Yesterday was a big one for fans of 1990s action classics, with a pair of huge announcements making some serious waves. Shortly after it was revealed that James Cameron will executive produce a True Lies TV show pilot to be directed by Terminator Salvation‘s McG for CBS, Godzilla vs. Kong‘s Adam Wingard was confirmed to be helming a new take on John Woo’s Face/Off.
The project was first confirmed to be in development back in September 2019, when the news was greeted with a general shrug, and not much has changed since then to be honest. Face/Off was a perfect storm of variables coming together in sync, with Woo hitting his stride in Hollywood and reminding everyone why he was known as one of action cinema’s greatest directors, while Nicolas Cage and John Travolta went all-in on their dual roles to engage in an epic battle of chewing on as much scenery as possible.
The pitch, premise, set pieces and performances all combined to deliver a stone cold classic of the genre, to the extent that any sort of continuation feels completely unnecessary and entirely superfluous, unless of course Wingard ropes in Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman to play the central duo and add yet another meta twist to the concept.
As every major property eventually finds itself getting regurgitated by the industry, the lines between a remake and reboot have become increasingly blurred, but shortly after the news broke, the director confirmed that his Face/Off will be a direct sequel to the original and not a reboot/remake.
“I would never re-imagine or remake Face/Off. It’s a perfect action movie,” he said. “Simon Barrett and I are writing a direct SEQUEL!”
Of course, Wingard has previous experience with updating 90s favorites having tackled surprise sequel Blair Witch, and while Godzilla vs. Kong promises a seamless transition into blockbuster territory for the filmmaker, a Face/Off sequel comes burdened with higher expectations and a lot more skepticism.
