Gina Gershon had no hesitation reuniting with John Travolta for his or her new movie Excessive Rollers — particularly after the pair had such an unimaginable time working collectively on the cult basic Face/Off.
“[John] was simply as straightforward {and professional} and type and enjoyable to work with as he was after I was doing Face/Off,” Gershon, 62, solely advised Us Weekly. “[But] I believe in Face/Off we sang just a little bit extra. We had extra time throughout setup, so I actually appreciated it after we’d sing no matter musicals …There was quite a lot of time to kill.”
Gershon portrayed Sasha in John Woo’s 1997 sci-fi flick, the ex-girlfriend of terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage). Whereas Gershon advised Us a lot of her display time was spent with Cage, 61, she nonetheless received to know Travolta behind the scenes — and their mutual love of music introduced them nearer collectively.
“I simply bear in mind singing [with him],” Gershon recalled. “We have been simply goofing round after which we began riffing on one thing and I assumed, ‘Oh my God, I’m singing with John Travolta. That is heaven.’ You realize what I imply? It was actually enjoyable.”
Her function on display, in fact, was simply as fulfilling. Gershon famous that she “cherished” working with Woo as a result of he was open to listening to her concepts, making the expertise in the end really feel extra “collaborative.”
“My half wasn’t actually utterly what it turned out to be, and I stored including stuff right here and there with the author’s permission,” she defined. “I stated, ‘Guys, can I simply throw some stuff out?’ And I’d go [and] work on [it] just a little bit, and I’d present it to John and he would love it, or he didn’t like a pair concepts, however at the least I felt comfy sufficient to throw it on the market, and he would say sure or no. So it felt very collaborative.”
With all of the fond recollections of the solid and crew, would she return for a Face/Off sequel? Paramount did, in any case, beforehand faucet Adam Wingard to direct a observe up movie in 2022. The reply is a powerful “sure” from Gershon, regardless of her character seemingly being killed off within the OG movie’s last moments.
“I imply, we see her type of lifeless, [but if] she miraculously didn’t die, I’d like to. I’d be a part of, are you kidding?” she advised Us. “John Woo, considered one of my favourite administrators to work with, Nic and John and Joan [Allen] and everybody once more? In two seconds.”
Exterior the Face/Off universe, Gershon has but to reunite with Woo — however she and Cage teamed up once more for 2017’s Inconceivable. Now, she and Travolta are again collectively for Excessive Rollers, a sequel to 2024’s Money Out.
“My supervisor, who really occurs to be John’s supervisor as properly, she advised me … ‘I talked to John about you and John loves you,” Gershon recalled about how the undertaking happened. “He would love you to do that [movie with him]. … We hadn’t seen one another in a very long time, and it felt like we have been previous friends.”
Gershon portrays Travolta’s spouse, Ameila, within the movie, a former FBI informant who’s kidnapped and used as leverage in a excessive stakes on line casino heist. Travolta, in the meantime, reprises his function as Mason Goddard, a grasp thief on a mission to save lots of the love of his life. Though separated from Mason and the remainder of his crew for almost all of the movie, Amelia is a key determine within the story — and a personality that allowed Gershon to dive into her love for stunt work.
“I really like doing as many stunts myself as I can, simply because I benefit from the physicality of it,” Gershon advised Us. “I all the time most likely wish to do far more stunts than they really let me, and I’m all the time like, ‘No, no, actually, I’m actually good at this. Let me.’ I’ve to persuade them to be in the course of all of the mayhem.”
Gershon’s love for residing on the sting actually interprets to the characters she performs on display, because the actress is thought for her portrayal of “robust ladies.” Whereas Gershon is pleased with that reality, she can be enthusiastic about exploring a brand new aspect of her typical archetype.
“I’d like to play a totally fragile, meek particular person making an attempt to outlive,” she advised Us. “I believe I get pleasure from enjoying survivors greater than victims simply because I don’t like to look at that. I imply, [my High Rollers] character, [Amelia], she was robust to start with. She’s been coaching and that’s been her job, however … It might be enjoyable to play somebody who’s actually not robust in that very same method, however but they should survive and so they do.”
Excessive Rollers is now enjoying in theaters, on demand and digital.
With reporting by Mariel Turner
