Nicolas Cage

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent actor Nicolas Cage has explained why he turned down roles in The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix.

In a recent interview with People, Cage has revealed exactly why he decided to turn down roles in both The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. While the version of Cage in Massive Talent is looking for the next film to reboot his acting career, the real Cage always puts his family first. Despite not appearing in The Lord of the Rings or The Matrix, Cage's career is certainly one to be celebrated and fans can do this by going to see The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent when it opens later this week. Cage has stated that there is no version of him "that didn't put family first over career." With Cage's apparent inability to say no to any role being a common perception amongst fans, it may surprise many moviegoers to find out that the actor actually turned down roles in two of the world's most successful movie franchises, The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent actor Nicolas Cage has explained why he turned down roles in The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. Cage is one of the biggest legends of Hollywood stardom, and his newest film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, stands as somewhat of a tribute to his very diverse career. While The Unbearable Wight of Massive Talent is set to release on April 22, the film has already received a great deal of praise from its early reviews.

It's more. What it purports to be, and kind of is, is a meta-movie starring Nicolas Cage as Nicolas Cage, co-written and directed by Tom Gormican. Ah, an inside ...

What is surprising is how enjoyable Cage and Pascal make the movie anyway. Cage is of course not a spy in real life, though he natters on about how spying really is like acting, and how acting requires him to be able to read people, just like a CIA agent might. As is the chemistry between Cage and Pascal. They’re a great team. Javi is a Nicolas Cage superfan, which of course strokes Cage’s ego. He’s tired of working all the time in garbage movies to pay off his debts (one of many nods to Cage’s real life). And he’s growing ever distant from his daughter (Lily Sheen), who lives with his ex-wife (Sharon Horgan). He seems like he knows something about himself we don’t, and he probably does. But he goes too hard, insisting on a reading (at a valet station). This results in chastisement from Nicky, a “Valley Girl”-era Cage who serves as his ill-tempered conscience. “Underrated for sure,” he says.) Here’s hoping the money was good, too. And then it becomes a conventional buddy-action movie, truly as conventional as anything Cage has ever made — and he’s made just about everything. Cage’s agent (a delightfully unctuous Neil Patrick Harris) delivers the dreaded “they decided to go in another direction” news. For a little while, yes, all that.

This image released by Lionsgate shows Pedro Pascal, right, and Nicolas Cage in a scene from "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent." Karen Ballard/Lionsgate ...

About half of the clips in those “Cage Goes Wild” YouTube compilation comes from this movie, including a stunning, angry recitation of the ABCs. Even with Cage losing his mind, “Vampire’s Kiss” was actually ahead of its time in how it explored toxic masculinity, especially in the workplace. Some of these performances have already been mentioned (his Castor Troy in the early scenes of “Face/Off” might be Cage at his most unhinged). “Gone in 60 Seconds” (2000) — “Two Rogers don’t make a right. Even if the “Cage-aissance” started a few years back, this week’s release of “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” seems to be the official coming-out party. Choice line delivery: “Stanley (repeating a goon’s threat to him): I’ll take pleasure in guttin’ you, boy.

What does one begin with when talking about Nicolas Cage? That he hails from the Coppola family tree, arguably the most prolific Hollywood family? That,

This movie knows one thing and one thing only: this is Nicolas Cage’s world and we’re just living in it. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” isn’t a perfect movie, but it doesn’t have to be. CIA operative Vivian (Tiffany Haddish) calling Nick Cage “the guy from ‘Moonstruck’” and her partner Martin’s (Ike Barinholtz) subsequent disgust is one of the funniest moments in the film. Cage gives a funny and self-aware performance that works because he’s in on the joke. Playing a fictionalized version of himself, down-on-his-luck Nicolas “Nick” Cage strikes out at an audition he viewed as his return into the limelight. Those are good starting points, but the best way to talk about Cage’s vast acting abilities is by acknowledging his willingness to do any movie and any sort of performance.

Nicolas Cage plays a fictionalized version of himself in the clever meta-comedy 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent'

As “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” gains momentum, it shape-shifts from a winking critique of actorly excess and celebrity worship to a playful — and on-point — cri de coeur about the state of American cinema. At moments of anxiety and indecision, he’s visited by Nicky, a younger, gonzo version of himself circa “Wild at Heart,” whose prime role is to remind Nick that he’s “Nick f---ing Cage!” In “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” Cage is at the top of his protean, in-for-a-penny game.

On a press tour for "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," Nicolas Cage shared a San Francisco memory. Eater SF confirmed the restaurant, Cafe Tiramisu, ...

Last, but not least, did Francis’s nephew ever show up with Charlie Sheen? Yes, confirmed both Spinoso and Scopetto. “It was when Sharon Stone used to live right across the street from Tiramisu,” Spinoso said, naming the building. “The other one was called paccheri,” Spinoso said. Rubicon was another restaurant name mentioned, but this time with a Cage connection: Francis Ford Coppola, famously known for directing “The Godfather” among a legion of other movies, is also Cage’s uncle and an investor in the now-shuttered, but well-remembered, restaurant. When asked if Nicolas Cage ever visited Cafe Tiramisu, Spinoso said yes, and mentioned Cage also visited his other restaurant, Little City, then stopped — “He’s the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, right?” Indeed. “I’m from the same town of his uncle’s, you know, Francis’s parents in Basilicata [Italy],” Pino shared. Looking for an injection of more restaurants to contact, I reached out to the prolific Facebook group, San Francisco Remembered. Within a few minutes, group member Mark Kohtz confidently replied: “Cafe Tiramisu. You’re welcome. “The question is, is this a classic dish? Thomas didn’t have all of the restaurant menus to search through, she told Eater SF, and a look through the Rose Pistola cookbook for a garganelli dish (her guess on the pasta) turned up nothing. An internet sleuth shared an Interview article, which detailed a flight Cage and Sheen took together to San Francisco, to further seal the likelihood of the story. Actor Nicolas Cage was answering questions from Reddit users during a press junket for “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.” Along with the typical movie and acting queries came this nonsequitur: “What’s your favourite pasta shape?” Rose Pistola was a top guess, seeing as how it was a modern, buzzy Italian restaurant at the time, but owner Laurie Thomas, reached via email, didn’t have any answers either. But when presented with the quote, she was at a loss. For media covering the AMA, Cage’s answer was just a kooky one-off.

But the actor says he was "terrified" about the idea of playing a version of himself, an egomaniacal Hollywood star named 'Nick Cage,' in director Tom ...

And what I learned is, I was right to make the choice, I'm valid in thinking go towards what you're afraid of." Then Tom Gornican wrote me a very enthusiastic, sincere, and intelligent letter about some of the early work and what he really wanted to do. Nicolas Cage is an Oscar-winner who has appeared in dozens of films and has a reputation for fearlessly throwing himself into roles.

Nicolas Cage plays a skewed version of himself in this clever, if eventually formulaic, self-aware action comedy.

And in 2022, the picture feels like a mournful remembrance of the very idea of movie stardom, that an actor could be the most memorable thing in a given movie. I was reminded, ironically, of The Rock (one of the first big Hollywood movies I can remember with a super-sympathetic villain) which killed off Ed Harris’s rogue general early enough for Cage and Sean Connery to get a convention action climax. The picture gets its “meme-ification” bits in where it needs to, including a Film Twitter-bait subplot involving Paddington 2, but it also understands that the movie won’t work if we don’t care about the bromance between the movie star and the eccentric super-fan. The premise is almost too clever, that of Nicolas Cage playing a skewed version of himself meeting a very rich Cage super-fan (Pascal) who also happens to be a ruthless international criminal, but the film works because it remembers the nuts-and-buts foundations of its unassuming studio programmer intentions. It’s no secret that Cage made a slew of “not for theaters” films to pay off financial obligations, and it’s telling how we view the profession of acting that so many would look down on Cage for “paying off his debts by doing his job a lot.” The film avoids potshots at that era, which is fair since there’s a “diamond in the rough” (Joe, Mandy, Pig, etc.) every three or four films amid that period anyway. So, faster than you can say The Interview (sans anything that might get Lionsgate hacked by a foreign government), Cage becomes a quasi-spy even as he can hardly believe that this delightful and eccentric fellow is a metaphorical James Bond villain.

Nicolas Cage stars as himself in the meta action comedy "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," a concept that works as long as he's on-screen.

This is a man who can make a YouTube interview wildly fascinating on any day of the week, so his screen presence has never been in question. In “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” Nicolas Cage is back — not that he ever went away. While Nick develops a relationship with Javi to relay intel back to the CIA, the two men decide to collaborate on their own screenplay, a “grounded adult drama” about their friendship, which adds an extra layer of meta to this already meta project.

Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage — maybe, kind of, not really — in a comically romantic, buddy-movie thriller that is also an ode to him in all his Caginess.

There are no surprises other than the movie is watchable and amusing, though it’s too bad Gormican didn’t let Cage and Pascal just go with the absurdist, shambolic flow. “He’s up there in the air,” Pauline Kael wrote in a review of his freak-fest “Vampire’s Kiss,” “it’s a little dizzying — you’re not quite sure you understand what’s going on.” Amen to that. It’s very Hope and Crosby loosey-goosey, though sometimes it’s more blotto Snoop and Martha. Cage and Pascal bounce off each other nicely, with Pascal playing the wall to Cage’s ricocheting ball. It’s a pretty good joke: Cage plays himself, or rather a variation on a star also named Nick Cage. Wrung out, inching toward bankruptcy, proud yet humbled, and yearning for a role that’s worthy of his self-regard, this avatar looks and sounds like the real deal. There’s a story, way too much of one, crammed into an overstuffed, self-reflexive entertainment that soon finds Cage flying abroad. Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz show up as spies who dragoon Cage into a covert operation that allows the filmmakers to shift to more commercial terrain and bring out the heavy artillery.

“Metropolis.” By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer. April 21, 2022, 9:57 AM. • ...

(Cage also has two grown sons; a sticking point in “Unbearable Weight” was that he not be shown as an absentee father — one fiction Cage wouldn't permit.) After an unusually introspective press tour for the film, Cage is looking forward to returning to the desert outside Las Vegas, where he lives. “And I just wasn’t going to take it,” says Cage. "I knew that he thought more of me than he let on. It’s a slippery slope when you make the decision that you want to be emotional and raw." Cage's own exotic tastes — he once had to return a dinosaur skull he purchased that had been stolen from Mongolia — have contributed to his legend. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," which Lionsgate premiered at South by Southwest to warm reviews, allows him to play around with the notion of a comeback. “Movies are a business and it was not without peril that I took this path, but it was important to me,” he adds. “I grew up in a house where my mom would do things that if you put it in a movie, you would say that was over the top," says Cage, whose mother, Joy Coppola, was a dancer and choreographer. It’s a character based on you.’ And he’d go, ‘But he has my name.’ I was like, ‘Come on, man, just say the line.’” But I knew that was going to happen so it wasn’t anything I didn’t expect.” Yet by being “an amateur surrealist,” as he refers to himself, Cage has emerged — even after resorting to a string of VOD releases to pay off back taxes and get himself out of debt — as one of Hollywood's most widely loved stars. This is the actor who, channeling Nosferatu in “Vampire's Kiss," gave one of the most bonkers recitals of the alphabet ever heard. With more than 100 films, the 58-year-old Cage — an Oscar-winner (“Leaving Las Vegas"), an action star ("Con Air") and the source of countless Internet memes for his most theatrical moments in films like “Face/Off" — has long been one of the most particular tastes in movies.

Director Tom Gormican talks about turning his Nicolas Cage fandom into the over-the-top movie 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.'

He came out and I was like, “I really loved that one.” He was like, “Yeah, you got the full Cage.” He’s totally aware that’s a meme-able moment and he’s just giving it to you. And we thought that people might really want to see something that feels joyful and has a sense of love running through it. It’s really incredible.” The only notable flaw that movie has is that it does not contain Nicolas Cage. So we just thought, “Let’s put this in there.” It was also funny, like “What would be a fun movie for Nicolas Cage to have to watch that he probably hasn’t seen?” And that one made us laugh. And he would actually call it “the full Cage.” There’s a particular scene in the movie where there’s this wall and [Nic and Javi are] on drugs and they’re trying to climb over the wall. At the same time, for Kevin, and I, it was also supposed to be a celebration of filmmaking and the creating process. But have you been at all surprised by the really strong reaction that the film has gotten so far? Because I had to work really hard not to be.” And that was the initial relationship with his daughter. Are you sure?” And we thought, “It’s worth it.” We just were having so much fun writing it to be honest. But we had a general sense that [because] he’s such an interesting, thoughtful media personality and such an incredible actor he was going to pop back into the zeitgeist. So it was kind of the best case scenario, not the worst. I had this general sense that there would be this Cage-aissance. He was always there. “That’s part of the reason I joined up with Kevin,” explains Gormican, whose last feature film, That Awkward Moment, was released in 2014.

In "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," Nicolas Cage leans into the stylized acting that made him a pop culture icon.

There’s a running bit in “Massive Talent” about the cinematic achievement of “ Paddington 2,” the sequel to the live-action and animated film adaptation of a children’s story about a raincoat-wearing bear. “When I was in quarantine all I was doing was watching movies and I made some lists,” he said, pulling a few of them out of his suit pocket. “I did make a choice to try and work with my voice, enhancing what I would call the California draaawl.” “Sometimes the reality is in the stylization,” Cage said, emphasizing that naturalism and truthfulness are not always identical. Gormican said Cage was the best-prepared actor he’d ever seen; he and Horgan were both in awe that the actor was completely off-book at a table read before shooting. Although the Oscar winner “was terrified the whole time” they filmed, he was persuaded by Gormican’s sincerity and willingness to create deeper human relationships for his character. And while he is known for leaning into the ridiculous, it’s his most naturalistic performances that stand out to both audiences and actor. “People associate him with bombastic performances, which is not totally untrue, but he had the presence to carry this quiet movie without many lines, and with a lot of soul,” Sarnoski said. “I knew I had to send myself up quite a bit but didn’t want it to lapse into just mockery,” he said during an interview in a New York hotel. He can transcend the character and even the film he’s in.” The director said he and Kevin Etten wrote the script with Cage in mind, even as people who knew the actor warned them there was “not a chance in hell” he’d sign on. In “ The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” Tom Gormican’s rollicking comedy out Friday, he does just that.

Nicolas Cage talks to USA TODAY about his best performances, most quoted lines and deeply meta new comedy "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent."

"I thought it was so bizarre: It looked like a little square box that had a funnel and a cone, and he put honey in it so flies would go in and get trapped in there," Cage recalls. "I got a little verklempt," Cage recalls. She's fun and it's such a fun moment." "It was a movie that I thought had a great deal of nuance and was very relevant," he says. "Massive Talent" adds plenty more meme-able moments to Cage's canon, not least of which when his character starts bawling watching "Paddington 2" for the first time. "I was being introduced to this character and I was an audience member 100%. It was like lightning in a bottle, the way that movie came together. In one memorable scene, Edward is tortured with a wire mesh helmet filled with bees, prompting his oft-parodied line, "Not the bees!" "I do think it's the best I was able to do. "The first was 'Leaving Las Vegas,' " for which Cage won the best actor Oscar in 1996. "That movie is very underrated and really isn't on anybody's radar. Earlier this year, Cage earned a best actor nomination from the Critics Choice Awards for "Pig," a gentle drama in which he played a reclusive truffle hunter in search of his stolen pig. "I watched the movie and it was like, I didn't know this person," Cage says.

"I once went to an Italian restaurant in San Francisco about 25 years ago with Charlie Sheen because they had square tube pasta and he was very interested in ...

"There's no version of Nic Cage that didn't put family first over career. Eater SF launched a search, enlisting San Francisco locals to help find the name of the restaurant — and in turn the pasta — that Cage visited over two decades ago. "First and foremost ... there's no version of Nic Cage in reality that doesn't want to spend time with his children," he said. Cage also spoke to PEOPLE about putting his family first when it comes to career opportunities. After sifting through responses from local food columnists, San Francisco natives and Twitter users, the outlet posted a query in a San Francisco Remembered Facebook group. He shared some advice he'd tell his younger self starting out in the movie industry.

The "Leaving Las Vegas" star stopped by "Jimmy Kimmel Live" yesterday and revealed the truth behind the rumors about himself.

“He likes to say hi to me when I walk in the room, and when I leave he says bye. But this fantasy never came to fruition, with the “Face/Off” star walking away from the sale. Meanwhile, Cage admitted the snake was too much for him to handle — and the two heads would often fight each other. Rumor had it that he gave all of his winnings to an orphanage in the area. While trying his lucky hand at the roulette wheel, he decided to keep playing the same numbers. — back on the talk-show circuit for the first time in 14 years, promoting his “Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.”

Born Nicolas Kim Coppola, Cage is the nephew of legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Shortly after landing a role in the 1982 comedy Fast Times at ...

Recently, Cage’s career has seen a resurgence of interest following the performers’ string of straight-to-VOD films. Born Nicolas Kim Coppola, Cage is the nephew of legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Shortly after landing a role in the 1982 comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cage opted to change his name after racking up a few film credits under the Coppola name. One of the most recognized performers of his generation, Cage’s formidable career has spanned three decades with roles in iconic films.

Nicolas Cage is the latest celebrity to tackle the WIRED Autocomplete Interview — and it didn't disappoint as the actor went all in. In the eight-minute ...

Nicolas Cage in the film Mandy, covered in blood and grinning and generally seeming like. Screengrab via YouTube. For something that everyone agrees is ...

After a brief moment to remember the time that Prince took it upon himself to redecorate Carlos Boozer’s home, and despite an unexpected timing out of the lighting in Gabriella’s location that briefly plunged our podcast into darkness, we ventured into the Funbag. There we found questions on the best practices for traveling alone, and a prompt to consider songs ruined by repetition in film or television. Drew, as readers and listeners likely know, has written a number of such profiles, and while I am mostly not permitted to be around important or influential people (I have been told that they find me unsettling) I have at the very least read a bunch of good and bad versions of those stories. Yes, its purpose is often advertorial for some film or TV property, and yes there is no guarantee that you’re going to get anything interesting out of even an interesting performer who has answered similar questions dozens of times and mostly is just trying to get through some publicist-chaperoned lunch or other.

"The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" star Nicolas Cage revealed that Elon Musk's Tesla took over his movie studio tax break.

“Then I got a letter from Tom, a smart letter, a well-written letter,” Cage explained. The iconic actor concluded, “If I can get at least one or two scenes that linger in your imagination I’ve done my job. Which then, ironically, drained all the water out of the city.”

Nicolas Cage stars in a new film about Nicolas Cage that successively drives home why Nicolas Cage is an essential movie star.

Pascal — whose sensitive, goofy performance is a surprise — gives an emotional speech about how he and his father were brought together by “Guarding Tess.” Hilarious. Cage heightens his already big personality just the right amount to ensure that the film rises above a skit. While Hollywood is becoming more self-serious than they’ve ever been and clearly cannot take a joke — hello, Will Smith! — it’s good to have guys like him around. The argument? Haters of Nicolas Cage, stop reading this now. To quote the actor in the satirical “Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”: “I’m motherf–king Nicolas Cage!”

"The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" has seen viewers around the world celebrating the best and worst of Nicolas Cage's movie work.

Not Left Behind—its 0 percent critic rating is nearly matched by its 2 percent audience score. Cage plays a heavy-drinking Vietnam vet, and the character is not the only one who would have to drink to get through this movie. Another nadir of the actor's direct-to-video work, this 2017 thriller sees Cage put on a very silly wig and mustache to play a sleazy gangster whose fake kidnap plot turns real. With Cage's movie star persona so divisive, you cannot really create a list of good Nicolas Cage films without looking at some of his worst films too. His filmography is so divisive, in fact, that the TV show Community had an entire episode in which a film student is driven insane working out whether Cage is a good actor or not. Nicolas Cage is an actor who is always committed, and says "yes" to appearing in a lot of films.