Introduction
Today’s anniversary film was chosen by YOU the listener! It is the 1997 outrageously awesome absurd action movie Face/Off which celebrates its 25th anniversary on 27 June 2022. Considered a cult classic, Face/Off was Distributed by Paramount, Directed by John Woo, and stars John Travolta and Nicholas Cage.
Here’s a quick set-up regarding the film:
“FBI Agent Sean Archer survives an assassination attempt by homicidal psychopath Castor Troy, but the bullet penetrates Archer’s chest and kills his son. Six years later, Archer has been on a vendetta against Castor Troy, culminating in his team ambushing Castor on a remote desert airstrip. Castor indicates that there is a bomb somewhere in Los Angeles set to go off in a few days before being knocked into a coma. Determined to save lives, Archer agrees to undergo a highly experimental face transplant procedure in which he will assume Troy’s Face, voice, and appearance to find the bomb. Archer then takes the identity of Castor Troy and infiltrates his gang to find the bomb's location. Of course, Castor Troy wakes up, and with no face, he decides to force the doctor to put Archer’s face on him. To recap, Castor Troy is now Sean Archer, and Sean Archer is now Castor Troy. Troy then decides to embrace Archer’s life and really mess things up for him, including creepily hitting on his daughter and sleeping with his wife. This culminates in a ridiculous final battle where Archer stops the bomb and kills Troy. Archer then gets his real face back and adopts Troy’s bastard son, replacing the real son that Troy had killed many years ago. Roll Credits.”
By the Numbers
Face/Off was the number 1 movie in its opening weekend in 1997, here’s the top 5 for the weekend of June 27, 1997:
- Face/Off $23M
- Hercules $21M (3rd Week)
- Batman and Robin 15.7M (2nd Week)
- My Best Friend's Wedding $15M (2nd Week)
- Con Air $5.8M (4th Week)
Here’s the top 5 highest-grossing films for 1997:
- Titanic $600M
- Men in Black $250M
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park $229M
- Liar, Liar $181M
- Air Force One $172.9M
The Movie
Face/Off has a run time of 2 hours 18 minutes, and is rated R, it is considered an Action, Crime, Sci-Fi, and is currently available for streaming for FREE on PlutoTV or for rent wherever you get Videos on Demand.
Made on a budget of $80M dollars, Face/Off grossed $112M domestically making it one of the biggest blockbusters of the year and ranking 11th overall in 1997. There were 16 films that grossed $100M or more in 1997, making it the biggest movie year of all time (at the time), grossing $6.1B (+9% from 1996) with a whopping 310 films. By comparison, when we did Batman Returns, 1992 was the highest-grossing year of all time at $4.5B with only 247 films. So, in just 5 years, we had 63 more flms and $2B dollars more in revenue. The film was largely a hit with both critics and audiences with a certified fresh rotten tomatoes score of 92% and an audience score of 82%.
On the Independence Day weekend of 1990, five days after the second Die Hard came out, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary set out to write the “next Die Hard.” Something Hollywood was always clamoring for since the release of the 1988 genre re-defining action film. Their first draft bares little resemblance to the movie we know today, and was centered around a main character surviving a prison riot. Originally set about 100 years into the future where homeless people occupied a derelict Golden Gate Bridge, cars flew through the sky, and chimpanzees carried out all manual labor. Ironically, the face swapping procedure, as crazy as it sounds, makes more sense when you think of it like a science fiction movie of the future . NOTE: The first real-life face transplant was accomplished in 2012 on Richard Norris, who'd accidentally shot himself in the face with a shotgun the same year the movie came out.
“When we were pitching it in 1990 it just seemed insane,” says Colleary. The original idea was that Troy and Archer could swap lives, we had discovered the “purest version” of the story.” Then, says Colleary, “Mike came up with the idea that Troy and Archer would each begin to enjoy their new face, and with it their new life, more than their old. This was their lightbulb moment.” Joel Silver, Warner Brothers producer of hits like the Lethal Weapon, and the first two Die Hard movies, optioned the script for Warner Bros at $100,00 for 18 months. When plans with Warner Brothers fell through, Paramount Pictures bought the script with the intention of Rob Cohen to direct. Cohen had lots of wild ideas, including one where the bomb was a sentient being. One of his main ideas concerned the ending where Cohen envisioned lifelong nemeses Troy and Archer working together to disarm the bomb that is the threat that convinces Archer to steal Troy’s face in the first place.
Luckily, Cohen left to direct the Dennis Quaid film Dragonheart instead, and both Mikes breathed a sigh of relief.
The film then wound up in the hands of Demolition Man director Marco Brambilla, who wanted to make the cast younger. During this stage, Paramount Pictures was pushing a young 27 year-old up and coming actor named Johnny Depp, who they envisioned for the lead role. At this point, Nicholas Cage was already signed on for the movie, and they wanted Depp to play opposite him. Unfortunately, Depp read the script and decided the film wasn’t for him and Brambilla left the production. Then, after 4 long years in developmental hell, John Woo read the script and signed on to direct. Having just came off the action thriller Broken Arrow, Woo loved John Travolta for the role opposite Nicholas Cage. Travolta, who was enjoying post Pulp Fiction fame, said that he had always wanted to star in a film about good and evil twins.
John Woo wanted to take the film from its futuristic setting and establish it in 2002 and focus more on the psychological and emotional pieces of the story. Face/Off would be John Woo’s first major hollywood production and would be at the height of his powers. His bullet ballet, dove flying, in your face style of action was inventive for the day and was something original for audiences in the west. John Woo also preferred to rely on practical effects and large action set pieces as opposed to Green Screen technology. Something, which gives a sense of realism to this film, if I’m allowed to say that. Woo has 44 directing credits, and is best known for Face/Off, Mission Impossible 2, Paycheck, and Hard Target.
The Players
John Travolta and Nicholas Cage
Nicholas Cage and John Travolta in 2025
When the Mikes first wrote the screenplay Face/Off, they envisioned two very different actors in the roles of Archer and Troy. They envisioned Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the main characters. In fact, the Mikes thought they would be the first to bring these two iconic actors to the screen at the same. Unfortunately, this never came to be. In addition, to the Mikes desires, the studio had originally wanted the face swapping duo to be played by Michael Douglas and Harrison Ford (although Douglas would become a producer for the film).
Ultimately, the duo of Travolta and Cage proved to be one of those “match made in heaven,” moments with the two being incredibly gifted actors and dedicated to their craft. Nic Cage was still shooting Con Air at the time he was cast and this caused a problem for Travolta as it meant he had to lose weight instead of Cage putting some on. Each brought their own energy to the set with Cage being full of energy and vigor and Travolta being the even keeled and laid back. Both had desires and ideas they brought to their characters and the two spent two weeks together learning how to play each other. In fact, Travolta even provided Cage a playlist of movies he thought would make it easier for Cage to mimic Travolta’s mannerisms. This list included Phenomenon, Look Who’s Talking, and Michael. For Cage, fresh off the Academy Award win for his role in Leaving Las Vegas, he had flown to the top of the heap as a new breed of action hero with a trio of hits including The Rock and Con Air, and was rounded out with this film, Face/Off.
John Travolta has 87 acting credits which total a world wide box office gross of $4.6B and is best known for Pulp Fiction, Saturday Night Fever, Get Shorty, and Grease.
Nicholas Cage has 109 acting credits which total a world wide box office gross of $6.2B and is best known for Face/Off, Leaving Las Vegas, Next, and The Rock.
The Wrap
Here is my Play, Pass or Pause review of Face/Off.
Face/Off is a ridiculous, in-your-face, over-the-top movie with an implausible plot that takes itself very seriously. John Woo, in my opinion, is the only one who can do this film justice. His ability to utilize practical effects and his style of action work is at the very core of what this movie is trying to be. It’s a psychological thriller with some action thrown in for good measure. My issue with this movie is that it is too much. Too big, too long, too ridiculous, and too insane for me to truly enjoy this movie. I was one of the first to see this movie in 1997, and I walked away exhausted and disappointed. While I applaud the risk-taking, this film suspends disbelief too much for me to enjoy. For me, it’s just noise and has no rewatchability, and one of the few movies I would tell you that I don’t own. This movie is a PASS for me, and I would recommend people invest in one of Nicholas Cage’s better action movies like The Rock or Travolta’s Broken Arrow if they want a more exciting movie.
And with that, we can scratch that itch on Face/Off. I want to thank everyone that voted for this movie on our June anniversary poll. You continue to surprise me with these picks! I thought for sure Con-Air would win the poll and everyone chose Face/Off?!
So, thank you to everyone and we hope you’ll vote in next month’s anniversary poll!
This has been the Brothers in Armchairs Podcast, Goodbye Everybody