In the 30+ years since Cliffhanger arrived, a lot has changed, including star Sylvester Stallone now being in his 70s and the action genre transforming significantly. But Cliffhanger director Renny Harlin has another worry entirely for the upcoming sequel: technology, expressing concern that it may rely too much on CGI.
Speaking with ComingSoon.net, Harlin said that while he isn’t attached to Cliffhanger 2, he is still holding out hope for the production’s success, further saying he isn’t confident that the studio will maintain the “real” quality of the 1993 original. “Now, of course, it’s a long time later, so I have no idea what kind of a story they are planning to tell or what Sly’s role in it is. But I wish them the best of luck. I hope they don’t try to replace what we did with a lot of CG. Because I think the audience will be able to tell that we did everything for real. We shot at 12,000 foot peaks in the Italian Alps. It was real stuff, like the opening sequence with the girl falling. It was done for real. That was at 8,000 feet, that wire…It’s so easy for the studios to say now, ‘We’ll do everything blue screen and create everything digitally.’ I hope they don’t do that because it deserves a sequel with the same spirit of the original.”
Cliffhanger – which pulled in an astounding $255 million worldwide and would place in the top 10 highest-grossing movies of 1993 – had a sequel planned as far back as 1994. This version obviously never happened but now that a variation of Cliffhanger 2 is officially moving forward – with Stallone reprising Gabe Walker and Plane and Assault on Precinct 13 remake director Jean-Francois Richet at the helm – fans might have some hope.
The Cliffhanger sequel will reportedly put the focus on Walker’s daughter, who will have to rescue her father via the mountain climbing skills he taught her.
Do you expect the Cliffhanger sequel to rely too much on CGI or do you think the filmmakers will respect the original’s style? Are you looking forward to Cliffhanger 2? Let us know your thoughts!