This Thursday, Paramount Pictures announced that a sequel to John Woo's 1997 action hit Face/Off is currently in the making. Face/Off 2, expected to premiere summer 2017, will follow the story of two colliding drivers whose faces are swapped after an incompetent medical staff confuses their body parts in the wreckage. Elijah Wood and Daniel Radcliffe are currently slated to star as the drivers whose identities are exchanged.
"The beauty of it is," explained producer Christopher Godsick, "nobody cares about Elijah Wood. Everybody cares about Daniel Radcliffe. You've got a natural rivalry right there." A Paramount executive, Meredith McDonough, added, "Yeah, it's like Face/Off meets Persona meets Rush Hour 3 – you couldn't really ask for better content."
When asked about the relationship between the first and second Face/Off films, director John Woo hinted at a possible cameo from Oscar winner Nicolas Cage. As Woo told People magazine, "We originally wanted that guy who threw a beer can at John Malkovich and got a S.A.G. card, but he's into more serious pieces now. Desperate, I phoned Nic Cage, and he said he'd appear in the film for a bag of Ruffles and an Applebee's gift card." Although Nicolas Cage died in the first of the Face/Off films, Woo isn't concerned about the logical shortcomings inherent in Cage's revival. "If people bought the premise of Face/Off, there's no reason to think they won't buy the Christ-like resurrection of Cage's Castor," Woo asserts, "These people will suspend their disbelief about practically anything."
In a publicity stunt on Friday to promote Face/Off 2, Elijah Wood took the place of Daniel Radcliffe at a Harry Potter discussion panel at the San Diego Comic Con. David North, an attendee at the conference and unabashed weeaboo, told The Odyssey Online, "No one really noticed anything different at all. They just look so alike, you know? About halfway through, Elijah Wood got really frustrated and screamed, 'I'M THE STAR OF LORD OF THE RINGS AND WILFRED, ELIJAH WOOD!' Everyone just kind of stood there and waited for Daniel Radcliffe to come out."
Studio executives maintain that the "wild card" factor Wood brings to the Face/Off table is what secured him the part over other candidates in talks with Paramount. Before settling on Elijah Wood and Daniel Radcliffe, producers considered Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel, Stephen Colbert and Bob Saget, and Richard Dawkins and Emma Watson.
The Odyssey Online was able to get behind the scenes of the filming process and talk to Todd Laterd, lead makeup artist. We asked him about the difficulties of making the two actors look alike. He told us, "Yeah, this is gonna be one of the hardest makeup jobs I've ever had to do. We're putting Radcliffe through a three hour makeup process; total facial prosthesis. I was on the original team for White Chicks and that's where Woo first saw my work and knew he had to have me. I'm thinking of taking a lot of my successes from that project and applying them to this."
Famous movie reviewer Brent Haruke added, "When they sent me the early access preview, I wasn't sure what to think. I wasn't a huge fan of the first one, so my expectations were low. Boy was I wrong! I hope I'm not spoiling anything here, but that part with Scotty 2 Hotty and CGI Rowdy Roddy Piper? God it was so good. Reminds me of that scene in Anti-Christ. You know, the one where Charlotte Gainsbourg makes Willem DaFoe cum blood? Yes! So good!"
Look for Face/Off 2 in theaters next July.
(Image credit: David North)
