throughout the shooting as he welcomed the opportunity to get away from the disney comedies he had done previously he did find it necessary to remove the eyepatch between takes as wearing it constantly seriously affected his depth perception