For Nicolas Cage, the movie biz isn’t a career: “I just see it as work”
"It’s just like trying to catch lightning in a bottle," Cage says of making a film that's actually good
Aux News Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage may come from the most significant showbiz family in the United States (insert obligatory “Cage is a Coppola” reminder here), but in his view, he doesn’t consider showbiz a career, just “work.” In fairness, this is not a general distinction but a personal one, an idea that seems to have protected him from the rollercoaster of the entertainment industry—with which he’s all too familiar.
“You know, I don’t really see it as a career—I even made a note of that in [The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent]. I just see it as work. I never had a career, I only have work and that’s the way I look at it. Everyone’s going to have ups and downs. So I just prefer to look at it as work, and sometimes we’re lucky enough to have a few jobs coalesce in such a way that people can see some creative spark occurring,” he explains in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “But it’s very hard for a movie to come together. It’s just like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. It doesn’t happen often.”
“Both Pig and Mandy were like capturing lightning in a bottle and so was Leaving Las Vegas. But those movies only come once every 20 years,” he continues. “Who knows? I thought Massive Talent was terrific. And you probably know how trepidatious I was about entering that experience, because who wants to play themselves in a movie? It was a high-wire act of the first order, and it terrified me.”
Long story short: sure, Cage is on a hot streak now, but he’s been here before, between years of less-than-stellar output. It’s not an ideology born of being a working-class hero, but a quick perusal of his lengthy resumé shows that the thespian is undeniably a workhorse. After 40 years in the game, Cage says he’s “not afraid to be ugly, and to show the darker side of our nature.” His aim has always been to emulate “film performances that break my heart, that shatter me, that are vulnerable,” he tells the outlet. “So if there’s a movie like Mandy or Pig or Leaving Las Vegas and I can say I’m just starting to get close to that experience I felt in the cinema when I was 14 watching James Dean or Brando, that’s my goal.”
The full interview covers a great many subjects of interest, including Cage’s working relationship with Werner Herzog, his fashion sensibility, and his review of Paddington 2. You can read it for yourself over at The Hollywood Reporter.
13 Comments
I wonder how many Scots he had to kill to make that jacket.
“Cage is on a hot streak now”
Yeah, a hot streak is what happens when three of the 30 movies he made in the last three years have found audiences.
Valley Girl still my fav of his. Great career, err, job he has had.
Cage has a “fashion sensibility?” I can’t think of many male celebs who have a distinctive fashion ‘aesthetic’. There’s Depp and Harry Styles.
Glitter, shades, pink leather jackets; yes, Nick has definitely displayed a fashion aesthetic.
I Googled and saw nothing remarkable, except that he looks ridiculous when he actually tries. Leather pants, ugly t-shirt, leather jacket. Or there’s the southern plantation-owner suit. His personality is too enormous; the clothing can’t keep up without looking silly. He’s competing with himself, lol.
There’s whatever Jeff Goldblum has been doing since he started taking acid
I mean, that sums up a lot of Cage’s appeal: even when he’s doing the for-pay direct-to-video gigs to cover back taxes on his castles, he shows up and does the work. He may not be the best or deepest thespian, but he’s always game, and always leaves it all on the screen.
“I am just working like everyone else. Gotta pay the bills right. I mean I wake up in the morning and put my pants on one leg at a time while I look at the T-Rex skull bed I sleep in. And then I wake up and realize the bill for the albino cobras is due and I call my agent up and say I need a job. One day I am gonna die just like everyone else, and be buried in a black onyx pyramid in New Orleans, just like everyone else. I am just a normal guy like you”Edit: I know that is not what he said and honestly its a very nice frank look at how he thinks of his career, but I never can leave a Nic Cage article without thinking about those albino cobras
“I’m just trying to make the world a better place for my son Kal-El. But I’m worried about climate change so I am still working closely with NASA to find a new world to blast him to if that becomes necessary. Oh I built the rocket years ago…”
Man says unremarkable things.
“You know what I like? Sandwiches.”
Nic cage is is both completely relatable and an absolute fucking enigma. Nic Cage is goals.