Filmmaker Adam Wingard, whose next feature Godzilla vs Kong is scheduled to arrive in theaters and on HBO Max next month, has found his next project, a remake of the classic John Woo-directed, John Travolta and Nicolas Cage starring action-thriller, Face/Off. Deadline reports that Wingard will collaborate once again with frequent partner Simon Barrett on the script with Neal Moritz (Fast and Furious franchise) set to produce. A new version of the film was first announced in the trades in September of 2019 with Oren Uziel (22 Jump Street, The Cloverfield Paradox) at the time hired to write the script, Wingard and Barrett will start from scratch on their version of the film.
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For those that don’t recall, the 1997 film saw Travolta take on the part of FBI agent Sean Archer with Cage in the role of terrorist/killer Castor Troy. In a move that has been lampooned endlessly since, Travolta has a face transplant done to make him look like Troy, the later of whom undergoes a similar surgery so that he can appear as Archer. Hilarity, shenanigans, and explosions quickly ensue as an escalating set of set pieces bring the pair together. The film was uniquely suited for the sensibilities of Cage and Travolta who are forced to play their characters and (in a way) each others characters.
Wingard and Barrett have been frequent collaborators for the past decade, working primarily in the genre field with features like A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next, V/H/S, The Guest, and Blair Witch. Barrett has also been a very vocal fan of the original Face/Off as well, writing in a series of tweets back in 2012: “FACE/OFF remains a nearly perfect motion picture that has aged well in these post-ironic times….I relieved (sic) to discover that the writers of FACE/OFF are in fact geniuses. I’d long suspected, but still, it’s nice to confirm it.”
Face/Off was Woo’s third feature for an American studio, having cut his teeth and made a name for himself in Hong Kong cinema, and went on to gross over $245 million at the global box office off a reported budget of $80 million. In addition to Travolta and Cage, the original featured a true ensemble of character actors including Gina Gershon, Colm Feore, John Carroll Lynch, CCH Pounder. Margaret Cho, Thomas Jane, Tommy Flanagan, Matt Ross, and even Drive-In film critic Joe Bob Briggs
