For a moment, a new “Face/Off” looked like it had real momentum again: a sequel to John Woo’s sci-fi action classic had Adam Wingard lined up to direct, but alas, a new report says the filmmaker has now exited the project.
That unfortunate update comes to us from Collider and is backed up by trades like The Hollywood Reporter, which report that Windgard is said to be focusing on other projects and had quietly left the developing movie at Paramount Pictures over the summer. It sounds like their uncoupling is nothing more than creative differences, which are widespread in studio IP development for sequels and reboots.
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In the original 1997 film starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, a top FBI agent (Travolta) has his face medically switched with an international criminal/terrorist (Cage) in the hopes of thwarting a deadly attack by going undercover, being inserted into a super-max prison, and eventually escaping to reunite with his criminal cohorts to discover their dastardly plan.
First announced back in 2019, Neal H. Moritz, recently tasked to oversee Paramount’s next live-action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film, was set to produce the “Face/Off” follow-up, with Oren Uziel penning the script. Eventually, Wingard would board in 2021 with longtime creative partner, Simon Barrett.
While the pic is still expected to be a priority, Paramount is now said to be seeking new filmmakers to pitch ideas for the legacy sequel. This could mean that they’re going with a different story/script from what Wingard/Barrett were cooking up. Who exactly may replace Wingard remains to be seen.
Wingard had recently teamed with A24 for his thriller “Onslaught,” which stars Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Drew Starkey, and Rebecca Hall. We’re still waiting for the studio/distributor to announce a domestic release date for the project. The filmmaker once mused about making a sequel to his sci-fi thriller “The Guest” and was behind two Monsterverse theatrical films, “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.”
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
