Earlier this year, Paramount hired Godzilla vs. Kong’s Adam Wingard to direct the sequel of the 1997 thriller Face/Off. According to Wingard, the sequel will fix and address the body-swapping mistake from the previous iteration.
The original Face/Off was directed by John Woo (A Better Tomorrow) and written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary. The film centered on the cat-and-mouse chase between FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) and terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage). Archer is determined to seek revenge on Troy after the sociopath kills his son Michael. The agent tracks Troy down and undergoes experimental surgery to assume the identity of Troy so that he can go uncover and learn the villain’s plans. The film takes a turn after a faceless Troy has Archer’s face transplanted onto him.
Face/Off was well received by both audiences and critics. The ambitious film grossed over $122 million worldwide on an $80 million budget and was nominated for sounds effects editing at the Academy Awards. The casts of the original film included Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominque Swain, Nick Cassavetes, Harve Presnell, and John Carroll Lynch.
Wingard is writing the Face/Off sequel’s script alongside Simon Barrett. The long-time collaborators previously worked together on 2016’s Blair Witch and 2014’s The Guest. Neal Moritz (the Fast and the Furious franchise) and David Permut (Hacksaw Ridge) will executive produce the Paramount project. The cast of the upcoming film has not been announced. Similar to its predecessor, the sequel will be rated R and driven by action.
In a recent interview with Uproxx, Wingard asserted that Face/Off 2 is a sequel and not a reboot. He also mentioned that, with the advancements in technology, the film will be able to fix the body-swapping mistake from the original. The 1997 version failed to address that Travolta and Cage’s characters not only switched faces but also bodies. “We try to address that in this film because also this is over 20 years later from the first movie,” said the filmmaker. “So technology in terms of what in the Face/Off-world they can do has advanced, and those kinds of things.” The filmmaker revealed he is currently working on the script and that he hopes both Travolta and Cage will return to reprise their iconic roles. The original ended with Castor Troy being shot by a spear gun and Archer adopting his nemesis’ son.
Wingard’s latest blockbuster, Legendary's Godzilla vs. Kong, opened in select theatres this week. The sci-fi action-adventure is the sequel to 2017’s Kong: Skull Island and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Millie Bobby Brown star in the high-priced film.
Godzilla vs. Kong can currently be seen in theatres and on HBO Max.
Source: Uproxx