John Travolta’s Best 90s Action Film Was Meant To Take Place In The Future
Face/Off, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, was supposed to be set in the future, which explains the facial transplant technology, but John Woo changed the script.
Face/Off, one of John Travolta’s best action films, took place in seemingly real-time during the 1990s, but that wasn’t supposed to be the case. When screenwriters Mike Werb and Michael Colleary began hatching the wild idea for the movie, they imagined it would be set 100 years in the future, according to ShortList. This would have made the whole face-swapping technology a lot more believable, but thankfully audiences bought into it since it is just a movie, so it doesn’t need to be set in reality.
The 1997 classic film Face/Off stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as enemies who literally swap faces with one another. The movie is filled with ridiculous action scenes, over-the-top violence, and hilarious one-liners, as is to be expected.
John Travolta plays FBI agent Sean Archer who is desperate to bring terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) to justice for murdering his only son. To do so, John Travolta’s character undergoes facial transplant surgery to take Castor Troy’s face so that he can elicit important information. In the meantime, Nicolas Cage’s character awakens and demands that he gets the FBI agent’s face in return so that he can seek his own revenge.
One might wonder how the characters in the film had the technology or expertise to successfully pull off a facial transplant surgery since it’s such an insane concept. However, audiences in the 90s seem to be on board with the outlandish plot. In fact, the film ended up being very successful, grossing over $245 million worldwide and getting a 92 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.3 out of 10 on IMDb.
Director John Woo felt that if the movie took place in the future that it would focus too much on the sci-fi elements rather than the important drama and psychological thrills. Face/Off has gone on to become a beloved cult classic film, with some fans considering it one of John Woo’s best works alongside Broken Arrow (also starring John Travolta) and Windtalkers (also starring Nicolas Cage).
Despite never working together prior to Face/Off, John Travolta and Nicolas Cage absolutely nailed their performances of one other, even getting praise from the acclaimed critic Roger Ebert. The two actors spent a couple of weeks working together to learn each other’s mannerisms before filming began. They discovered several trademark gestures and vocal work that they could use to convince the audience that they really had swapped faces.
For those who want to see even more insane action, hilarity, and plot twists, then you’ll be happy to know that there is officially a sequel in the works for Face/Off 2. Adam Wingard, the director of V/H/S, Blair Witch, and Godzilla vs. Kong, is set to direct the new film, which he has clarified is not a reboot but is, in fact, a sequel to the original. While there is not very much information available yet on the production or release date, fans are hoping for an appearance from either John Travolta or Nicolas Cage, or both.
