Face/Off

Face/Off (1997)

Timing: 2:19 (139 min)

7.051/10
5809

7.794/10
191254

7.3/10
425000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 72

Actors and characters

Release date

1997-06-27

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, Touchstone Pictures, Krane Entertainment, Permut Presentations, WCG Entertainment Productions, Douglas/Reuther Productions, David Permut Productions

Genre

Action, Crime, Science Fiction

Budget

$80 000 000

Revenue

$245 676 146

Website

https://www.paramountmovies.com/movies/faceoff

Director

John Woo

Actors

John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominique Swain, Nick Cassavetes, Harve Presnell, Colm Feore, John Carroll Lynch
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Mike Werb, Michael Colleary

Producer

Barrie M. Osborne, Terence Chang, David Permut, Christopher Godsick, Steven Reuther, Michael Douglas, Jonathan D. Krane

Operator

Oliver Wood

Composer

John Powell

Artist

Erik Olson, Jason Weil

Audition

Mindy Marin

Editing

Christian Wagner, Steven Kemper
All team (294)

• John Woo was asked to remove the slash from the title (Face/Off), but he rightly decided to leave it as is, so that viewers wouldn't think the film was about hockey (Faceoff is a hockey term for a face-off).
• The first version of the script was set in the near future, but John Woo decided that the action would take place in the present, so that the audience's attention would be focused not on perceiving the world of the future, but on the psychological and dramatic moments of the plot.
• The name of the prison sounds like "Erewhon" in English. This word is a simple anagram of the word "Nowhere".
• When the project was in its early stages, the following names were considered for the lead roles: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Other actors considered were Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas, Alec Baldwin and Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
• As producer Barry Osborne later admitted, many action scenes were originally planned to be shot against a green screen. But John Woo categorically rejected these proposals and resorted to traditional location shooting.
• Castor and Pollux are the names of twin demigod heroes, characters from ancient Greek mythology. However, unlike John Woo's film, it was Castor who possessed a curious mind, while Pollux, on the contrary, was incredibly strong and agile.
• Initially, Nicolas Cage refused the role of Castor Troy, as he did not want to play a villain. However, when he was told that he would actually be playing the hero for most of the film, he immediately agreed.
• The scene where Adam listens to "Over the Rainbow" with headphones was John Woo's idea, and not part of the script. Paramount Pictures refused to fund the additional scene, and John Woo invested his own money in it. They were later reimbursed as the film turned out to be profitable.
• Nicolas Cage and John Travolta spent two weeks together before filming to learn to play each other. They identified specific gestures and mannerisms for each character that could be imitated.
• The idea for the film came to co-writer Mike Verb after his friend was in a hang gliding accident. Most of the skin was removed from his face, his bones were set, and then his face was put back on.
• Most of the stunts in the film were done without the use of any visual effects.
• Filming took place in California from January 4 to April 1, 1997.
• John Woo was asked to remove the slash from the title (Face/Off), but he rightly decided to leave it as is, so that viewers wouldn't think the film was about hockey (Faceoff is a hockey term for a face-off).
• The first version of the script was set in the near future, but John Woo decided that the action would take place in the present, so that the audience's attention would be focused not on perceiving the world of the future, but on the psychological and dramatic moments of the plot.
• The prison's name sounds like “Erewhon” in English. This word is a simple anagram of “Nowhere.”
• When the project was in its early stages, the following names were considered for the lead roles by the producers: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Other actors considered included Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas, Alec Baldwin and Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
• As producer Barry Osborne later admitted, many of the action scenes were originally planned to be filmed against a green screen. However, John Woo categorically rejected these proposals and opted for traditional location shooting.
• The scene where Adam listens to “Over the Rainbow” with headphones was John Woo's idea, and not part of the script. Paramount Pictures refused to fund the additional scene, and John Woo invested his own money in it. They were later reimbursed when the film proved profitable.