Nicolas Cage says CNN clickbaited him with the whole “don’t call me an actor” thing
Nicolas Cage isn't sure why CNN picked up him saying he favored the term thespian over actor for news: "I’m sure they have more important things to report on.”
Aux News CNN
Remember back in the event horizon that was 2021, when Nicolas Cage saying he preferred to be called a “thespian” than an “actor” somehow managed to become a news item amid the general deterioration of society? Well, he does: and according to Cage, the headlines—namely, one Cage recalls from CNN—were an absolute case of clickbait.
“What I was saying was, of course you can call me an actor,” Cage shared during Thursday night’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (per IndieWire). “By the way, I never said, ‘Don’t call me an actor. Call me a thespian.’ That’s what clickbait universe was putting out there and somehow got picked up by CNN. I’m not sure how it got picked up by CNN—I’m sure they have more important things to report on.”
To be fair to CNN, the outlet wasn’t the only one to snap up the bait: The Guardian, New York Post, and U.K. newspaper The Telegraph were among the other publications that ran with the “don’t call me an actor” headline. But Cage’s original comments, from a December 2021 interview with Variety, weren’t quite as cut and dry. “For me it always implies, ‘Oh, he’s a great actor, therefore he’s a great liar,’” Cage said of the term ‘actor’ at the time. “So with the risk of sounding like a pretentious asshole, I like the word ‘thespian’ because thespian means you’re going into your heart, or you’re going into your imagination, or your memories or your dreams, and you’re bringing something back to communicate with the audience.”
Well over a year later, the Renfield star has a more in-depth explanation that doesn’t involve refusal to call himself an actor, but also, unfortunately, doesn’t necessarily conquer the pretentious allegations.
“I see acting as storytelling and what it is is trying to get to the truth of a character and the first actor in Europe was someone called Thespus and what happened there in Greece was that he broke free from the chorus and started narrating and started telling a story truthfully,” Cage shares. “So to me, acting is trying to find the truth of a story.”
He concludes: “Now what’s interesting, literally the word ‘actor’ in Greek means ‘hypocrite’. Well, I don’t want to be thought of as a hypocrite. I’m sorry if that sounds pretentious.” Fair enough!
30 Comments
To be fair, he is Nic fuckiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing AH! WHEW! Cage!
To be fair to CNN, the outlet wasn’t the only one to snap up the bait: The Guardian, New York Post, and U.K. newspaper The Telegraph were among the other publications…Here’s one “other publication:”https://www.avclub.com/nicolas-cage-prefers-thespian-to-actor-thank-you-v-1848289076
I was pretty sure AV Club was omitting their own stupid article about this. But then again, I bet no one who works at AV Club today even knows that the site existed in 2021 when their article came out, so I’m not sure who to blame.
Yeah AV Club was actually the ONLY source I heard this from. Then it was repeatedly mentioned in subsequent article about Cage. You know, the way they go off on needless tangents to justify plugging in previous articles?I hate all of these people.
Fox News pundit: “Democrats stole the election!”Fox News reporter: “Some people are saying Democrats stole the election.”
You’ve got his first name spelled wrong in the headline, correctly in the subhead, and incorrectly in the article. At least try a little bit.
What’s this about Niklaus Cahj?
What is that thing that landed on his head?
I was talking to my partner about that during the interview – I think he’s had the right sort of hair transplant – it’s not just brought back a straight line right at the front of his head, but rather brought in a hairline that looks appropriate for his age.He’s never been shy about wigs or his lack of hair, so who really cares if he’s had a transplant, it looks good.
Well, that’s because he’s a cat, a sexy cat!
I got a Community notification for this?!
Why does anyone listen to Cage expound on subjects? He’s always been completely full of shit. He’s never been poltically active, as far as I know. He doesn’t seem interested in learning anything beyond the kind of role he’s playing. During the interviews I’ve seen he comes across as an irresponsible guy who is fairly removed from ‘reality’.Call yourself whatever you want. You’re a film actor with a schtick.
Politics? I like to hear him expound on acting, because he’s a reasonably intelligent (albeit weird) guy, and a good actor who is one of very few that has a genuinely interesting and unique approach to, and philosophy of, his craft. That’s why. Nearly everyone else just shows up and plays pretend, or uses some version of the method; only Cage does his wackadoo expressionistic thing. And he’s been out of step with Hollywood his whole career— very popular for long stretches, yet almost no discernible influence on anyone, presumably because his approach is so singular to him and his mindset. It’s interesting. It goes beyond schtick and into some sort of personal crusade. On other subjects I guess I am less interested in what he has to say.
Ok?
Why should he be politically active? Or maybe he is, he just doesn’t feel the need to talk about it. Frankly I enjoy a celebrity who doesn’t think that just because they’ve won the prize of fame they have incredible insights to share about the state of the world.
Does he have to be political active though? I mean I hope he engages in the process and votes like every American should but I don’t think any of us need to know his politics. I’d honestly prefer if we didn’t know the politics of celebrities. I was just looking at GRR Martins wiki page and apparently he endorsed Joe Biden and my thought was “Who the fuck cares who this old fart fantasy writer is voting for?” I suspect this country would be far better off if people didn’t let their politic beliefs be driven by the celebrities they like.
“I suspect this country would be far better off if people didn’t let their politic beliefs be driven by the celebrities they like.”How do you feel about celebrities/entertainers/creators who are anti-trans? For example, the ongoing JK Rowling problem? Does that affect how you feel about the Harry Potter franchise? No, she isn’t an actor, but she certainly is heavily actor-adjacent? Do the politics of anti-trans folks affect how you view their work? Everyone is political; I don’t mind knowing what those politics are.
JK can go straight to hell.
What has he said that is “irresponsible”?And why do you need actors to be political?
He’s incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about film, actors and the history of cinema – I could listen to him talk about that for hours.
“So to me, acting is trying to find the truth of a story.”The verb “acting” there kind of implies he’s an “actor”.If, to him, actors are liars, then acting must be lying, so shouldn’t he say “thesping” or something?
I don’t think he’s saying that acting is lying, I think he’s saying that some people seem to equate the two and so he prefers a word that doesn’t have that connotation. Personally, I think people who say that acting is lying are ridiculous. Lying implies trying to convince someone of an untruth. I don’t think Nic Cage was attempting to have anyone believe he’s actually a centuries-old vampire.
I don’t think Nic Cage was attempting to have anyone believe he’s actually a centuries-old vampire.Jury’s still out on that.
https://www.eonline.com/news/264691/so-true-so-false-is-nicolas-cage-really-a-vampire
Does he sound pretentious? Maybe a little. Do I want him to sound any other way? Fuck no. He’s Nic Cage, what do you want him to be, relatable?
I could listen to him talk cinema for hours and not get bored.
This reminds me of the people who comment on Variety articles on facebook or twitter to say “who cares”…there is an entertainment news tab on the front page of every major news organization. They can drop in Nic Cage being weird, Hugh Grant being an asshole, etcetera. And then there is the AV Club where I would say almost nothing fits the site’s mission statement than random comments by Nic Cage…it should be in the site’s constitution…I mean Nic Cage is walking pop culture. I just don’t understand why anyone is surprised or questioning that it’s legitimate entertainment news. Any celebrity doing literally anything could be on TMZ, they have “Elijah Wood Waits In Line At Waffle Restaurant” and “Ian Ziering Visits Tesla Dealership” as breaking news…I am not sure how we haven’t moved past the “who care” part when CNN has a separate CNN entertainment page with 50 articles on it, and a subpage just for celebrity news like Hugh Jackman’s brush with cancer. It wasn’t CNN reporting on Nic Cage’s preferred manner of address that allowed Russia to invade Ukraine, or me reading the AV Club article that will win Trump the primary, if that’s what he’s concerned about.
Well, at least they didn’t spoil the ending of his movie in the fucking headline of the article, eh assholes?
What do you mean, “somehow” became a news item? You and your web site are key actors in making bullshit like this spread around and become news items. If you recognize that these things are vapid and silly, just shut up about them and talk about other things.
That Colbert appearance was so Cage-y. I couldn’t figure out if he was doing a bit, coming off as actually pretentious, or if he was messing with Stephen, who was sitting there like a puppy dog, obviously worshipping The Nic.
ReWatched Pig the other day… It was wonderful, so much better than I remembered. He was insanely fantastic.