Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard surprised a lot of people when it was revealed he was developing a sequel to John Woo’s action classic Face/Off, based largely on the fact there’s really no need for the project to exist.
Comfortably Woo’s best Hollywood movie by a country mile, the filmmaker’s signature visual stylings and impeccable action choreography combined beautifully with the highest of high concept premises and a pair of dementedly delirious turns from stars Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, to deliver a near-perfect storm of explosive insanity.
Based on comments made by Wingard, it sounded as though the entirety of his Face/Off story hinged on the returns of Cage and Travolta. However, during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, cinema’s most memeable actor claimed that he doesn’t know a thing about it.
“I have not heard hide nor hair about it. So often these things we read about are just conjecture without any base or foundation to it. Would [Face/Off 2] be an exciting movie to make? Oh, hell yeah. But John Woo was such a huge voice in that movie. It couldn’t be a remake. I think these filmmakers even said as much — that something like that would have to be a sequel.”
While industry figures have been known to lie blatantly about their knowledge of a certain film they may or may not be involved in, Cage is hardly the type to beat around the bush. Wingard’s co-writer Simon Barrett intimated last year that the screenplay was still a long way from being turned in, so perhaps Woo’s Castor Troy and Sean Archer won’t be invited into the loop until Face/Off 2 gets an official green light from the studio.