"And then I said to Werner, 'See?! Someone wants a close-up!'"
September 20, 2018 1:09 AM   Subscribe

 
Heh, that was great. So Nick Cage (those rings!), but also pretty revealing about the acting process and how he conceptualizes his roles that cuts back against the wacky in a interesting way. Thanks for posting it.
posted by gusottertrout at 2:08 AM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


I gotta say though that the difference between wanting to be the "California Kinski" and the real thing is that Klaus wasn't trying to be Klaus, he just was him, which, in a way, says something about Hollywood in general I think.
posted by gusottertrout at 2:15 AM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


Yeah I loved how articulate and thoughtful Cage was. People look at him like he's a crazy man who just goes on set and rips it up, but this shows how in actuality he's really thoughtful, and he needs to.... draw that craziness out, and it's informed by a really rich knowledge of cinema. He loves movies and it really shows. He's also a great raconteur.

I was stoked he brought up Bringing Out The Dead - probably my favourite Nick Cage movie. I wish they had asked about Matchstick Men, maybe not my favourite Cage movie, but I thought it was a great performance.
posted by smoke at 2:54 AM on September 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


I keep obsessively watching the trailer for Mandy, which by all reports is a great movie and, according to one blurb, "Cage's performance of a lifetime."
posted by zardoz at 3:42 AM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


That was pretty interesting; thanks for the post. I haven't watched any of Cage’s movies for almost 20 years (since Adaptation, I guess), but I've really enjoyed most of the ones I’ve seen. For me his classic performance is in Raising Arizona, and to hear he based the character in part on Woody Woodpecker makes perfect sense.

According to his Wikipedia page, Cage calls his acting style ‘nouveau shamanic,’ which is a pretty nice phrase. Film critic Luke Buckmaster makes a good point as well when says Cage “has the presence of a leading man, and the eccentricities of a character actor.” An interesting combination.
posted by LeLiLo at 4:04 AM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


... because I was trying to play bongos, to get some kinda syncopated rhythm, some sort of music for the character.

As you do.

This interview is great, and it's clear that Cage's unhinged style is a deliberate, personal choice that he's satisfied with. He's making movies the way he wants to make them and succeeding in a way that very few actors ever get a chance to.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:58 AM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


I just watched Mandy last night and yes it is a very impressive performance. Or bonkers depending on your view.

I think the media can dump on actors like Cage - he's weird, idiosyncratic, makes poor life choices. He's easy to make fun of or to hate but it is obvious in something like Mandy or Leaving Las Vegas or Bad Lieutenant or this interview that he's thinking the roles through tapping into personal emotion and his knowledge of cinema. Thinking of himself as the Klaus Kinski of California, however, makes a lot of sense in a few ways - his laser beam committal to the parts regardless of the quality of the film he appears in, making choices regardless of the director and his willingness to not turn down much. Klaus was a trainwreck but you can never look away from one of his performances - they are always like sodium burning. When Cage is on he can be the same way.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:00 AM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


The Croods, with Nic Cage's neanderthal patriarch Grug is the best, and I've watched it with my kids so very many times. "And then they DIED" is now a permanent part of my vocabulary. Also, I really liked Ghost Rider 2. So much fun.
posted by turkeybrain at 7:20 AM on September 20, 2018


"Jazz rock." Oh yeah, indeed.
posted by Bob Regular at 7:58 AM on September 20, 2018


Nicolas Cage previously.

I found this fascinating because Cage's interest and love of German expressionist filmmaking now puts everything he does into a clearer focus. Combining american method acting with German expressionism is a straight path to the lovely madness of Face/off at the same time as the hard-edge sensitivity and sympathy of a character like the recent Joe. There's a method to the madness folks
posted by dis_integration at 8:13 AM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


To me, Nicholas Cage's blank stare speaks only of a half-bored interest in food.
posted by thelonius at 8:16 AM on September 20, 2018




Cage takes bad acting to a level that is not only beyond good or even great, but into some airy sublime region that only the gods inhabit
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:54 AM on September 21, 2018


Thanks, that was great. I also enjoyed this recent interview with Cage .
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 4:19 PM on September 21, 2018


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