Nic Cage: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

[RONIN]

Anyone over the age of 30 probably remembers (vaguely) Nic Cage in his prime before the memes and the descent into self-parody. Those of us who do remember his glory days probably feel a twinge of sadness seeing the man's epic fall from grace. Nowadays he's known to younger generations as the guy who did National Treasure and Ghost Rider - a staple of b-grade low budget schlock on Netflix. His name has become synonymous with bad movies and over the top acting. Cage fandom these days is largely semi-ironic as is evident in the hilarious onetruegod subreddit - a section of Reddit dedicated to the One True God, Nic Cage. But it wasn't always this way.

Nic Cage was once considered a highly respected and dynamic actor with an unpredictable/exciting edge to him. Cage in the 90's was a force of nature similar to how Mickey Rourke was seen in the 80's. He was the Tom Hardy/Ryan Gosling of his day with far more starpower and verve. His pre-movie star period (1980's-1994) is classic and full of quirky turns as a character actor who was fearless. Moonstruck, Wild at Heart, Raising Arizona, Red Rock West, & Vampires Kiss were some of the many standouts from this period. He was a cult hero during this time - a favorite with indie film fans.

But his run from the mid-90's to 2000 brought him superstardom. '95-97 in particular was legendary.

I can't emphasize enough what a big star Cage was during the mid to late 90s/early 00's. It's hard to believe now but he was once right up there with Tom Cruise and Will Smith. Unlike those guys though, Cage also had the indie cred of 90's Sean Penn, John Cusack and Johnny Depp. He was the guy out of that group who hit it big first in the 90s. It's that distinction I'd argue which set him apart from everyone else at the time. Cage had major box office appeal and real credibility as a serious actor. And all of this was kicked off by a little indie film named "Leaving Las Vegas" in 1995 which wins Nic Cage a best actor oscar and puts him on the map after over a decade as a journeyman actor in the film industry. Everyone was paying attention to him now. But what he would do next would change his career entirely and bring massive worldwide fame.

Three movies between 1996-1997, affectionately known by fans as "The Beige Volvo Trilogy", encapsulate the absolute peak of Cage's stardom and pop culture relevance. The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off. In the span of a single year, Nicolas Cage released three classic genre defining films of the 90's that elevated him to God-tier status with male teens of that era who could no longer relate to relics like Stallone/Schwarzenegger/Willis. A large part of the closet Cage fanbase that still linger on today come from this era. For many of us, no matter how low Cage continues to fall - we still love the guy. He's still Nic Cage from The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off. He has a lifetime pass because of these three seminal films. What made all of this even more fascinating and awesomely bizarre is that these films directly followed his heartwrenching turn as an alcoholic in the oscar winning "Leaving Las Vegas". He became the decade's unlikeliest action star along with Keanu Reeves. 

A quick recap of the epic 5 year run of Nic Cage from '1996-2000 when he became a movie star:

1996 - The ROCK

The Rock is the first film in the "Beige Volvo Trilogy". Coming off tremendous critical accolades following his Oscar win in early '96, this breakout hit from the summer of '96 turned Cage into a bonafide action hero and an international movie star. Many would consider this movie as arguably the best action movie of the 90's and one of the best action films of all time. Cage and Connery are one of the all-time great duos in action movies. The movie is even reasonably well received critically - the only Michael Bay film to ever get that distinction. This marks the beginning of Cage's "superstar" phase. 

1997 - CON AIR

Another surpise hit and instant action classic. Critics are bewildered by Cage's transformation into an action star (and his accent in this movie). Audiences can't get enough of it though. 1997 was the year of Cage. "Put da bunneh back in da bawxs"

 

The Theatrical Trailer

From the Con/Air soundtrack. This song was one of the biggest hits of 1997 

1997 - FACE/OFF

The peak of Cage.

This is the exhilarating finale of the legendary "Beige Volvo Trilogy". Cage and Travolta are to this day an iconic duo in action films. The movie is a smash hit and a resounding critical success (92% from top critics on Rotten Tomatoes). By this point, Cage is the hottest actor and action star in the film industry. His three classic action movies within the span of a year have turned him into a major global box office draw. Only one other star has pulled off a similar box office feat in the span of a year: Jim Carrey w/ his back to back trio of classics Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb & Dumber. $20 million per movie offers begin to pour in putting him in the 90's elite tier of Harrison Ford, Arnold, Jim Carrey, and Tom Cruise.

 

 

 

CITY OF ANGELS (1998)

Another surprise hit establishing Cage as a leading man outside of action movies with a strong female fanbase.

Anyone remember this song from the City of Angels soundtrack? Probably the biggest hit song of 1998.

SNAKE EYES (1998)

This movie had a lot going for it. A fun trailer. Brian DePalma was following up Mission Impossible. Gary Sinise was coming off a huge hit w/ Mel Gibson's Ransom. Cage had 3 back to back hit films and was a newly minted oscar winner. Even City of Angels had become a hit earlier that year. He is at the peak of his powers - critically and commercially. Cage decides to try an action thriller to change things up. Unfortunately, the critics eviscerate the movie and Brian DePalma. While Nic doesn't bear the brunt of the criticism, his "superstar" phase officially ends here. The movie was a major disappointment for everyone involved but it still made money because of Cage's box office appeal. Snake Eyes is a guilty pleasure for Cage fans.

8MM (1999)

Bomb. After Superman fell through in early '98 one week before shooting, Cage didn't have an action movie ready for 1999. He opted to make another muddled action thriller after Snake Eyes. At the time, the hype for this movie was that it was from the writer of "Seven". This was Joel Schumacher's next film after the disastrous Batman and Robin. Apparently, the story goes that Schumacher visited the set of Face/Off and offered the role of Scarecrow to Cage in the next Batman movie. They decided to make this movie instead after Batman was shutdown by the studio. I'd classify this as another guilty pleasure.

BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (1999)

Cage's first drama since 1995's Leaving Las Vegas - no doubt inspired by the waves of criticism he was getting from his peers like Sean Penn and critics of the time who were beginning to write him off as a sellout. This was his first collaboration with Scorcese. It tanked arguably because by that time, Cage's audience wanted more action/commercial films. It's one of the most underrated movies of Cage and Scorcese that unfortunately never found an audience.

GONE IN 60 SECONDS (Summer 2000)

End of an era. Cage starts the new decade with the last installment of his Bruckheimer action trilogy (following The Rock and Con Air). This is the first movie where he's paid a whopping 20 million dollars and he makes the cover of Rolling Stone. It's also the last real big budget blockbuster action movie Cage ever makes. While it's a hit and a minor action classic - I remember thinking at the time that it felt like a last hurrah for Cage as a potent box office draw. This movie was the last 90's-esque action movie (along with John Woo's Mission Impossible 2) in a post-Matrix world. And Cage, while still awesome, just seemed less interesting as a star after this movie. This was where his movies stopped being a "must-see" event. "Gone in 60 Seconds" is like Arnold's "Eraser" - the last time either of those stars were relevant again. A lot of momentum had been lost for Cage with the three prior films that hadn't connected with audiences. People were beginning to move on. He needed a major win critically and commercially - something on par with The Rock/Face Off or a Leaving Las Vegas to hook people again but this wasn't really it. 20 years later, nobody remembers this movie because it was instantly forgotten by the end of 2000. By now Cage's persona as the method actor from Leaving Las Vegas was long gone. 

 

THE FAMILY MAN (Christmas 2000)

Cage ends the year with another hit film. He's now firmly established as a $20 million/movie global star. Like "Gone in 60 seconds", it was fun but lacking somehow. Neither film were up to the quality of his mid 90's output. This movie marks the beginning of the end for his career and relevance. You could arguably say that this is the last movie people really turned out to see with him as the lead. He may have had hits later on but they were concept driven (treasure hunting, comic book heroes, sci-fi) - people turned out to see this movie purely on his starpower. 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2018 by RONIN

[RONIN]

Quote

"There are often lists of the great living male movie stars: De Niro, Nicholson and Pacino, usually. How often do you see the name of Nicolas Cage? He should always be up there. He's daring and fearless in his choice of roles, and unafraid to crawl out on a limb, saw it off and remain suspended in air. No one else can project inner trembling so effectively. Recall the opening scenes in "Leaving Las Vegas." See him in Scorsese's "Bringing Out the Dead." Think of the title character in "The Weather Man." Watch him melting down in "Adaptation." And then remember that he can also do a parachuting Elvis impersonator ("Honeymoon in Vegas"), a wild rock 'n' roller ("Wild at Heart"), a lovesick one-handed baker ("Moonstruck"), a straight-arrow Secret Service agent ("Guarding Tess") and on and on. 

He always seems so earnest. However improbable his character, he never winks at the audience. He is committed to the character with every atom and plays him as if he were him. His success in making Charlie Kaufman a neurotic mess and Donald Kaufman a carefree success story, in the same movie, comes largely from this gift. There are slight cosmetic differences between the two: Charlie usually needs a shave, Donald has a little more hair. But the real reason we can tell the twins apart, even when they're in the same trick shot, comes from within: Cage can tell them apart. He is always Charlie when he plays Charlie, always Donald when he plays Donald. Look and see. - Roger Ebert

 

Quote

 

I'm kind of obsessed with Nic Cage. I just found out about /r/onetruegod too. He's the only actor since Marlon Brando that's actually done anything new with the art of acting; he's successfully taken us away from an obsession with naturalism into a kind of presentation style of acting that I imagine was popular with the old troubadours. If I could erase his bottom half bad movies, and only keep his top half movies, he would blow everyone else out of the water. He's put a little too much water in his beer, but he is still one of the great actors of our time. And working with him was an absolute pleasure. In fact, one of my favorite scenes I've ever done is the last scene in LORD OF WAR.

- Ethan Hawke

https://www.salon.com/2013/06/05/ethan_hawke_reveals_his_nicolas_cage_obsession/

 

In retrospect, Cage had a superb run from 1995-2005. But the momentum behind Cage's career slows after 2000's The Family Man and his viability as a star begins to noticeably decline from here on out. A lot of people stopped following Nic Cage after the 90's. This is why to this day there's a perception of him as being a 90's star. Even though he remained a highly paid A-lister with hit films all the way into 2011, he became increasingly irrelevant imho after 2000. I don't think he was ever able to find the right balance of commercial films with prestige pictures afterwards.

He didn't make another commercial movie again until 2004 w/ National Treasure, another Bruckheimer movie - but this was such a step down from what he did with Bruckheimer in the 90's. National Treasure was a fun if mediocre popcorn film. But there were a lot of great Cage movies made from 2001-2005: Adaptation, Matchstick Men, The Weather Man, Lord of War - unfortunately none of these connected with audiences and some were critical misfires. He was still riding high during this time though. 2004's National Treasure was a massive hit that netted him a 20 million dollar salary. He was also nominated for an Oscar with 2002's Adaptation.

It's only in 2006 that his career begins to head in an appalling direction. The year began well enough with Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" - a solid if unremarkable hit that critics and audiences liked. Cage's performance received positive notices in reviews. Unfortunately, it's the last time Cage would ever be taken seriously again. He officially jumps the shark with his infamous next film, The Wicker Man. Cage's intentional tongue in cheek performance backfires and instantly turns him into a living internet meme. His reputation suffers an irreparable blow. From there, his career hurtles into oblivion. By 2012, Cage will no longer be offered studio films again. And that story shall be told some day...

Here are some notable movies that fell through w/ Cage attached:

(1998) Superman Lives - directed by Tim Burton. This would have been his follow-up to Snake Eyes.

(1999) Batman Triumphant - directed by Joel Schumacher. Cage was offered the role of Scarecrow. He ended up making 8mm w/ Schumacher in 1999 when the Batman sequel was canceled.

(2001/2002) Constantine/Hellblazer - Cage was attached to star w/ Tarsem Singh directing. This was later made with Keanu Reeves and Francis Lawrence after Tarsem Singh had a falling out with the studio and left the project (along with Cage).

Movies that he turned down:

The Matrix - Cage was offered the role of Neo. He chose not to make it because he didn't want to travel to Australia and be away from his young son. His marriage was falling apart during this time and he wanted to stay close to home. Keanu was given the role and the rest is history.

Lord of The Rings trilogy - Cage was offered the role of Aragorn (played by Vigo Mortensen). He turned it down because he didn't want to live in New Zealand for 3 years making these movies.

Spiderman - Sam Raimi offered him the Green Goblin role first before giving it to Willem Dafoe. Cage opted instead to make Adaptation for which he received an oscar nomination.

Crank - The directors first choice for the film was Cage but he was too expensive. They opted for Statham instead.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - "We had approached Nicolas Cage a long time ago, but every independent director who wanted to make a commercial movie asked Nicolas Cage to be in their movie after Leaving Las Vegas, except he would only do one out of ten of these projects." - Michel Gondry

Edited March 28, 2018 by RONIN

[downzy]

I think @Estranged Reality could contribute to this thread.  

[EvanG]

In 1984 he played in Birdy, adaptation of one of my favourite books, unfortunately the movie is nowhere near as good as the book obviously.

Anyway, I saw this comedian the other day imitating Nicolas Cage.

 

 

[soon]

This happened to me; where I only knew him from a bunch of unserious films where he receives esoteric knowledge to save the world and I didnt know he'd been a respected actor prior to these pulp films.  I think it was with @EvanG iirc where I made an ass of myself mocking Cage as a formage hustler.  Ill be honest though; its hard for me to change my perception and accept his great works from his glory days.

[Lio]

I used to love Nic Cage, but I haven't seen any of his films the past 20 years, it seems

Interesting about Eternal Sunshine. Jim Carrey seemed such an odd choice to me, but I loved him in it. It is such a great, beautiful film. Now reading this, I wonder how Nicolas would've done.

Another thing I admire about him, is him not using Coppola, his real last name, just to avoid being accused of nepotism. Angelina Jolie did that too, but that was mainly because she couldn't stand her father, I gather.

[EvanG]

18 minutes ago, soon said:

 I think it was with @EvanG iirc where I made an ass of myself mocking Cage as a formage hustler. 

I don't remember. I'm not a Cage fan... but that's because I don't care too much for action films or the films he made in the 2000s. 

Leaving Las Vegas is awesome, though. Apparently he wanted to do the whole film drunk to stay in character, but the director didn't want that, so he was only really drunk in one scene.

Edited March 27, 2018 by EvanG

[soon]

4 minutes ago, EvanG said:

I don't remember. I'm not a Cage fan... but that's because I don't care too much for action films or the films he made in the 2000s. 

Leaving Las Vegas is awesome, though. Apparently he wanted to do the whole movie drunk to stay in character, but the director didn't want that, so he was only really drunk in one scene.

Okay, glad to hear the exchange wasn't as bad as I remembered. Yeah, I think it was about that movie.  I assumed Cage was exclusively in cheesy stuff so took your words on that film the wrong way and got it all twisted before you let me know how much you appreciate that film.  I felt like an ass, but you don't even remember so I feel better now, lol.

Ill still have to check that out some time.

[DieselDaisy]

He is an Elvis fan who obtained the most treasured bit of Presley memorabilia ever: Elvis's daughter!

[ZoSoRose]

Jesus christ

[The Glow Inc.]

Equally love good-actor Nic Cage and overacting-troll Nic Cage.

Crank with him would have been absolutely hilarious.

[downzy]

Adaptation is in my top 50 of favourite movies.  I thought Cage gave one of the best performances in his career.  Too bad he stuck with hammy popcorn flicks.  Also too bad that he had no financial sense whatsoever.  

[Silent Jay]

Recently, Dog Eat Dog was pretty sweet. Cage was great in it.

Also, Mandy which only premiered in January gets excellent reviews.

[J Dog]

Raising Arizona is great.

Kiss of Death was just alright but he put on a killer performance.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is one of his better recent ones.

[DieselDaisy]

He is in a decent Scorsese rip called Lord of War which is worth watching. In fact he is in a decent Scorsese film himself, Bringing Back the Dead. 

Edited March 27, 2018 by DieselDaisy

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

I've always like Nick Cage.

I feel he gives it his all when he acts in a movie.

I've seen some lesser know movies with him on cable and they were pretty good.

I loved seeing him give Axl Rose his award on the Revolver awards show. You could see how excited he was. lol

[Gordon Comstock]

The best introduction to any Guns N Roses concert I've ever seen was the last show in 2014 - Nic Cage came out wearing beads and a t-shirt with his own face on it, and introduced them.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Gordon Comstock

[Black Sabbath]

 

Took this picture of Nic at the 2014 Vegas show. He's still great, but takes on more shitty movies than he should.

Joe is a great example of what he's still capable of.

[Gordon Comstock]

^for some reason I remembered his rings as being part of the wine glass, and thought it was some kind of novelty glass

[RONIN]

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by RONIN

[Angelica]

https://youtu.be/-qyws7f6ql8

https://youtu.be/68BjP5f0ccE

I have loved him since childhood (Peggy Sue Got Married being my introduction) and I always will.  Army of One is his most gloriously old school nuts performance in decades. I’m surprised it doesn’t get more love.

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Angelica

[marlingrl03]

Raising Arizona and Peggy Sue are by far my fave Nic Cage films. 

[The Holographic Universe]

On 3/28/2018 at 4:28 PM, RONIN said:

 

His performance in this film is a revelation 

[RONIN]

On 3/28/2018 at 8:14 PM, Angelica said:

https://youtu.be/-qyws7f6ql8

https://youtu.be/68BjP5f0ccE

I have loved him since childhood (Peggy Sue Got Married being my introduction) and I always will.  Army of One is his most gloriously old school nuts performance in decades. I’m surprised it doesn’t get more love.

 

I haven't seen this one yet but that trailer looks solid. 

Have you seen Mom and Dad yet? From the director of Crank 

 

[Ace Nova]

I like Nick Cage....I really don't get the "Nick Cage hate"...

I actually enjoyed Wicker Man, for what its worth.  

 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Kasanova King