I will never tire of promoting this 1997 sci-fi thriller. Director John Woo, new to Hollywood at the time, wanted the original script rewritten to be set in the present day rather than its initial futuristic setting, although that would have made the premise more believable. That premise: an FBI agent (John Travolta) going so deep undercover he literally swaps faces, voices, and body styles with a terrorist (Nicolas Cage) in order to infiltrate prison and gain info about a bomb’s location. It is decidedly not based on a true story but was inspired by a friend of the writers, whose face was reconstructed and reattached after a hang-gliding accident. – Kat McNevins
