A reboot of Travolta-Cage action classic 'Face/Off' is in the works

Paramount Pictures is plotting a reboot of the face-swapping, hard-boiled action classic Face/Off, according to reports.

The original landed in 1997, among the first crossover Hollywood projects from legendary Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo.

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It proffered a pretty high – and faintly ridiculous – concept, with freelance terrorist Castor Troy, played by Nicolas Cage, and FBI agent Sean Archer, played by John Travolta, in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

When Cage's Troy falls into a coma after a plane crash, Travolta's Archer has his nemesis's face transplanted onto his own, so that he can go undercover in Troy's criminal organisation.

But things get even weirder after Troy awakes from his coma unexpectedly, to find Archer has stolen his face.

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He then forces the surgeon to transplant Archer's face on his own. Action (and confusion) ensues.

It was a smash hit for Woo, earning Paramount nearly $250 million at the worldwide box office, and critical acclaim, despite the credulity-stretching premise.

The new take on the movie will be penned by Oren Uziel, the writer behind 22 Jump Street, with Fast & Furious franchise producer Neal Moritz bringing it to the screen.

Uziel was also the writer behind The Cloverfield Paradox and the forthcoming Sonic The Hedgehog movie and Detective Pikachu sequel.