Face/Off Werb and Michael Colleary tried to sell to a studio from as early as 1990. The first actors who were chosen to play Sean Archer and Castor Troy were Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger respectively but John Woo instead hired John Travolta and Nicolas Cage to play those characters. It took numerous studios, producers and rewrites before John Woo became attached several years later. For the Archer character, Woo considered casting either Michael Douglas or Jean-Claude Van Damme with whom he had worked in "Hard Target". When the film was eventually made, Douglas served as an executive producer. Werb and
John Travolta John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor, film producer, dancer, and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series "Welcome Back, Kotter" (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes "Saturday Night Fever" (1977) and "Grease" (1978). His acting career declined through the 1980s, but enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s with his role in "Pulp Fiction" (1994), and he has since starred in films such as "Get Shorty", "Broken Arrow", "Face/Off", "Swordfish", "Be Cool", "Wild Hogs", "Hairspray", and "The Taking of Pelham 123". Travolta was nominated for