![]() “That was a watershed of different styles coming into a big adventure film, which I think worked on multiple levels,” he says. “I had baby teeth that had to come out, so I figured I could utilize that.”įor movies that shaped his eclectic career, he’s quick to name the 1997 action film Face/Off. “It sounds a lot wackier than it was,” he says. When contemplating a role, he asks himself, “Do I have the emotional content? Do I have the life experience? Do I have the memories? Do I have the imagination?” He takes his characters seriously and his preparations are sometimes extreme, like when he had two of his own teeth removed-without anesthesia-to play a Vietnam vet in Birdy. And he won an Oscar for his portrayal of a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Los Vegas (1995). #Nicolas cage photosheet movie#He was 18 when he made his movie debut in 1982 with a minor role in the coming-of-age classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and since then he’s amassed a formidable body of work in movies, both mainstream and offbeat: He’s played a Wall Street executive ( The Family Man), an opera-loving bread maker ( Moonstruck), an avenging angel ( Ghost Rider), an eccentric historian ( National Treasure), a scientist who becomes aware that the world is ending ( Knowing) and a troubled truffle hunter ( Pig). Before long, he changed his last name to avoid the appearance of nepotism with his famous uncle, drawing some of the inspiration for his new name from the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage. And at 15, he discovered James Dean, crediting the work of the rebellious young actor with inspiring him to pursue a film career. He also devoured the Western flicks of Charles Bronson and the adventures of Bruce Lee. I thought the people inside were so much more interesting than the people in my living room.” His father often took him to art-house cinemas, where he became captivated by the classic films of Orson Welles, including Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. “As a toddler, I would want to fall into the TV. “My mother could be a real loon sometimes.” He learned early to love escapism. In spite of what might look like a wonderful “Hollywood life,” “my childhood was not perfect,” Cage says. Related: See the Cast of The Godfather Then and Now Among his cousins are actor Jason Schwartzman, Shire’s son, and Coppola’s filmmaker daughter, Sofia. His extended family includes Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire (Cage’s uncle and aunt), and his paternal grandfather, film composer Carmine Coppola. Thank you for supporting the Village Voice and our advertisers.Cage-born Nicolas Kim Coppola-grew up in California, in the Los Angeles household of mom Joy, a choreographer and dancer, and his literature-professor father, August. ![]() This list is hardly airtight in its exclusivity, so a few honorable mentions ought to go out to a pair of Cage’s deliriously uneven auteur collaborations (David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes), 1983’s Valley Girl, 1987’s Moonstruck, and Alex Proyas’s Knowing (a favorite of the late Roger Ebert).Īdvertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. In that spirit, we’ve put together a rundown of some of the actor’s finest performances, all of which serve as proof that, though his over-the-top inclinations may make for a side-splitting YouTube compilation, Cage has amassed a career that few contemporary actors can equal. (His character names in these projects - Will Gerard, Kyle Miller, Will Montgomery, and Jack Halcombe - are as interchangeable as the titles of the films.) Aside from citing the obvious appeal of doing work for money (a defense Cage himself brought up in a recent interview with The Guardian), it’s also possible to back Cage by acknowledging the consistency with which he’s taken on “serious” roles over the years.ĭavid Gordon Green’s Joe, which hits limited release this weekend ( more details on that here), marks the latest instance of this trend, with Cage giving a reportedly subdued performance as an ex-con named Joe Ransom. As video-on-demand continues to become the preferred route of distribution for a certain kind of independent film, much is being made of Nicolas Cage’s willingness to slum for a paycheck, with recent examples including already-forgotten, small-screen-friendly items like Seeking Justice, Trespass, Stolen, and The Frozen Ground. ![]()
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