The 1997 action-fest that was Face/Off was one of those productions that could only have come from Hollywood executives spit-balling wild concepts for their biggest stars and deciding to go with the most out-there result. The film, as much a vehicle for director John Woo (his most profitable US film) as it was for its stars (John Travolta and Nic Cage), told the story of a maniacal criminal named Castor Troy (initially Cage) pursued by more straight-laced FBI agent Sean Archer (initially Travolta). However in a desperate bid to catch his quarry, the FBI agent undergoes a radical procedure to take on Troy’s face and infiltrate the criminal organisation. However things go very wrong and Troy also swaps faces, causing chaos in Archer’s life as they circle each other and confuse their allies through the main body of the film.
Over twenty years later it’s still a well-respected guilty-pleasure and a lynch-pin of late 90s action. And that can only mean one thing in Hollywood… it’s time to remake it!
Paramount Pictures are to reboot the film, keeping the main concept but with a new cast. At this point there is no news on who will star or direct (which will be hugely important to its success) but Paramount have indicated that Oren Uziel is writing the script and Neal Moritz is set to produce.
