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March 9, 2021 12:04 AM   Subscribe

Meet the Man Inside the Nicolas Cage Costume (SLYT).
posted by metabaroque (18 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- loup



 
Reading this comment from Ethan Hawke made me rethink Nic Cage's acting.
posted by ShakeyJake at 12:55 AM on March 9, 2021 [8 favorites]




I don't care if this is the onion. It is real to me.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:27 AM on March 9, 2021


Reading this comment from Ethan Hawke made me rethink Nic Cage's acting

"He's put a little too much water in his beer, but he is still one of the great actors of our time." That sums it up so perfectly.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:20 AM on March 9, 2021


Halloween Jack, I am not familiar with the “He's put a little too much water in his beer” metaphor. Can you explain?
posted by Silvery Fish at 7:27 AM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


I'm not Halloween Jack, but I think "He's put a little too much water in his beer" refers to the quantity (volume) vs. quality ratio. Cage has been involved with so many productions and one could argue that some choices were questionable.. Mind you, he is approaching the Event Horizon of a long career and looking back some hardcore enthusiasts of the Cage Canon might argue that every single minute of every role is a vital piece of the whole.
posted by elkevelvet at 8:49 AM on March 9, 2021 [3 favorites]


elkevelvet, thank you. Totally couldn’t figure that out.

Lord only knows Cage’s reasons for taking on any project, but the criticism reminded me of an interview I heard with Michael Caine. The interviewer mentioned one bad movie, and then another, and then another, asking “why did you make this one?” Caine’s response — “the first one, I bought a house for my mother. Second one - I bought her a bigger house.” He talked about his father being a Welsh coalminer who impressed on him that you ALWAYS say ‘yes’ to a job offer, and Caine adopted that ethos to his job as an actor.

As for Cage, I don’t think he is a problem to be solved, but he sure as hell is fascinating to observe.
posted by Silvery Fish at 9:18 AM on March 9, 2021 [3 favorites]


Serious lack of "I'm Castor Troy!" in that interview.
posted by bfranklin at 9:34 AM on March 9, 2021


Michael Caine was always been very frank about his so-called "pay cheque movies" but with Nicholas Cage I think it is combination of needing money (alimony, real estate failures, various life choices) and legitimately taking on roles because he feels he can bring something to them (in an interview a while back he thought of himself as the Klaus Kinski of Southern California which goes a long way to explain where he's coming from).
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:42 AM on March 9, 2021 [3 favorites]


the Klaus Kinski of Southern California

Yes!! Although it begs the question why anyone would want to be the Klaus Kinski of *anything*.
posted by Silvery Fish at 10:24 AM on March 9, 2021 [4 favorites]


Caine adopted that ethos to his job as an actor.

Most famously regarding Jaws 4: The Revenge: "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific." (More specifically, he was moving from LA to England, having a house built and it was going over budget. He was in a dry spell for work, so he took a "tremendous fee" for his week of work on the Jaws set, which also got his family a beach vacation; unfortunately he couldn't accept his Oscar for Hannah and Her Sisters because he was filming Jaws 4.)
posted by Superilla at 10:33 AM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


Serious lack of "I'm Castor Troy!" in that interview.

Sure is. I think this is still one of the best entrances of a villain in movies.
posted by fuse theorem at 11:04 AM on March 9, 2021


every single minute of every role is a vital piece of the whole

Even 'Peggy Sue Got Married'?
posted by Rash at 11:34 AM on March 9, 2021


His new movie Willy's Wonderland is one of the better of the really low budget, direct to video, B movies he has done lately. Don't get me wrong it's not great but with low expectations you can be entertained.
posted by ShakeyJake at 12:26 PM on March 9, 2021


Nic Cage is a fucking genius.
posted by tiny frying pan at 12:41 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


Even 'Peggy Sue Got Married'?

Especially 'Peggy Sue Got Married'.
posted by mpark at 2:40 PM on March 9, 2021


Nicolas Cage's recent films often feature amazing premises that are elevated by imagining how Nicolas Cage will react to them.

Example: Frank's caught wildlife in the Brazilian jungle including a 400 lb. white jaguar. He ships it on the same ship as an arrested assassin. The assassin breaks free and frees the animals. Is this a good movie? I didn't think so, but I did watch it for that almost unbeatable combination of star and premise.

The next test of this theory will allegedly be released soon: A cash-strapped Nicolas Cage agrees to make a paid appearance at a billionaire super fan's birthday party, but is really an informant for the CIA since the billionaire fan is a drug kingpin and gets cast in a Tarantino movie.

I'm strongly considering a white-elephant gift for the work gift exchange this year: A Nicolas Cage DVD movie advent calendar. Nicolas Cage has appeared in 12 movies since 2018, and I'll bet that I could find at least five of them at the local dollar store. I could also adjust it to only contain single-word-titled Cage movies (Primal, 211, Mandy, Dark, Inconceivable, Arsenal, Snowden, Outcast, Rage, Joe, Stolen and Trespass) just from the last ten years.
posted by JDC8 at 2:48 PM on March 9, 2021 [3 favorites]


"I don't know. If I was in seventy films over thirty years and I spent each one talking at random volumes, I might accidentally win an Oscar."

From the definitive Nic Cage impression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1XCUo_Uu8M
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 3:52 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


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