What the Hell Happened to Nicolas Cage?
It may seem strange to ask “What the hell happened to Nicolas Cage?” He certainly isn’t missing. He appears in several movies every year. But the Oscar-winning actor has gone from being a box office draw to a national punchline who can’t say “no” to any movie.
What the hell happened?
Nicolas Cage is part of the Coppola clan. Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle. Talia Shire is his aunt and Sofia Coppola and Jason Schwartzman are among his cousins. To avoid the appearance of nepotism, he changed his last name from Coppola to Cage early in his career. He based his name on Marvel superhero, Luke Cage aka Power Man.
Cage’s earliest role was as an uncredited extra in the Robert Redford film, Brubaker in 1980. In 1981, Cage appeared with Crispin Glover in a youth-oriented TV show called Best of Times. The show was not picked up.
In 1982, Cage appeared opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Penn and Phoebe Cates in Amy Heckerling’s classic high school comedy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Cage was originally cast in the Judge Reinhold role. But since he was still a minor and could not shoot at night, he was given a smaller role as one of Reinhold’s friends. Fast Times was the only time Cage was credited as Nicolas Coppola in a film.
In 1983, Cage had his first major role in the teen rom-com, Valley Girl.
Deborah Foreman starred as a valley girl who falls for a Hollywood “punk” played by Cage. It was a very 80′s take on Romeo and Juliet directed by Martha Coolidge, a New York filmmaker who was recruited to Hollywood by Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Entertainment.
Coolidge spent three years researching a rock-and-roll love story for Zoetrope, but the project fell through. Years later, a screen-writer brought her the script for Valley Girl because “it was about a girl” and there weren’t many female directors at the time.
Valley Girl had a miniscule budget and only two weeks of pre-production. The producers gave Coolidge nearly free rein to make the film she wanted so long as she didn’t go over-budget and included four scenes with naked breasts.
During casting, Coolidge says she rejected all of the male members of the Brat Pack. ”All those ‘Brat Packers,’ or whatever, they came and I rejected all of them. I almost cast Judd Nelson but I got so tired of all those pretty boys that I walked over to the reject pile, found a picture of Nic Cage and said, ‘Find me people that look like this.’”
At the time, Cage was living out of his car. But Valley Girl helped put him on the map. It got positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.
Later that year, Cage appeared opposite Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke and Diane Lane in Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumble Fish.
Coppola directed two films based on novels by author S. E. Hinton. The first adaptation was The Outsiders which was also released in 1983. Cage auditioned for Dillon’s role in The Outsiders, but he didn’t get it. He was offered Emilio Estevez’s role, but turned it down.
Instead, Cage was cast in his uncle’s less successful follow-up to The Outsiders. Rumble Fish was the more progressive of the two films. It proved divisive to critics and received mostly negative reviews upon its release. Over time, it has come to be more respected. Rumble Fish flopped at the box office.
In 1984, Cage co-starred opposite Sean Penn and Elizabeth McGovern in the period drama, Racing With the Moon.
Penn and Cage played two friends who have been drafted into the Marine Corps. The movie covers the period in time just before they are shipped overseas to fight in World War 2.
At this time, there were two groups of young actors. The Brat Pack was forming around the stars of The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. And then there were actors like Sean Penn who was less teen idol and more a young Marlon Brando. Cage (who was almost cast in The Outsiders and appeared in Rumble Fish) was poised between the two groups.
Cage and Penn (who had both appeared in Fast Times at Ridgemont High) were friends. But years later when Cage became known for strange performances in action movie schlock, Penn would comment that Cage was “no longer an actor.”
Later that year, Cage cashed another paycheck from his uncle Francis with a small part in Coppola’s notorious period drama, The Cotton Club.
The Cotton Club starred Richard Gere, Gregory Hines and Diane Lane. It centered on the famed jazz club from the 1930s. The film is best known for being an expensive flop.
The production was already in trouble before producer Robert Evans hired Coppola to direct. Evans, who had also produced The Godfather, had a script by Mario Puzo. The Cotton Club reunited the writer, director and producer of the first two Godfather films on another period drama. Expectations were understandably set high.
Coppola insisted on rewriting Puzo’s screenplay and brought in his own crew. The already high budget escalated to nearly 60 million which was very high for the time. When The Cotton Club was released, it got mixed to positive reviews. But it grossed less than half of its budget.
One week after The Cotton Club opened, Cage appeared opposite Matthew Modine in the independent drama, Birdy.
Cage and Modine played pals who fought in Vietnam. Modine played Birdy who was fixated on birds. His experiences in war push him to the point of insanity and he is sent to a mental hospital. Cage played his best friend who tries to bring him back from the edge.
In retrospect, it sounds like they should have reversed roles. Modine played crazy and Cage played the voice of reason!
Despite mostly positive reviews and the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, Birdy flopped at the box office.
After a busy 1984, Cage didn’t appear in anything in 1985. He had auditioned for The Breakfast Club, but Judd Nelson actually got the part. Had Cage been cast, he would have officially joined the ill-fated Brat Pack. Although it was probably viewed as a career set-back at the time, Cage dodged a bullet there.
In 1986, Cage starred opposite Christopher Plummer in The Boy in Blue, a drama about the Canadian sport of sculling.
The film is based on the life of Toronto sculler Ned Hanlan. Not surprisingly, it didn’t make much of an impression in the US. But check out Cage’s guns!
Later that year, Cage starred opposite Kathleen Turner in another movie directed by his uncle, Peggy Sue Got Married.
Turner played Peggy Sue, a middle-aged housewife in the 80s. Cage played her no-good husband. The couple has separated and is on the verge of divorce. Peggy Sue’s daughter, played by Helen Hunt, escorts her to her 25-year high school reunion where she faints and travels back in time.
The movie centers on whether or not Peggy Sue should repeat the same choices that lead her to an unhappy marriage. Turner has a ball playing a teenager with the life experience of a middle-aged woman. And Cage goes over-the-top playing a middle-aged loser and the hopeful, awkward teenager Peggy Sue fell for.
Cage went so over-the-top that he was nearly fired by his own uncle. For his role as a doo-wop obsessed teen, Cage adopted a squeaky voice he claimed was inspired by the Gumby character Pokey. It was a divisive choice. Even today, many claim that Cage ruins the movie or at least distracts from it. While others think Cage’s oddball performance is the movie’s bright spot.
I actually rewatched Peggy Sue after many years before writing this article. And I was surprised how much I like the movie now that I am mature enough to appreciate its themes. I really respect the awkwardness and tenderness Cage brings to his part. But I do find the voice a bit distracting. It’s hard to imagine Peggy Sue really falling for this guy.
Peggy Sue Got Married received mixed to positive reviews and was a modest hit at the box office.
If Cage was perhaps a little too goofy for Peggy Sue Got Married, he was perfectly goofy for his next role in the Coen brother’s cult classic comedy, Raising Arizona.
Cage and Holly Hunter play a couple who can’t have kids of their own. So they decide to kidnap a baby from a group of quintuplets. The movie gets crazier and crazier as Cage’s escaped prison buddies (played by John Goodman and William Forsythe) come to him for a place to stay.
Despite material that seemed perfect for Cage’s oddball sensibilities, he clashed with the Coen brothers. The brothers had meticulously prepared every detail of their film in order to make the most of a shoe-string budget. While shooting, Cage offered many suggestions which the Coens ignored.
Cage later recalled, “Joel and Ethan have a very strong vision and I’ve learned how difficult it is to accept another artist’s vision. They have an autocratic nature.”
Raising Arizona is seen by many as a comedy classic today. But it received mixed reviews when it was released. The movie was a modest hit at the box office, but it has since developed a very devoted cult following.
Later that year, Cage starred opposite Cher in the movie that would change his career, Norman Jewison‘s Moonstruck.
Moonstruck is an Italian-American romantic comedy that is heavy on the ethnic stereotypes. Like Raising Arizona, the movie has a quirky tone that fit Cage’s sensibilities.
Cher played a woman in her later thirties whose boyfriend (played by Danny Aiello) proposes before leaving for Italy to care for his dying mother. He asks her to visit his estranged brother to invite him to the wedding.
Cage played the brother, a hot-blooded Italian who lost his hand in a bread-slicing accident. In a moment of passion, Cage sweeps Cher off her feet and carries her to the bedroom. Middle-aged women in theaters everywhere swooned.
Moonstruck received positive reviews and a number of awards including an Oscar for Cher. Cage was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. It was also a commerical success at the box office.
In 1989, Cage starred in the cult classic, Vampire’s Kiss.
Cage played a literary agent who goes insane. He believes he has been bitten by a vampire (played by Jennifer Beals of Flashdance fame) and that he is slowly becoming a vampire himself. To complete his fantasy, he buys a pair of cheap plastic vampire teeth which he uses to attack women at night clubs.
At work, Cage takes every opportunity to humiliate his long-suffering secretary played by María Conchita Alonso. He sends her on a wild goose chase looking for a contract from 1963. He insists that the author is demanding a copy of the contract despite evidence to the contrary.
When the secretary calls in sick, Cage drives to her house and apologizes. He offers to drive her in to work and to start being nicer. But as soon as he gets her into his car, he reverts to his browbeating.
Cage takes advantage of the opportunity to completely lose it on-screen. His eyes pop out of their sockets. He does a funny voice. He eats live bugs. There really don’t seem to be any lines he won’t cross.
Vampire’s Kiss got mixed to positive reviews with many critics praising Cage’s brave, unhinged performance. It was a flop at the box office but has developed a cult following on video. Really, it has to be seen to be believed.
In 1990, Cage starred opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Sean Young in Firebirds.
Firebirds was an attempt to duplicate the success of Top Gun only with helicopters instead of jet fighters and Cage instead of Tom Cruise. The movie was savaged by critics. Vincent Canby of the The New York Times wrote:
“Nicolas Cage plays the sort of B-picture role that might once have suited William Gargan. Unlike Mr. Gargan, though, Mr. Cage insists on acting. Mr. Cage simply won’t quit. He never listens to or sees anybody else in a scene, being too busy monitoring his own utterly mysterious, attention-getting responses.”
Firebirds flopped at the box office opening at an embarassing 5th place.
Later that year, Cage starred opposite Laura Dern in David Lynch’s twisted road movie, Wild at Heart.
Lynch made Wild at Heart after finishing the pilot episode of Twin Peaks. And it shares the dream-like, nightmarish sensibilities with the TV show. However, Wild at Heart did not have to contend with TV censors, so Lynch was able to go full-tilt with the sex and violence.
Lynch pushed things so far that audiences members walked out of early screenings during a torture scene. After the second screening in which 100 audience members walked out during the scene, Lynch finally agreed to cut it “to the degree that it was powerful but didn’t send people running from the theatre”.
Even after the cuts, the movie was in danger of getting slapped with an X-rating. (The NC-17 rating did not yet exist.) Since Lynch was under contract to release an R-rated movie, gun smoke was added to a scene to obscure some of the blood. That small change allowed the movie to receive an R-rating.
I could write about the story of Wild at Heart. But really, what’s the point? Cage and Dern play a couple who go on a violent, sex-fueled journey that references The Wizard of Oz. Cage gets to sing Elvis songs and wear a snakeskin jacket. In short, it’s a David Lynch movie.
At the time, David Lynch was still the toast of the town. Wild at Heart was screened at Cannes to wild applause and won the top prize at the festival. Just two years later, Lynch’s Twin Peaks movie, Fire Walk With Me, was booed by audiences at the same festival.
Despite the praise at Cannes, Wild at Heart opened to mixed reviews and was not a hit at the box office.
In 1991, Cage starred opposite Judge Reinhold (yep, the guy from Beverly Hills Cop) in the erotic (and hysterical) thriller (and unintentional comedy) Zandalee.
How bout we just watch a clip:
That dance-off leave you hungry for more. How about a not suitable for work Cage freakout:
Here are a few choice Zandalee quotes:
Johnny: I wanna shake you naked and eat you alive…
Zandalee: I can’t be what you want me to be.
Johnny: Yes, you can. Roll over on your stomach.Johnny: Why is it that the Baptist have all the women and no booze and the Catholics have all the booze and no women.
So true, Johnny. So true.
Zandalee was released theatrically overseas. But in the US, it went straight to video. Come to think of it, Cage’s career in the early 90′s was pretty similar to the state of his career today.
In 1992, Cage returned to more mainstream fare with Andrew Bergman’s kitschy romantic comedy, Honeymoon in Vegas.
Cage played a man who is reluctant to commit to marriage after promising his dying mother he would never marry. Sarah Jessica Parker played his girlfriend who demands that he break his promise. The couple flies to Vegas for a quickie wedding, but Cage’s character gets into trouble when he loses a lot of money to a gangster played by James Caan.
What follows is a comedic take on Indecent Proposal (which would not be released until the following year). Caan agrees to let Cage off the hook for his gambling debt if he can spend the weekend with his fiancée. The couple reluctantly agrees to the seedy arrangement.
Cage dialed down the wackiness just a bit. But he still got to indulge his Elvis fetish. Honeymoon in Vegas received mixed to positive reviews and was a modest hit at the box office.
In 1993, Cage starred opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the racial comedy, Amos and Andrew.
Jackson played a wealthy black playwright who buys a vacation home in a predominantly white New England resort. His new neighbors mistake him for a burglar because of his race, so they call the police.
In order to cover up an embarassing incident, the police chief offers a thief (played by Cage) a deal. He will let him go if he breaks into Jackson’s home and holds him hostage. Hijinks ensue.
Amos and Andrew opened to mixed reviews and disappointed at the box office.
Later that year, Cage appeared in a film written and directed by his brother, Christopher Coppola. Deadfall, which co-starred Michael Biehn, never received a theatrical release.
Cage was everywhere in 1994. He started off playing a secret service agent assigned to protect a former first lady played by Oscar-winner Shirley MacLaine in the comedy, Guarding Tess.
Guarding Tess got mixed reviews and did so-so box office.
Next he starred as a drifter opposite Dennis Hopper and Lara Flynn Boyle in John Dahl’s neo-noir, Red Rock West.
The studio didn’t know what to do with Red Rock West, so they sold it to cable. It showed several times on HBO before someone got the idea to release it theatrically. It received great reviews during its limited release and did well in the theaters where it played. But its release was so small that many wouldn’t have a chance to see it until it went to video.
In the summer of 1993, Cage starred opposite Bridget Fonda in the lottery-themed romantic comedy, It Could Happen to You.
It Could Happen reuinted Cage with his Honeymoon in Vegas director, Andrew Bergman. The movie was very loosely based on the true story of a New York Cop who offered to split a lottery ticket with a waitress in place of a tip. When the cop (played by Cage) actually wins the lottery, he keeps his promise and splits the winnings.
Reviews were mixed and the movie flopped at the box office. It opened in an embarassing 6th place behing The Lion King which was in its seventh week.
Cage ended the year in the Christmas-themed comedy, Trapped in Paradise, opposite Saturday Night Live stars Dana Carvey and John Lovitz.
Cage, Carvey and Lovitz play brothers despite looking nothing alike. The New York brothers get trapped in the quaint town of Paradise, PA and… oh I don’t remember. This movie is completely forgettable and more or less sunk the film careers of Carvey and Lovitz. Lovitz claimed the crew referred to the movie as “Trapped in Bullshit” which is pretty descriptive.
As a side-note, the movie also co-starred Mädchen Amick. With that, Cage has appeared opposite all three of the main Twin Peaks girls; Sherilyn Fenn appeared in Wild at Heart and Lara Flynn Boyle appeared in Red Rock West.
So anyway, Trapped in Paradise got poor reviews and flopped at the box office.
In 1995, Cage took a villainous turn in Barbet Schroeder’s neo-noir, Kiss of Death.
Kiss of Death starred David Caruso who left the popular TV show, NYPD Blue, to start a film career. However Kiss of Death along with Jade (which was released later that year) killed Caruso’s movie career in its infancy.
Kiss of Death reuinited Cage with two of his former co-stars; Samuel L Jackson with whom Cage appeared in Amos and Andrew and Helen Hunt who played Cage’s daughter in Peggy Sue Got Married.
Reviews were mixed and the movie flopped at the box office.
Later that year, Cage appeared in another movie that would change his career. This time, it was Mike Figgis’ Leaving Las Vegas.
Cage played a self-destructive alcoholic who goes to Vegas with the intention of drinking himself to death. He hires a prostitute, played by Elisabeth Shue, with whom he forms a relationship during his final days.
The screenplay was based on a semi-autobiographical novel by John O’Brien. O’Brien committed suicide two weeks into filming. This almost caused the film to halt production, but they carried on in spite of the tragedy.
For research, Cage went binge drinking in Dublin for two weeks and had a friend video tape him so he could study his own drunken speech patterns. The research paid off. Cage won both the Golden Globe and an Oscar for his performance.
Leaving Las Vegas was a hit with critics and audiences alike. Cage was officially on the A-list after more than a decade in the business.
After winning the Oscar, Cage decided to reinvent himself as an action movie star. So in 1995, he co-starred with Sean Connery in Michael Bay’s over-the-top explosion-fest, The Rock.
By now, Michael Bay is known for making popular crap. The Rock, while generally the best-reviewed of his films, is a typical Michael Bay movie. It’s loud, it makes no sense and it is filled with mayhem. Those are its selling points.
For the most part, reviews were good given the low expectations of summer action movies. But reviews were irrelevant anyway. Action movie fans made The Rock a huge box office smash.
The next year, Cage doubled down on “big and stupid” with another Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action movie, Con Air.
In The Rock, Connery was the lead and Cage was the sidekick. But in Con Air, Cage was the main action hero. Con Air was even bigger and dumber than The Rock. But it was seen as a bit of a step down. Which is saying something because The Rock was barely adequate to begin with.
Like The Rock, Con Air got mixed reviews and was a hit at the box office. But the reviews were a little more negative and the box office was a little less spectacular in spite of the bigger explosions.
Just three weeks later, Cage starred opposite John Travolta in John Woo’s Face/Off.
Travolta’s career was hot coming off Pulp Fiction and Get Shorty. Woo was a legend in Hong Kong action movies. And of course Cage was right off an Oscar win and two big action movies.
Face/Off is saddled with an inplausible plot in which a cop and a criminal switch faces. This also allowed each actor to do an impression of the other. Much scenery was chewed. Reviews were mostly positive and Face/Off was a big international hit at the box office.
Around this time, Cage was in talks to play Superman in a film that was to be called Superman Lives. Ironically enough, it was inspired by the popular comic book story in which Superman dies.
The story of Superman Lives is one of those great Hollywood legends that explains why so many movies are bad. Warner Brothers spent millions of dollars developing a movie that had absolutely no chance of being good.
In the mid-ninties, Clerks director Kevin Smith was hired to do a rewrite. Smith tells a nightmarish story about trying to meet the demands of producer Jon Peters who insisted that Superman could neither fly nor wear his iconic costume. In short, he couldn’t really be Superman. Peters also wanted a gay robot and for Superman to fight a giant spider.
Smith tells the whole story on You Tube. It’s long and profane, but definitely worth a look.
Director Tim Burton who had made Batman a smash hit signed on to direct. Burton and Peters signed Cage. They envisioned Superman as an alien outsider. Kind of a Kryptonian Edward Scissorhands.
Kevin Spacey was approached to play Lex Luthor and Courtney Cox was rumored to play Lois Lane. Comedians Tim Allen and Jim Carrey were both rumored to play Brainiac and Chris Rock was confirmed to play Jimmy Olsen. Michael Keaton even agreed to do a cameo presumably as Bruce Wayne.
As awful as all of this sounds, it might just have been worth it for Keaton as Bruce Wayne.
Burton’s budget ballooned and Warner Brothers got nervous about the costs. They never did greenlight Burton’s Superman. Cage dropped out of the project in 2000 and eventually it was dropped.
In 1998, Cage returned to romantic drama opposite Meg Ryan in City of Angels.
City of Angels was a remake of the German film Wings of Desire in which an angel gives up heaven to become human and love a woman. Cage played the angel who falls for and sort of stalks Ryan.
Despite mixed reviews, City of Angels was a huge hit at the box office.
Later that year, Cage starred opposite Gary Sinese in Brian DePalma’s thriller, Snake Eyes.
Cage played a corrupt cop caught up in a convoluted DePalmaesque conspiracy. DePalma uses all of his usual visual tricks. But the movie was not well-received by critics. Cage’s popularity at the time made it a modest hit.
In 1999, Cage continued making dark thrillers with Joel Schumacher’s 8mm.
Cage played a private investigator who delves into the seedy world of snuff films. He is assisted in his investigation by an adult video store employee played by Joaquin Phoenix.
Schumacher was still reeling from the disastrous Batman and Robin which was criticized for being too cartoonish. He has been over-compensating ever since with grainy, low-budget thrillers that revel in darkness.
8mm received negative reviews. But once again Cage’s popularity powered it to decent box office.
Later that year, Cage starred opposite John Goodman (who also appeared in Raising Arizona) in Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead.
Cage and Goodman played paramedics driving an ambulance during the graveyard shift. Cage is unstable (surprise, surprise) and pushed to the edges by the strains of his job. That job is made more difficult by a new form of heroin which has hit the streets.
Bringing Out the Dead also featured Cage’s wife at the time, Patricia Arquette. Cage and Arquette married in 1995 and divorced in 2001.
Bringing Out the Dead received mostly positive reviews. In fact, it was Cage’s best reviewed movie since Leaving Las Vegas. But audiences didn’t know what to make of it and it bombed at the box office.
Cage returned to action movies in 2000 with the car-heist caper, Gone in 60 Seconds.
Cage played a car thief who has to steal a lot of cars to save his brother played by Giovanni Ribisi. Angelina Jolie, who had just won the Oscar for Girl, Interrupted, had a supporting role. Like Cage, she would eventually transition into action movies.
Despite bad reviews, the allure of two Academy Award winners (or maybe Jolie and fast cars) made Gone in 60 Seconds a hit at the box office.
Later that year, Cage starred opposite Tea Leoni and Don Cheadle in Brett Ratner’s comedy/drama The Family Man.
The Family Man is kind of the opposite of It’s a Wonderful Life. Cage played a Wall Street exec who seems completely content with his shallow existence. But when he helps out a would-be thief played by Cheadle, his life is turned upside down.
No points for guessing that Cheadle is an angel (or some other form of the Magical Negro trope). He shows Cage what his life would have been like if he had settled down with his girlfriend and raised a family instead of leaving to become an investment banker.
Unlike George Bailey who comes to realize that his life has more importance than he realized, Cage’s character comes to realize that his life has been kind of empty. So it’s a pretty major bummer when the magical mystery tour comes to an end and the children he has come to love no longer exist.
The movie tacks on a semi-happy ending where the still-rich Cage reconnects with the still-hot Leoni. I guess they’ll make some new kids.
The Family Man received mixed reviews and was a mild hit at the box office.
In 2001, Cage starred opposite Penelope Cruz in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
Captain Corelli’s was based on a popular novel of the same name. But the movie chopped up the novel to the point where it felt like an adaptation of the Cliff Notes.
The reviews were bad and the movie flopped in the US. Fortunately, it was a hit overseas and made back its production budget.
In 2002, Cage reuinted with John Woo for the World War II drama, The Windtalkers.
The Windtalkers co-starred Christian Slater with whom Woo had made Broken Arrow. Its release date was pushed back repeatedly. When it was finally released, it got negative reviews and bombed at the box office.
Later that year, Cage made his directorial debut with the sweet family film, Sonny. James Franco stars as a gigolo who works at his mom’s brothel. Mena Suvari plays a co-worker with whom he falls in love. Cage has a cameo role as Acid Yellow.
Sonny has a gross of about $30,000!
Interestingly enough, Cage turned down the role of the Green Goblin in Spider-man which also opened in 2002. Franco played the son (or sonny) of the Green Goblin in that film. Mena Suvari was considered for the role of Mary Jane, but then so was every other actress in Hollywood at the time.
Cage made headlines in 2002 for marrying Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie Pressley. It was Cage’s second marriage and Presley’s third after Michael Jackson. The couple married in August and filed for divorce in November of that same year. The bitter divorce wasn’t finalized until 2004. Cage claimed Presley made him sell his valuable comic boom collection.
Later that year, Cage returned to Oscar form with Spike Jonze’s meta-comedy, Adaptation.
Cage played screenwrite Charlie Kaufman and his fictional brother, Donald. The real-life Kaufman wrote the script about his difficulties adapting The Orchid Thief. Eventually, he transformed that project into a semi-autobiographical piece of metafiction.
Adaptation, like Jonse and Kaufman’s earlier collaboration, Being John Malkovich, defies description. Like the previous film, it got good reviews and did decent box office. Cage was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his dual roles.
In 2003, Cage starred opposite Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman in Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men.
Cage played a con man with a number of mental disorders as well as a flaky partner. As part of his therapy, Cage’s character reconnects with his 14-year-old drama played by Lohman. Soon, father and daughter are working cons together.
Matchstick Men opened to great reviews. But for whatever reason, neither audiences nor the awards groups took much notice of it. It did decent box office.
In 2004, Cage had a surprise hit with the family friendly adventure film, National Treasure.
National Treasure mixed elements of Indiana Jones and The Da Vinci Code with the Disney brand. The result was a movie that Roger Ebert described as “so silly that the Monty Python version could use the same screenplay, line for line.”
Reviews were mixed, but audiences turned out in droves making National Treasure the biggest hit of Cage’s career to date.
In 2005, Cage starred as an illegal arm’s dealer in The Lord of War.
The Lord of War actually got pretty decent reviews. But it flopped at the US box office. I am often asked how Cage keeps making so many movies given that the majority of them don’t do well in the US. The answer is that he is very popular overseas. Like a lot of Cage’s films, The Lord of War eventually turned a profit in other markets.
Later that year, Cage appeared in Gore Verbinski’s comedy-drama, The Weatherman.
The Weatherman was not as fortunate as The Lord of War. It got mixed reviews and flopped at the box office. Even the overseas ticket sales didn’t save it.
In 2006, Cage leant his voice to the animated film, The Ant Bully which was a modest hit.
Later that year, Cage played a police officer in Oliver Stone’s 9/11 drama, World Trade Center.
World Trade Center got mostly positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.
Cage ended the year with Neil LaBute’s infamous remake of the 70′s horror film, The Wicker Man.
Where to begin with The Wicker Man? It is only one of the most unintentionally funny movies Hollywood has ever produced. Here is a famous compilation of lowlights.
It’s got everything. Cage demanding a woman to “step away from the bike” at gunpoint, demanding to know how a doll “got burned” repeatedly without taking a breath, Cage cold cocking a middle aged woman, kicking Leelee Sobieski into a wall, Cage dressed in a bear costume and of course Cage screaming about “the bees” and “the god damned honey”.
The Wicker Man is beyond awful. But that makes it kind of great. Which seems to be what Cage is going for these days. Cage described it as follows:
“There is a mischievous mind at work on The Wicker Man, you know? You know what I mean? And I finally kind of said, ‘I might have known that the movie was meant to be absurd.’ But saying that now after the fact is OK, but to say it before the fact is not, because you have to let the movie have its own life.”
Cage even has an idea for a sequel in which he would play a ghost in Japan. In 2012, he said, “”I would like to hook up with one of the great Japanese filmmakers, like the master that made Ringu, and I would like to take The Wicker Man to Japan, except this time he’s a ghost.”
The movie got bad reviews and bombed at the box office. So don’t hold your breath for that sequel. Cage got his first Golden Raspberry nomination for The Wicker Man.
Cage, who took his screen name from a Marvel comic book, had always wanted to play a super hero. When Superman fell through, he was apprached for the villain role in Spider-man. He also was attached to play Iron Man at one point. In 2007, he finally got his chance to play a comic book character in Ghost Rider.
As super heroes go, the flame-skulled Ghost Rider ranks somewhere below Aquaman. Making matters worse, the film was written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the auteur behind the Grumpy Old Men films and both Daredevil and Elektra.
Despite bad reviews, Ghost Rider was reasonably successful at the box office. Cage was nominated for another Golden Raspberry for his performance.
Next Cage starred opposite Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel in the sci fi thriller, Next.
You see what I did there?
Cage plays a man who can see two minutes into the future. He has one vision that breaks the two-minute rule. It’s a vision of Biel walking into a diner at 8:09. Since Cage doesn’t know when this will happen, he enters the diner teice a day for the chance to meet Biel. Can you blame him?
Because this is a late-career Nicolas Cage movie, craziness ensues. The movie was blasted by critics and ignored by audiences.
fortunately, Cage had a National Treasure sequel to fall back on. The sequel, subtitled Book of Secrets, opened during the holiday season in 2007. Despite mostly negative reviews, it was an even bigger hit than the original. With a domestic gross of over 200 million and a world-wide gross over $450 million, National Treasure: Book of Secrets is the biggest hit of Cage’s career.
In 2008, Cage produced and starred in Bankok Dangerous.
Bangkok Dangerous was a remake of a Chinese crime drama of the same name. Both the original and the remake were written and directed by the Pang brothers.
In the original, the protagonist was a deaf hitman. His disability made him fearless. But since Cage needed to have lines of dialogue, the remake made his girl friend deaf instead.
Reviews were terrible and the movie bombed in the US. But once again, it was saved by overseas box office.
Cage was also attached to The Wrestler which was released in 2008. Cage stepped down so that the role could be played by his friend, Mickey Rourke. Rourke went on to win a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for the role.
In 2009, Cage starred in the apocalyptic thriller, Knowing.
Knowing was directed by Alex Proyas who had directed The Crow and Dark City in the 90s. Knowing wasn’t in the same league as those films. It got mixed to negative reviews although Roger Ebert (a friend of Proyas) praised it.
In spite of the reviews, Knowing was a hit at the box office. This is part of why Nicolas Cage can make three movies a year.
Cage did voice work for family films G-Force and Astro Boy in 2009 between his two live action films.
Later that year, Cage starred opposite Eva Mendes (with whom he appeared in Ghost Rider) and Val Kilmer in Werner Herzog’s remake/sequel/”rethought” of The Bad Lieutenant.
The original Bad Lieutenant was directed by Abel Ferrara and starred Harvey Keitel. Herzog insisted that his film was neither a remake nor a sequel but a “rethought” which I suppose is kind of like Tim Burton’s “reimagining” of The Planet of the Apes.
Herzog went on to distance his film, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans from the original, “It only has a corrupt policeman as the central character and that’s about it.” He claimed never to have seen Ferrara’s original film.
Ferrara was furious. “As far as remakes go … I wish these people die in Hell. I hope they’re all in the same streetcar, and it blows up,” he said.
For the most part, critics like Herzog’s crazy take on the material. But in spite of mostly positive reviews, the film bombed at the box office.
In 2010, Cage appeared in Matthew Vaughn’s violent take on super heroes, Kick-Ass.
Kick-Ass was based on a comic book by Mark Millar. As with a lot of Millar’s work, it is a violent deconstruction of super heroes. Kick-Ass is about a teen who decides to make a costume and fight crime in real life. He inspires imitators including a father-daughter team played by Cage and Chloë Grace Moretz.
Cage decided to play his part as an imitation of Adam West’s TV Batman. But he didn’t inform anyone of this decision.
Vaughn describes Cage’s first day of shooting:
“It was totally his idea. and I didn’t know it was coming,” Vaughn said. “The first day around, he started in with that and I’m thinking, ‘This guy can’t act!’ What the hell is happening? I started freaking out. And after about 30 seconds, the panic in my brain calmed down, and I realized exactly what he was doing.”
“Poor Chloë and Aaron are looking at me. … So I say, ‘OK, get it, Nic. I get what you’re doing, brilliant idea, continue.’ Then of course I had to explain it all to Chloë who of course had no idea who Adam West was. I think they all thought Nic was just nuts and, you know, that’s not so bad for the movie.”
Despite mostly positive reviews, Kick-Ass was not a big hit in the US. The US totals were disappointing, but not disastrous. The foreign box office helped make the movie a hit. A sequel has been discussed.
Later that year, Cage starred in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Cage came up with the idea for a mystical adventure film based on the Mickey Mouse segment from Fantasia. Disney was more than happy to make the film and reunited Cage with his National Treasure director, Jon Turteltaub and The Rock producer Jerry Bruckheimer. They were certain the movie would be a big hit and launch a franchise like National Treasure.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice got pretty good reviews, but the domestic box office was horrible. It was an expensive and embarrassing flop at a time when Disney couldn’t buy a live action hit.
After a lot of bad press for bombing at the box office, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice quietly made a lot of money overseas. Once again, you can thank other countries for the continued success of Nicolas Cage.
Cage had a horrible year in 2011 with a string of critically reviled box office bombs. The first of which was the supernatural thriller Season of the Witch.
Season of the Witch was directed by Cage’s Gone in 60 Seconds director, Dominic Sena. But when it was determined that reshoots were needed, Cage’s The Family Man director, Brett Ratner, was brought in to fix the film.
Let that sink in. Season of the Witch was so bad that someone thought it would be a good idea to let X-Men 3 director Brett Ratner come in and try and fix it.
Originally, Season of the Witch was scheduled to be released in March of 2010. But it was eventually delayed until January of the following year. January is a month in which studios are known to dump movies they expect to fail.
And fail it did. Reviews were terrible and the film flopped in the US. But there is that troublesome phrase again. Even Season of the Witch made money overseas.
The very next month, Cage starred in Drive Angry, an action film which made a big deal of the fact it was filmed in 3-D.
Cage played a man who escaped from Hell to save his grandchild from Satanists. He hooks up with an incredibly hot waitress played by Amber Heard who for some unexplained reason is really good at kicking ass. Together, they kick a lot of cultist ass.
Drive Angry is a crazy film even by Cage’s usual standards. At one point, Cage kills a bunch of bad guys while having sex with another hot waitress. It includes this classic exchange:
Candy: [as they're having sex] Why don’t you get naked?
Milton: I never disrobe before gunplay.
Cage was apparently drawn to the movie because of a scene in which his eye is shot out. He had asked for such a scene to be included in Season of the Witch. But the producers, who wanted to make a family film, refused. I think that gives you some insight into the kind of decisions Cage makes when chosing projects.
You can accuse Drive Angry of trying too hard. But you can’t accuse it of being boring. The reviews were terrible and the movie bombed. Which means Amber Heard still isn’t a star.
Cage appeared in two films which barely received theaterical releases. Seeking Justice, which co-starred Mad Men’s January Jones, opened at 27th. And Trespass, which co-starred Nicole Kidman, became the fastest movie to be released on home video after its initial theater release.
Trespass was directed by Cage’s 8mm director, Joel Schumacher who was STILL trying to prove what a dark, gritty director he could be.
Cage and Kidman play a couple whose home is invaded by kidnappers who torture them in hopes of stealing something of value. Little by little, the experience reveals family secrets as well as some secrets about the home invaders.
Before you run out and rent it, let me warn you that my description makes it sound much more interesting than it actually is.
At one point, Cage abandoned the film. He offered to come back to play the kidnapper role. But eventually, he returned and agreed to play the hostage.
Reviews were negative and the movie bombed.
In 2012, Cage made a sequel to Ghost Rider. Let’s not waste a lot of time here. You know the drill by now. The movie got bad reviews and flopped in the US. But it was a hit overseas.
Cage also reteamed with his Con-Air director, Simon West for a movie called Stolen. Stolen was in and out of theaters so fast, I forgot it even existed.
Usually, when I ask teh question “What the hell happened?” it’s because an actor or actress isn’t getting as much work as they used to. But Cage still has lots of movies in the pipeline. They just aren’t very good.
So, what the hell happened? How did an Oscar winning actor like Cage start appearing in dreck like Trespass and Stolen?
In a way, you could say nothing happened. Cage has always been attracted to oddball movies. Some of them catch on with audiences. Most of them don’t. He has always been extremely prolific, so it’s no wonder he makes so many bad movies. It’s kind of amazing that he has made as many good ones as he has.
Also, Cage has had financial and legal problems. He has vast real estate ownings on which he owes quite a bit of taxes. In order to keep the tax man off his back, Cage seems unable to say “no” to anything.
Over the course of his career, there are several points where you could have counted Cage out. But thanks to his popularity over seas, it looks like Cage will continue to make movies. And any one of them could be the hit that restarts his career. Well, any one of them except that Wicker Man sequel set in Japan.
More “What the Hell Happened?”
Kim Basinger Thora Birch Matthew Broderick Nicolas Cage Chevy Chase Kevin Costner Geena Davis Bridget Fonda Brendan Fraser Mel Gibson Cuba Gooding Jr. Heather Graham Melanie Griffith Steve Guttenberg Daryl Hannah Helen Hunt Michael Keaton Nicole Kidman Val Kilmer Jude Law Jennifer Jason Leigh Penelope Ann Miller Demi Moore Rick Moranis Eddie Murphy Mike Myers Michelle Pfeiffer Molly Ringwald Meg Ryan Winona Ryder Arnold Schwarzenegger Steven Seagal Elisabeth Shue Alicia Silverstone Christian Slater Mira Sorvino Wesley Snipes Sharon Stone Mena Suvari Uma Thurman John Travolta Kathleen Turner Robin Williams Debra Winger Sean Young Renee Zellweger
Posted on February 9, 2013, in Movies, What the Hell Happened? and tagged city of angels, con air, entertainment, face off, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Francis Ford Coppola, ghost rider, honeymoon in vegas, leaving las vegas, moonstruck, movies, national treasure, nicolas cage, peggy sue got married, raising arizona, Superman, the rock, valley girl. Bookmark the permalink. 72 Comments.
What an excellent and fun writeup. I had not realized just how lengthy a career he has had and how many movies he has made. Pretty good range of different material, too. Only a versatile actor could be in both Con Air and Peggy Sue. (I thoroughly hated Con Air, no desire to ever watch it again, but thought Cage was excellent in it).
I skipped Con Air. I didn’t much care for The Rock,. So when I heard Con Air compared to it unfavorably, I decided it wasn’t for me.
Cage’s career is incredibly long. A fact I was regretting as this article stretched on and on.
Cage is an amazing actor, and for a while I would watch him in almost anything. He’s said to be reckless (really, REALLY reckless) with his money and was ridden in debt a few years ago, so I think that is the reason he’s been making so many stupid movies lately. You know, paycheck roles. He can’t afford to keep up his lifestyle if he’s selective.
Yep, his money problems make it hard for him to say “no”. But also, Cage has always been this way. His attitude seems to be that he will do anything. He’ll make it interesting if he has to.
Don’t know why, but Nicolas Cage is definitely one of my personal box-office poisons. I simply can’t tolerate his boiled fish face.
Ah, that’s a shame. I know people who feel the way you do. But I think Cage is pretty great. The fact that he isn’t traditionally handsome is a part of his appeal. No one loses their shit like Cage.
You’re probabily right. Maybe it’s beacause I’ve witnessed only the worst part of Cage’s carreer. I like him in “City of Angels”, “Adaptation” and “Leavin’ Las Vegas” but, as you pointed in the article, he has done almost everything to damage his credibility in the last ten years.
One of the things I like about Cage is that he is not afraid to suck. Heck, he’s not afraid of anything. For the most part, you know exactly what you are going to get out of Tom Cruise. He’s a fast food burger. Cage – you just never know. It may be awful, it may be great. But it won’t be a boring cheeseburger.
Go back and check out some of his quirky movies. There’s a lot of great stuff in his filmography.
Good read as usual. Cage has been on screen as long as I can remember. I remember seeing and enjoying Red Rock West when I was like 12 years old. I used to think Cage sucked because he didn’t look like a traditional movie start. I kind of like him now but going though his Filmography it’s shocking to see how much schlock he has made. Other than Kick ass and Wild at heart I struggle to find anything I might like.
Thanks, Stoich. Glad you liked it.
I knew Cage had made over 60 films. But just how many that is didn’t sink in until I was hip deep in the article.
Check out Vampire’s Kiss. It’s really messed up.
great article….and I really had no idea how extensive Cage’s career is.
But let’s get one thing straight. Con Air and The Rock are not intelligent films, but they are a lot of fun with some great dialogue. Check them out.
Matchstick Men and Lord of War are both intelligent and heartbreaking, and probably the best movies on this list.
I can forgive Cage for his bad stuff, because he’s definitely given me some good stuff.
And Raising Arizona?
Every week when I log into my bank account and see how much of my paycheck has disappeared to the taxman – I still utter that line from RA. Cage sees his first paycheck after going legit, and the pay-clerk mumbles….
“Government do take a bite, don’t she?”
Classic!
You make as many movies as Cage has and you’re bound to have some winners and some stinkers.
I’m just not a fan of the “blow stuff up” style of action movies. I watched The Rock once. It was too dumb for me. I didn’t hate it, but I have no desire to watch it again. I have never heard anyone say that Con Air was anything but a lesser version of The Rock, so I’ll pass.
I actually prefer Drive Angry which goes past dumb into awesomely stupid. If you’re going to make a ridiculously stupid action movie, at least commit to it 100%. Drive Angry does that.
RA is classic Coens. It’s either your kind of humor or you’re left scratching your head. I generally like the Coens. But I prefer their less goofy films. I have to be in the right mood for RA or Big Lebowski.
Another great post; It has always amazed me how Nic Cage went from Oscar winner to showing up in some of the movies he has done in the past 5 years.
Your insight is great, considering how many movies he has completed. The video with Kevin Smith is GREAT, but shows what goes on in the movie making process.
I did like The Rock, Con Air and Face Off; I thought Cage played those roles perfectly. Granted, they were weak movies, but they were fun to watch.
Really enjoy your posts, keep them up!!
Thanks, Tom.
The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off definitely did what they set out to do. I remember liking Face/Off even if it was too long. I haven’t watched any of them since the 90s. So, maybe I need to revisit them.
That Kevin Smith video is hysterical and says so much about the way movies are made. I think that video is responsible for Smith’s transition from director to public speaker. These days, I think he only makes movies so he has something to talk about in his speaking engagements.
You gotta check out Kevin Smith’s guest appearance on How Did This Get Made?
It’s very interesting, and I learned that Bruce Willis can be a real dick.
THAT’s where you learned Bruce Willis is a dick? He’s been a dick since before he was a star. Every story you hear about Bruce Willis is about what a huge dick he is. He even made a movie where he played himself being a dick.
Smith is a talented, funny guy. But he also annoys the crap out of me. Comic Book Men makes me want to puke. I wish Smith would stop being such a lazy stoner and make a real movie again.
You’re funny. I never knew he was a dick. And I agree about Smith….annoying but talented. I think Dogma is highly underrated – but I don’t know much about who was behind that film.
“The Rock” was awesome because Cage, Sean Connery, & Ed Harris basically lowered themeselves to the material & boosted up a notch as a result.
Don’t forget Cage’s cameo as Fu Manchu in the “Werewolf Women of the S.S.” trailer (from Rob ‘All my movies are basically remakes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Zombie), which was part of “Grindhouse”
I recently met someone who claimed to have worked at a bar with Willis in the very early 80s. Somebody ripped the joint off, and this person suspected Willis and his roommates.
All of my preconceived notions are being blown out of the water. The next thing you guys are going to tell me is that Nick Cage isn’t a stable person.
Cage’s career is frustrating.
I counted myself among his fans 15 years ago, but his descent into lousy action films is depressing.
His comedic and character work at his peak was always entertaining. Raising Arizona is one of my favorite comedies and I am among those who consider him the best part of Peggy Sue Got Married. Con Air, however, is one of the most hateful and stupid things ever put on film. That is not a compliment. With all the talent attached (Cage, Malkovich, Cusack, Buscemi, etc) we could have had a great movie with a better script and completely different concept. It would be a good use of a time machine.
You make me glad I skipped Con Air. It did some like a horrible waste of an extremely talented cast.
I personally like Cage;although the very thought of him playing the
.It is indeed great that the Iron Man is played by the man worthy of that role-Robert Downey Jr….
Iron Man brought chills down my spine
It’s hard for me to imagine anyone but Downey playing Iron Man at this point. But I’m sure Cage would have rocked it pretty hard too.
How tired were your fingers after typing up this manifesto? Cage’s filmography is longer than any other three actors combined. To me he’s like potato chips…not exactly fine dining but you just keep on eating them anyway. I’ll pretty much give anything he’s in a chance just because he’s such a goofball and fun to watch. Kind of like Brad Pitt in his early years before he became Branjelina (Twelve Monkeys anyone?). I have even liked several of Cage’s flops: Lord of War, Knowing, Bad Lieutenant, hell even Season of the Witch wasn’t that terrible. And for the record Bringing out the Dead and Raising AZ are two favorites on my cult classics hit list. The Big Lebowski is also on that list by the way.
Yeah I’m a Cage fan but there are a few even I can’t stand. Ghost Rider 2 was just plain “filmed in eastern Europe” trash. Wicker Man I never had the stomach to see. And I actually wasn’t that impressed w/ the National Treasure franchise either. One was ok but the others sucked. As long as he owes money to ‘The Man’ I don’t think we’re done seeing Nick Cage. I’m ok with that.
Man, you have no idea. I’m taking up money to get Cage to take a year off so I don’t have to update this article every three months.
Even Cage’s bad movies are usually pretty watchable just to see what Cage will do next. I havew watched Drive Angry a couple of times and I’ll watch it again. It’s not good, but it’s a lot of fun to watch. I haven’t subjected myself to The Wicker Man, but I watch that best-of clip all the time.
I did check out of Ghost Rider 2 about half way through. I didn’t hate it, but I had better things to do. I don’t really have any interest in the National Treasure movies. But I’m sort of surprised NT3 hasn’t happened yet. The first two were monster hits.
For my money, he was the best part of Kick Ass. He even salvaged some of Trespass. But don’t subject yourself to that one.
Great write up, as usual. The Ratner line had me howling.
One minor correction, though: WILD AT HEART was actually booed when it won at Cannes. I remember that very well.
I don’t know if it’s correct to say LEAVING LAS VEGAS changed Cage’s career, either. It was, in fact, virtually the END of his career as a thespian worthy of anyone’s time. He never used the momentum from it to go for a higher class of film; he, instead, became a star of up-budget schlock, just as you wrote.
I guess I should offer up a few words in defense of both Aquaman and, especially, Ghost Rider. Both have had very good runs at various times, and could easily be turned into excellent films. Mark Steven Johnson and Hollywood are what murdered GHOST RIDER on film.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
I think you’re confusing Wild at Heart with Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Cannes loved Wild at Heart. It even won the Palme d’Or. They booed Twin Peaks. Loudly. They seemed to take it as some kind of personal betrayal after having lauded Lynch for Wild at Heart two years earlier. Frankly, Cannes got it wrong both times. They greatly over-praised WaH and were unfair to TP:FWWM.
You are right about LLV. When I wrote that it changed his career, I was thinking of it from the point of view that he was now an Oscar winner. I suppose the movie that really changed his career was The Rock. Winning an Oscar gives an actor a lot of leeway to reinvent themselves. Cage chose to use that clout to become an action star.
I have to admit my digs at Aquaman and Ghost Rider were half-hearted. As a former comic book reader, I like both characters. Especially Aquaman. I used to do a whole stand-up routine on Aquaman from the Super Friends (not the most original material, I know). All the while I was making fun of him, I was a fan of the character. There are no bad characters, just bad creators. Mark Steven Johnson is definitely to blame for Ghost Rider and all of his other movies.
I would love to see a respectful Aquaman movie. Probably never happen though.
No, WILD AT HEART was, indeed, booed at Cannes. As I said, I remember that very well. A quick Google search doesn’t turn up much, but it is mentioned on the Wikipedia entry for the film (yeah, yeah, I know):
“When Jury President Bernardo Bertolucci announced Wild at Heart as the Palme d’Or winner at the awards ceremony, the boos almost drowned out the cheers with film critic Roger Ebert leading the vocal detractors.”
Ebert made some rather profoundly stupid remarks, accusing Lynch–David Lynch–of being unwilling to go non-commercial! The Cannes crowd was out to lunch both times–this and the TWIN PEAKS flick were both great. Lynch’s pictures usually are.
With Cage, THE [C]ROCK is definitely a better candidate for career-changer. That’s really the point at which he chose to flush a promising career.
Something I forgot to mention before was that I was astonished to learn (reading your article) that MATCHSTICK MEN was critically well-received. I have standing gripe about what I see as the exceptionally poor state of contemporary film criticism, but MATCHSTICK MEN was unwatchable.
Are you sure they weren’t just booing Bernardo Bertolucci?
I had not heard about the booing when the WaH won the award. But I understand it. I like Wild at Heart, but it has its flaws. I can certainly imagine people being unhappy with the victory. That probably contributed to the backlash two years later. Thanks for clarifying!
I like Ebert, but his biases show. He was down on Lynch for a long, long time. And then praised him for Mulholland Drive. I have never understood how critics panned Lost Highway and then praised Mulholland Drive. They have more in common than not. I suspect Ebert (who has a fondness for Russ Myer) may have been swayed by the lesbian scene.
I was mystified by The Rock. It got much better reviews than I thought it deserved and was a bigger hit than I expected it to be. I guess it was marginally better than other films in its class. But it wasn’t my cup of tea. I’m glad so many other people enjoyed it.
I barely recall Matchstick Men. I remember it getting good enough reviews that I wanted to see it. And I am pretty sure I enjoyed it well enough. But I also remember being vaguely disappointed that it didn’t live up to the reviews. I really need to watch it again to get a fresh pov.
Nicolas Cage is one of my favorite actors, probably because off the top of my head, I’ve seen nearly every movie he has been in. From last year’s “Seeking Justice” (which was actually a decent flick for a boring night) to his older films like “Honeymoon in Vegas” and “Red Rock West”.
I know he gets a bad rap in recent years for his direct to videos binge, but I should note that as a devoted Nic Cage fan, I’ve seen “Seeking Justice”, “Trespass” and plan on seeing “Stolen”. Also, “Knowing” in 2009 was one of the highest grossing films of the year. Two years prior, he had massive box office hits with “National Treasure 2″ and “Ghost Rider”.
I think he just makes alot of films.
He sure does!
I know he owes a lot of money, but he should probably be more selective. It might be helpful in the long run to make fewer movies and preserve some of his credibility with audiences. Or win it back as the case may be.
But then, I don’t think Cage gives a crap.
I also tend to remember when I was about 13 years old back around 2000, Nicolas Cage was the shit.
He had Con-Air and Face/Off making loads and loads of money and keeping moviegoers coming in 1997 and renting in 1998, then he had my mother and sisters crying in City of Angels (1998) along with his silhouette on the cover of the Goo Goo Dolls single, “Iris” which was one of the longest running top hits ever and in October 2012, “Iris” was ranked #1 on Billboard’s “Top 100 Pop Songs 1992-2012″ chart.
Cage on the music: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/GGD_Iris.jpg
I also remember the holiday season of 2000 being filled not only with Al Gore and recounts but with “The Family Man” as well. Around the same time too, “Snake Eyes” and “8mm” were making the rounds in rentals.
“Community” backed out of doing an episode devoted to Nicolas Cage:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/community-considered-but-ultimately-backed-out-of,92410/
As Dan Harmon explained at Communicon, Jeff Winger would’ve pretended there was a class called “Nicolas Cage Appreciation.”
A bit OT but I think everyone will get a kick out of how stupid Lisa Marie looks in this picture: http://cdni.condenast.co.uk/592×888/k_n/ncage_gl_20jan12_pa_b.jpg
They were quite a pair, weren’t they?
Yeah, they seemed like a good match too. LMP said one pirate shouldn’t marry another, whatever the hell that means.
It means they are both crazy.
That or Johnny Depp shouldn’t marry Kiera Knightley.
face off was great, con air, gone in 60 seconds, the rock, national treasure 1 and 2 , honeymoon in vegas, moonstruck, sorcerer’s apprentice and raising arizona were good movies from nicolas cage. i would love to see a reunion of nicolas cage and john travolta in expendables 3 if john woo directs.
The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1270411036/the-death-of-superman-lives-what-happened
A documentary about the proposed 1998 “Superman Lives” feature film that would have been the most original and strangest Superman ever.
THE STORY
The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? is a Feature Length Documentary about the unmade movie “Superman Lives”. This film, out of all the various attempts to make a Superman movie between 1987 and 2006, would have stood the test of time and become a bonafide Cult Classic nowadays. I am not alone with my intense interest in knowing everything I can about this project, and so now I’m embarking on making a Documentary that will cover everything ever made for this film, from interviewing as many people as I can who were involved, to including actually recreating scenes from the script!!!
I’ve been interested in this film since it was first announced back in the late 90’s. Nicolas Cage was announced as Superman, Kevin Smith was announced as the Writer, Tim Burton was announced as the Director, and fans have had very heavy opinions, both positive and negative, on all of this. As news slowly bubbled out, news buzzed around about Rainbow Robot Outfits, Brainiac Skull ships, Superman not “flying”, Fighting a Giant Spider, Polar Bears guarding the Fortress of Solitude. It all sounded so crazy, so weird, so different, that I honestly was hoping that they would actually make it, just so we would have something different from what had come before. It never happened. Cut to almost 15 years later, and I really wish I could slap that “Superman Lives” disc into my player, and watch this guaranteed weird, strange, and original new take on the mythology of the Superman character. By this time, whether it was a success or failure at the box office, It would have for sure been a cult classic, due mainly to its inspired casting, and its tremendous bravery in it’s attempt to merge toy sales with the weirdness.
THE CREW
I have been working professionally in the world of media for over 15 years now, writing, producing and directing shows that many of you have heard about. Some have even achieved cult status themselves ( Upright Citizens Brigade, Metalocalypse, The Venture Bros ). This will be my first feature length documentary, but over the years I’ve had plenty of experience in doing interviews, talking on camera and specifically editing interviews. I was a featured guest in Morgan Spurlock’s “ComicConIV: A Fans Hope”, I’ve edited over a dozen episodes of “Space Ghost Coast to Coast”, and I’ve directed hundreds of Actors both in front of the camera and in “behind the scenes” docs, so I’m very prepared to make this documentary soar, both visually and with the talent involved!
I’m going to be interviewing as many Key Personnel that I can get in contact with, and I plan on getting everybody! In addition to delving into the making of “Superman Lives”, I’ll be focusing on the ideas, legends, and ever expanding mythos of Superman and the need for a superhuman character in our society and culture in general. By interviewing other Writers, Artists, Filmmakers, and Fans, I intend on asking more questions than could possibly be answered, but we are going to have lots of fun along the way!
Including myself, my Producer, my Cameramen and my Editor, we will be setting up interviews with all the key personnel, and will be travelling about to get the people when we can. I’ll have a music composer and sound designer, with additional ADR and Sound Booth Recording, and all finished HiDef with a 5.1 professional mix.
THE STRETCH GOAL
I hope that with the possible success of raising the money to make this feature documentary, that we also reach our additionally intended “Stretch Goal” of $50k, which will be used to actually produce and create several key scenes and moments from the “Superman Lives” scripts, using the incredible graphic ideas generated by the many designers and artists. I will also hire artists to make 3D models, build Practical Models, design Backgrounds, animate Lasers (very important!), make Brainiac’s eyes glow inside a giant floating SkullShip, and to composite very cool action flying shots. I’m going to direct these scenes in the spirit of the unmade Burton Version, and hope to be able to create some crazy “Superman Lives” Scenarios! For these reasons, that’s the budget needed to make this project, and that’s where you come in!
THE PREMIERE
With your help, I will have a finished cut of “The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?” by the end of this summer, with a World Premiere Screening at one of the larger Comic Conventions, and then ready to screen it to the entire world after that! Once we get funded, I’ll be posting monthly updates on the progress I’m making, who we interviewed that month, and keeping you in the loop with Exclusive Kickstarter Video Updates!
Thank you for your support!
-Jon Schnepp
In this “Cinefiles” episode, there’s a review of “Drive Angry”. The hosts (who note that Nicolas Cage has unfortunately appeared in a lot of “crap” as of late) even say that this is the type of movie that “Ghost Rider” should’ve been:
Oh, how i love these columns. It just so happens that I was on a recent journey that included 2 hours by bus. While that may not ever be repeated… in the early dark hours of the morning…the driver announced he would be showing a movie.. “Next”…. ‘Starring Nicolas Cage.” Instantly my tiredness vanished. Instantly resolved to reread this entry to see the Lebeau angle on this movie. Never saw it myself and I was quite surprised at how good it was. Really, never thought i would like it. Julianna Moore as a badass FBI agent? Jessica Biel as the love interest? But I was spellbound. The movie has some logical inconsistencies or maybe I had trouble following it on little sleep. All in all, though, fairly well done. As with most suspense films, not watchable over and over, but I do plan a second viewing. And, there are moments when Cage is definitely swoon worthy once again. I do see why it wasn’t big box office, it’s more shallow yet more enjoyable than the likes of Con Air. Perhaps another reason it didn’t do better, is that it is one of those movies where you feel like the writers ran out of ideas at the end and wrapped it up in a way that could only be truly satisfying to the writer, while immersed in the project, on a deadline. Pity, cause it had an excellent premise and performers. Cage fans will like it but be irritated it wasn’t better.
I haven’t actually seen Next yet. But I know the film has its fans. I definitely plan to check it out eventually.
12 Great Actors Who Seem Like They Might Be Terrible People:
http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/great-actors-terrible-people/11/
10) Nicolas Cage
Do you even remember a time when Nicolas Cage was, like, a respected actor? I have to say, it seems like part of a distant memory, but his filmography begs to differ. As recently as 2009 he was receiving awards for Bad Lieutenant, and he has earned two Academy Award nominations for Adaptation and Leaving Las Vegas, respectively, receiving the win for the latter film. He’s now known for dumb films like Ghost Rider but even in most of the horrible projects he signs on for, he brings a fascinating element to his roles. His acting in Kick-Ass was completely nuts, and I have no idea what he was going for exactly, but did it work ultimately? I think it kind of did. But I’m also weird.
It’s too bad he’s in so much debt that he basically has to take the stupidest movie parts to pay off enormous tax liens and odd purchases like dinosaur skulls. The price of fame has been costly to Cage, but it seems like that’s the case because he’s impulsive and maybe a bit of a hoarder and probably has a lot of other weird psychological stuff going on that I don’t care to know about. He can star in the worst movies to pay for his 9 Rolls Royces all he wants—the work he did in The Wicker Man is, to me, priceless.
Clint Eastwood should be on that list, although he isn’t a great actor so maybe that’s why he was excluded.
I’m surprised that Debra Winger isn’t on that “great actors who seem like terrible people” list.
Oh wait, he actually IS on that list, but the little summary is bullshit. No mention of his decades-long web of lies that he got away with completely scandal-free, and incidents like ramming into a woman’s car for parking in his favorite spot that the media gave virtually zero coverage to because he’s such a powerful guy with too many fans.
Love your posts, as usual! I often think “what happened to such-and-such actor/actress” and then I see you do a write-up on him/her. The “not the bees” line is classic for all the wrong reasons, lol.
Thanks for commenting. Love the clip! No one does this stuff like Cage.
What Went Wrong?: Vol. 7:
http://znculturecast.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/what-went-wrong-vol-7/
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance always had an uphill battle. Directed by the pair Neveldine/Taylor (Crank, Crank 2, Gamer), the movie was going to be radically different from the already not well-liked original. Neveldine/Taylor are known for essentially doing their best to turn away a mainstream audience (though I appreciate their work). Additionally, the over saturation of and continued performance art piece that is Nicolas Cage’s life in the past half-decade or so has turned movie-goers off almost completely. Cage hasn’t starred in a hit film since 2009’s Knowing, and that movie doesn’t exactly have the best of reputations to begin with. It didn’t help that Marvel promoted Spirit of Vengeance through their generic Marvel Knights line (this being the only movie under that production label other than the underrated Punisher: War Zone). Seemingly, the studios involved had little faith that a Ghost Rider sequel would do well. Audiences agreed, and the film grossed less than half of what is predecessor made domestically (though it did somewhat better overseas). It is too bad, as well, because Spirit of Vengeance, after a so-so beginning, actually turned out to be a lot of fun.
The Worst of Comic Book Movie Casting:
http://www.comicbooktherapy.com/the-worst-of-comic-book-movie-casting-78076
1- Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider: What would a list of mis-cast characters be without Nic Cage? I’ve never held back the fact that I despise Mr. Cage. In fact, I think he’s quite possible the most over-rated actor in the business. Sony, in all their genius, decided to cast a middle-aged man with a bad hair piece as a younger, less lame stunt biker. Ghost Rider requires an actor that is not a cheese ball, as he is a dark and vengeful hero and Cage just isn’t capable of checking his ego and scenery chewing at the door, so both Ghost Rider films, despite the bad writing, were extremely bad and just down right sad. He pees fire and spit bullets, however, so that’s cool. Or is it?
John Cusack: If You Can’t “Say Anything” Nice…:
http://frettsonfilm.com/2013/03/11/john-cusack-if-you-cant-say-anything-nice/
When did John Cusack turn into Nicolas Cage? Both started out in smart teen comedies (for Cage, it was Valley Girl and Fast Times at Ridgemont High; for Cusack, Say Anything… and The Sure Thing), became the acclaimed stars of Oscar-caliber movies (Cage’s Moonstruck and Leaving Las Vegas and Cusack’s The Grifters and Bullets Over Broadway), then started making big, dumb action flicks like The Rock (Cage) and Con Air (both) and eventually devalued themselves to the point where they’re stuck doing direct-to-VOD schlock like Cage’s recent Stolen and Cusack’s The Numbers Station, now playing exclusively on DirecTV.
10 Underrated Actors Who Don’t Deserve The Hate:
http://whatculture.com/film/10-underrated-actors-who-dont-deserve-the-hate.php/7
5. Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage has become one of the internet’s finest jokes. Making acting into his own personal form of primal scream therapy, Cage’s agonising expressions on screen are so meme-worthy, it exemplifies what the format was invented for. Insaning his way through both blockbusters and weirdo arthouse projects, Cage is, for all intents and purposes, a ridiculous actor. He may also be a deep-fried genius. There’s simply no other actor quite like Cage and, outrageous as he often is, he can make even the most atrocious film watchable, merely for possessing the skill of being Nicolas Cage. Would the Wicker Man remake be a cult Bad Film were it not for the sight of Cage rampaging around an island like some escaped lunatic, beating up women and dressing up as a bear like it’s completely acceptable?
To put it in basic terms, the crazier Cage is, the more entertaining he is; if he’s derided, it’s because his acting style is all of his own mad creation (he calls this style ‘Nouveau Shamanic‘. I’m not even making that up). And if you’re not a fan of madman Cage, there have also been a few performances from the man that have seen praise from ‘serious’ film lovers. His Best Actor Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas, for one, is entirely justified; rarely has alcoholism looked so raw, real and downright upsetting. It’s also easy to forget Cage put in some great turns in Adaptation, Matchstick Men and Bad Lieutenant, buried as they have been under a career-load of mania and ludicrous wigs.
10 Formally Respected Actors Who Have Probably Gone Insane:
http://whatculture.com/film/10-formally-respected-actors-who-have-probably-gone-insane.php/4
7. Nicolas Cage
Oh boy, where do I start? For anyone who is too young to remember, Nicolas Cage is an Oscar winner; he was without doubt box office royalty in the 90′s. It’s hard to digest the fact that a guy can go from starring in Leaving Las Vegas, The Rock and Raising Arizona to what he is now.
As Nic Cage’s real life persona has become more erratic, so has his choice of films; following his last big hit with Face/Off, Cage’s filmography is full of failure after embarrassing failure, with an occasional bright spot only to be followed up by further failure.
For example, he went from a good and relatively mooted appearance in Kick Ass to yet more drivel in Season of the Witch and Trespass. The most baffling thing is that the erratic behaviour has bled into his performances; picking bad roles is one thing, but there is simply no excuse for bad acting from a man who has won an Academy Award.
The Exact Moment Nicolas Cage Became a Punchline?:
http://officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=468750
Wasn’t he a respected actor at one point?
Was it the bees thing? Punching women in a bear suit? Naming his kid Kal-El? His hideous hair?
Once They Were Stars, Now They’re All Too Easy Targets:15 Celebrities Whose Careers Have Become Punchlines:
http://styleblazer.com/132100/once-they-were-stars-now-theyre-all-too-easy-targets15-celebrities-whose-careers-have-become-punchlines/15/
Nicolas Cage stood shoulder-to-should among the reigning kings of Hollywood’s box office from the 1990s through the 2000s. The Academy Award winner was a favorite with audiences thanks to his knack for balancing action movies (like The Rock and Con Air) with character-driven dramas (like Leaving Las Vegas or Adaptation). Unfortunately, the Cage’s passion for mega-budgeted, escapist entertainment began outweighing his more intimate projects, causing a lot of flack from his peers in Hollywood (like friend Sean Penn, who in 1999 lamented Cage was “no longer an actor”). Cage didn’t seem to mind—audiences flocked to his action flicks in droves regardless of criticism. Then, in the early aughts, audiences stopped showing interest. The actor experienced a slew of big budget bombs like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Knowing, Drive Angry, etc. In pursuit of his mainstream ambitions, Cage’s populist taste and penchant for over-the-top “mega acting” diluted his own brand. The actor has unfortunately become a punchline among his peers due to these projects, a sentiment that has gotten a lot of help due to Cage’s continued financial problems. The actor will soon be collaborating with David Gordon Green on Joe, an intimate drama that will hopefully restore his lost credibility.
10 Actors Who Just Aren’t Trying Hard Enough:
http://whatculture.com/film/10-actors-who-just-arent-trying-hard-enough.php/4
3.Nicholas Cage
Career High: Adaptation
Career Low: Ghost Rider
It probably doesn’t help Cage that arguably his most loved role was in what is generally accepted to be a bad movie – Con Air. Since then Cage has apparently reveled in that reputation for making trashy movies (which is the only way to explain his association with TWO Ghost Rider movies), brushing his potential under the carpet to release instantly forgettable films like Justice.
His high points may be few and far between, but Cage is capable of playing genuinely likable leading men – as he did in The Weather Man – or understated romantic leads – as he did in City of Angels – and he even has it in him to steal the show with extremely impressive performances – like in Adaptation, Kick Ass and some of his early work, including Leaving Las Vegas. But as long as he’s continuing the trend of 2011 – in which he made five bad films – he plainly isn’t trying his hardest to recapture his best form.
It will be a massive shame if his performance in Kick-Ass was nothing but a temporary deviation from type.
15 Hollywood Comebacks That Didn’t Take (Maybe These Celebrities Find A Side Gig):
http://styleblazer.com/107025/15-hollywood-comebacks-that-didnt-take-maybe-these-celebrities-find-a-side-gig/9/
The Academy Award winning actor was once one of the biggest stars in the world. Though he still headlines several theatrical films per year, Cage’s box office returns seems to be diminishing with time. The actor seemed like he was going to break the cycle briefly, offering up freshly manic onscreen performances in Bad Lieutenant: Port Call of New Orleans in 2009 and Kick-A$$ in 2010. Unfortunately, bombs like Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Drive Angry 3D, Trespass, Stolen, and Seeking Justice seem to have confirmed the actor’s career is on its last leg.
My recent Amazon order included The Weatherman. I started watching it last night, got mad and turned it off, then watched the rest today. This movie had so much potential but for some reason it feels screwed up. It is most emphatically not the fault of Nic Cage or Michael Caine, or any of the cast!! I was tempted to lay the blame on the director but I replayed some scenes and decided that whoever he is (never heard of him) he was trying hard to make something of this material. Sometimes, he tried too hard. Dude, we get it, we have become a fast food nation and Cage has a fast food, sound bite job. Other times he nailed it, such as when using weather to support the storylines in a movie about a TV weatherman. Again, can’t fault the actors. The project must have seemed exciting to them because there was a very captivating premise what with the social commentary and the exploration of parent child relationships. The cinematography was excellent. Critics were kind to this vehicle. Then… what? then it hit me. The screenplay absolutely sucked. I mean this with complete sincerity. It is possible that my 10 year old would have done better. It is for SURE that I could have written a better screenplay. Is Hollywood this hard up for decent writers? If so, then my services are available. Is the writer someone’s nephew? Or is there a team of writers, all of whom should have been sent back to their desks until they got it right? It was only mildly galling to have a gratuitous sex scene and lot of gratuitious, needless F bombs/profanity peppered throughout the script. At times I thought the cast was visibly ashamed of having to try and work magic out of such inane dialogue, but I could have been projecting. It was completely and totally galling, to throw away such promise on a poor screenplay. It was as if the writer, not knowing how to convey anything, resorted to 17 F bombs so the audience could appreciate the character’s emotions. A good writer never needs to hit people over the head with the message; people figure it out on their own and that’s what makes movies powerful. This movie, 1) Could have done so much more for Nic Cage’s career than it did, 2) Had NO, absolutely NO reason to be NC17 and would have been a better movie without what they did to get it, 3) suffered from a weak screenplay, and 4) could have used better editing as well. I truly don’t get this. Don’t Cage and Caine, as the stars, have enough… well… star power to throw the script at someone and say they want some rewrites before they will agree to continue?? This movie cries out for a sequel to set things right. I have ideas for the script.
Having not seen the movie, I can’t contribute too much here. I love your passion though.
Caine and Cage, while great actors, both have reputations for doing pretty much anything as long as the check clears. Even if they could throw some weight around to improve the script, it’s not what they are known for.
10 Misguided Career Moves Made By Talented Actors:
http://whatculture.com/film/10-misguided-career-moves-made-by-talented-actors.php/2
9. Nicolas Cage Fighting Off Bankruptcy
At least Nicolas Cage has something of a logical reason as to why he’s starring in crapfest after crapfest, with an intermittently good film ever couple of years. Nicolas Cage ended up being ripped off by his accountant a few years ago, leaving him with a huge tax bill that has seen him selling off his exorbitant assets in order to stump up the cash. That, and he’s decided to (mostly) stop starring in good films and just take the payday.
In the last five years alone, he’s starred in the duds Stolen, Ghost Rider 2, Trespass, Justice, Drive Angry, Season of the Witch, G-Force, Knowing and Bangkok Dangerous. Though Cage is still a likable actor and I’ll continue to watch anything he makes, it’s depressing that such a talented actor has to resort to such means just to get by.
OK, here it is. “The Weatherman in New York.” This movie will be powerful and will be rated PG13 with only minimal profanity, minimal NY violence and no sex scenes. Nic Cage, grieving the loss of his father, channels his sadness into his work and while still upbeat on the surface, brings a new dimension to his material at work, as he studies for a degree in meteorology, online in the evenings. His coworkers respect him and he respects himself more. New York life takes place all around him, but he is only tangentially aware, be it parties, poverty, or violence. Meanwhile, his ex wife continues to have issues with the kids, that are multiplied by the relationship with her new husband, who turns out to be a narcissistic jerk. Cage is apprised of these details as he continues to fly out to Chicago on weekends and they fill him in. Eventually, they ask to visit him in NY during their spring break and they get to go to work with him one day. Also, in the evening, they observe him studying and as a result, without being told anything, both kids take an interest in their schoolwork. When they are set to return home to Chicago, a freak snowstorm closes O’Hare and they are stuck in NY for another 5 days as all the flights are cancelled for a couple days and then full after that. The mom is beside herself with worry. The kids continue to study their textbooks while in NY and finally get a flight home. Once back in Chicago, she notices a subtle change, and during their absence, she has also been re-examining herself in roles as mom and wife and has also changed. While both she and Cage gave up on any thoughts of reconciliation, they reach a new plateau that works. Movie ends with Cage visiting his father’s grave and saying something moving about how right he was.
Copyright 2013 by RB, all royalties may be arranged through my agent, LeBeau. RB also makes casting decisions and Daffy
Stardust plays Cage’s best friend at his new job.
Can Daffy Stardust be a zombie? He makes an excellent zombie. Or would that be typecasting.
I see bright things in your future. Stick with me, kiddo. You’ll go far. (my attempt at being an agent – how’d I do?)
haha, yep, that was good, and nicer than, “lebeau does not accept unsolicited submissions”
There is very little lebeau does not accept. It’s anything goes round here. More often than not, the comments section is more fun than the article that started the conversation.
Time to Put the Bunny Back in the Box, Nic:
http://www.pajiba.com/career_assessments/nicolas-cage-career-assessment.php
Subject: Nicolas Cage (born Nicolas Kim Coppola), 46-year-old American actor
Date of Assessment: April 16, 2010
Positive Buzzwords: Indefatigable, resolute, gumshoe (as in “gum on my shoe”)
Negative Buzzwords: Clueless, intense, flashlight
The Case: The following may sound like a rather cruel statement, but I can’t think of a single friend or acquaintance (nor even an enemy) of mine who has admitted to being a Nic Cage fan since last century. Perhaps there’s a secret society — just as obtuse as Nic himself — out there that prays for his exceedingly rare display of lucidity in movies like Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation. Admittedly, I loved the guy in the fairly underrated Raising Arizona, and it tickles me to watch those old 80s flicks — Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Rumble Fish — where Nic just pops up outta nowhere in manner of “Where’s Waldo?” Now, however, the man is a bewilderingly impenetrable mess, and most of us seem to agree that more Nic Cage is not a good thing; yet he still gets plenty of acting work. Somehow, all of his characters’ esoteric banter must hold appeal for audiences, who persist in rewarding many of his movies with amazing ticket sales. It all makes very little sense.
At some point, Nic stopped acting and started earning an absurd number of millions by waving around a flashlight while wearing an intense expression. That’s actressin’ at its finest, according to Nic’s career in (baffling) pictures. And after over sixty films, it’s impossible to discuss all of Nic’s works (nor would anyone even want to do so), but for every Adaptation, Nic’s also participated in nonsense like Face/Off, City of Angels, Ghost Rider, and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. It’s kind of amazing, really, how such a commercially successful actor can manage to wade through so much crap, and it also makes one hope for more missteps like Bangkok Dangerous, which entered cinemas (in Sept. 2008) as a sole new wide release but saw only a $7.7 million opening weekend. Does a major flop even matter any longer? Well, Nicole Kidman has had several bombs in the past five years, and it’s just now beginning to negatively affect her career. Perhaps there is hope, after all.
For a long time, I wondered whether Cage was purposely making bad movies or just didn’t give a shit. Now, there’s little question about what will motivate Nic to continue making really shitty movies. In his personal life, Nic has backed himself into at least four corners of his own financial ruin. The guy has collected so many ancient relics and creepy shrunken heads, and he’s completely obsessed with Superman and Elvis. He was even prepared to embarrass himself as the former in a deal that (fortunately) never materialized, and he portrayed a sailor version of the latter for David Lynch’s Wild at Heart. Hell, he even collected Elvis’ daughter at one point. Nic’s obsessions, with acting among them, are something of a novelty, and he’s given very little thought to the eventual fallout. Well, thanks to a hell of a lot of reckless spending and willful blindness on Cage’s part, the guy can’t really afford to quit working in the next several lifetimes or so. Now, he just needs to keep working purely for the money. To him, the quality of a script — or the question of whether there even is a script — isn’t even a slight consideration of what work he will take. Quite simply, whomever is willing to pay Nic the most (or anything at all) will get him to star in their movies. In other words, it’s only going to get worse.
These days, I’m beginning to think that Nic’s performances in films like Adaptation and Leaving Las Vegas were mere flukes. After all, this guy has a terribly long acting resumé and he’s got many more movies in various stages of development. Yet, Nic’s reliability as an actor has been highly variable, so there’s always the possibility that he’s taking a scattershot approach and truly doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. Perhaps this can all easily be explained through Nic’s erroneous approach to acting:
I went on Dick Cavett many years ago and met Miles Davis. And I was talking about things like art synthesis and Picasso and you can do with acting what he did, or with music, and Miles came out and he got it, you know, he was looking at me, he gave me this, like – he nodded and he winked at me. Miles Davis, you know. And we were sharing the trumpet. And ever since then, because he accepted whatever my philosophy was, I believe that I wanted to approach acting as jazz. And so he became like a surrealist father of sorts, along with Walt Disney. And I thought, “Okay. Well, this time, I’m going to just let anything come out, whatever it may be.”
Apparently, what comes out of Nic lately is the assumption that audiences will love it if he dresses in a bear suit and punches women, but I admit that I’m taking an easy shot there. Thing is, Nic makes it so easy to hate him. And I’m not knocking jazz, which makes for some great music, but as an acting “method,” it’s met with results that are far too erratic. During the same press conference mentioned above, Nic also talked about Jerry Bruckheimer’s “genius ability” to structure his movies like algebraic equations, an observation that Nic must have been gleaned on the set of the inexorable G-Force and he (presumably) applied to the incomprehensible, divine-nature-of-math, “pointless exercise” of Knowing. What other (allegedly) respected actor would ever find profundity in Bruckheimer’s exhausting method of storytelling? That’s Crazy Cage for you.
Ultimately, Nic Cage is an abomination, a monster, among actors. Anyone who can rake in over $50 million last year yet still go bankrupt doesn’t live in the same world as we do. Quite simply, the man possesses no bloody concept of reality. Naturally, Nic chose to sue his financial advisor for leading him “down a path toward financial ruin,” which I suppose negates any sense of personal responsibility for purchasing yachts, a private jet, and a total of fifteen palatial estates around the globe. And, in a few decades, when Nic realizes the negative net totality of his cinematic legacy, he won’t blame himself for an endless series of bad script decisions and a jazz-based acting method. Instead, he’ll blame Hollywood for letting him get away with it for so long and audiences for continuing to buy tickets for all those horrific movies. Or maybe he’ll even blame Miles Davis for winking at him.
Prognosis: Nicolas Cage shows no indication of ever regularly appearing in halfway decent movie. Further, Ghost Rider 2 and National Treasure 3 are in the works. Need I say more?
When Nicolas Cage Jumped the Shark:
How Did Nicolas Cage Blow Through A $150 Million Dollar Fortune:
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/celebrity/how-did-nicolas-cage-blow-through-an-150-million-dollar-fortune/
TC I am not making excuses for the guy. And it does sound like he better sell some of his real estate eh? As ridiculous as i know this is… I still feel sorry for people who have kept us entertained with movies and music, and who make tons of money for people around them… who wind up with nothing.
10 Great Acting Careers Accidentally Ruined By Legendary Directors:
http://whatculture.com/film/10-great-acting-careers-accidentally-ruined-by-legendary-directors.php/6
5. Nicolas Cage – Face/Off
The culprit? John Woo. Now what kind of a list would this be without Nicolas Cage? Don’t get me wrong, Face/Off is one of my favorite movies. Cage is great in it, Woo does a great job directing it. But it seems to me that ever since then Cage has just gotten crazier, and crazier….and crazier… and crazier…but we all love him anyway. Nicolas Cage is awesome, no matter if he’s making the most craptastic movies of all time or not.
You keep on truckin’, Ghost Rider! I personally believe that Cage just loves to work and act, and so as long as a part or a script or a director intrigues him, he’ll do it. And I can actually see it in a lot of the films he’s done. Unfortunately a lot of the time what he thinks might be fun to do might not gel with what moviegoers think will be fun to watch. I personally don’t care, as Nic Cage owns everything he touches, whether good or bad, he is unabashed and hard-working, and I applaud him. For me, it’s like looking in a mirror, only…. not.
Wow, TMC. That one is nonesense. I don’t even know where to begin.