Sylvester Stallone’s Gabe Walker is again taking to the mountains in Cliffhanger 2. A few months ago, it was announced that Greenland director Ric Roman Waugh was set to direct the Stallone sequel, but now that the movie is set to go into production in the summer of 2024, it will have a new director. Jean-Francois Richet, who made the two-part crime classic Mesrine starring Vincent Cassel, will now be at the helm of the sequel, which Screen Daily reveals finds Stallone’s character running a mountain lodge in the Dolomites, where he and a client are taken hostage. The sequel is set to center around Gabe’s daughter, who uses the climbing skills she learned from her father to save the day. Of course, this isn’t the first time a Cliffhanger sequel has been plotted. A few years back, director Ana Lily Amirpour was set to direct a version of the movie (with Jason Momoa co-starring) that was also going to center around a female-lead.
While not a huge name in the US, Richet’s body of work as an action director is actually top-notch. In addition to Mesrine, he also directed one of Mel Gibson’s most underrated late-era movies, Blood Father, and most recently, the Gerard Butler action flick Plane. Richet is similar to Waugh in that he makes grounded action movies, and from the sound of it, Cliffhanger 2 will be like the original in that it will feature real stunts rather than an over-abundance of CGI. No news yet on who is set to play Stallone’s daughter, but it could be a major stepping-stone to action heroine status for whomever signs on. Hopefully, Sly himself will get in on the action. He’ll be 78 when it goes into production, but if anyone’s game to defy expectations involving stunts and aging, it’s Sly. However, one imagines his dance card, which includes Tulsa King Season 2 and a sequel to Samaritan, is full.
In the meantime, check out a recent retrospective we did on Cliffhanger embedded below.