Escape from L.A. (stylized on-screen as John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.) is a 1996 American post-apocalyptic action film co-written, co-scored, and directed by John Carpenter, co-written and produced by Debra Hill and Kurt Russell, with Russell reprising his role as Snake Plissken. A sequel to Escape from New York (1981), the film co-stars Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Bruce Campbell, Peter Fonda, and Pam Grier. The film, set in a then-near-future world of 2013, sees the United States ruled by a theocratic President for life. Los Angeles, after an earthquake severed the city from the mainland, has been constructed as a prison-like island.