Face/Off, much like Con Air, is one of those movies that is impossible to turn off whenever you stumble upon it while searching for something to watch. While both movies star Nicolas Cage and contain classic Cage quotes (see: “Put the bunny back in the box”), watching Cage give one of his most unhinged performances (which is saying a lot) while John Travolta attempts to do his best Cage impersonation gives Face/Off the edge in the guilty pleasure department. So it’s hardly surprising that director Adam Wingard, who is currently working on Face/Off 2, is dying to have Cage return for the movie’s sequel.
In a new interview with Empire, Wingard shared that he and regular collaborator Simon Barrett are still finishing the script for the highly anticipated sequel. And as they tried to figure out how to best make it work, they determined that “an absolute sequel” was the way to go—meaning bringing back all the key players, including Cage, despite the fact that—SPOILER!—he died in the first movie. But when has a little thing like a character no longer breathing ever stopped a truly determined filmmaker?
“He’s just having such a moment,” Wingard told Empire of Cage’s current big-screen cachet. “Even before Pig came out, we saw this as a Nicolas Cage movie. That’s become totally the obvious way to go now. A couple of years ago, the studio maybe would have wanted a hot, young, up-and-coming actor or something. Now, Nicolas Cage is one of the hottest actors in Hollywood again.”
“Devising a belated sequel to one of the most beloved, ridiculously-plotted movies ever, starring one of Hollywood’s most eccentric and prolific leading men, isn’t an easy task,” Sophie Butcher wrote for Empire. “But Wingard is confident that he and Barrett are ‘the perfect team’ for the job.”
Wingard, who previously directed The Guest and Godzilla vs. Kong, admits that Face/Off 2 “has been probably the most challenging script we’ve ever worked on, for a lot of reasons. There’s so much pressure in wanting to make sure that it lives up to the legacy of that project. But every draft you have these things that just click in, and you’re like, ‘A-ha! That’s really what Face/Off is!’”
Cage has not officially signed on for the sequel, as the script is not yet ready. But Wingard says it will be in the Oscar winner’s hot little hands before long. “We’re really honing in on it,” Wingard said. “We’re not going to share it until everybody’s like, ‘This is the one.’”
(Via Empire)