Nicolas Cage Says He Rewatched Face/Off to Prepare for New Role: 'That Movie's Aged Beautifully'
Rich Fury/Getty Images; Paramount Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection Nicolas Cage; Nicolas Cage in Face/Off (1997)
Nicolas Cage is confident that Face/Off still holds up 25 years later.
The Oscar winner starred as Castor Troy in the movie, which was directed by John Woo and also featured John Travolta, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon and Alessandro Nivola.
The plot follows an FBI agent (Travolta, 68) who undergoes a procedure to switch faces with a criminal (Cage, 58) to go undercover — but the bad guy escapes with the good guy's physical identity, with chaos to follow.
In preparation for his new movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, in which he plays a version of himself, Cage recently told Insider that he rewatched Face/Off and enjoyed it.
"I looked at Face/Off again, which I was really wowed by. I think that movie's aged beautifully," he said, adding that he was "very wowed" and "fired up" by Woo, 75, and Travolta's work in it.
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Rich Fury/Getty Nicolas Cage
Cage recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his career, looking back at Face/Off and sharing his thoughts on a potential sequel or remake.
"I have not heard hide nor hair about it," he said of a follow-up to the 1997 original. "So often these things we read about are just conjecture without any base or foundation to it."
Continued Cage, "I feel the same about National Treasure 3. It's been 14 years. There's no there, there. So, is it fun to think about? Sure. 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," he added.
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While Cage maintained he hasn't heard about it, a Face/Off sequel was officially in the works as of February 2021, with Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard set to direct.
Wingard was also set write the screenplay with his scripting partner Simon Barrett, while Neal Moritz was announced to be producing the film for Paramount. David Permut was revealed to be serving as executive producer.
"I would NEVER re-imagine or remake FACE/OFF. It's a perfect action movie," Wingard wrote on social media at the time, in a since-deleted post. "Simon Barrett and I are writing a direct SEQUEL!"
It was unclear at the time whether Travolta and Cage would reprise their roles of FBI agent Sean Archer and terrorist Castor Troy, respectively, or if the parts would be recast.
