I don't care what anyone says, Con Air is one of the funniest movies ever made. Absolutely horrible, but funny as hell.

Sponsored by the bees screen actors guild

I liked Faceoff despite it being ridiculous, but I thought Cage was entertaining in it. Of course John Woo is pretty awesome so maybe that's why I liked that one...

Roxanne says: What were the biggest challenges physically or psychologically to perform both parts of John Blaze and Ghost Rider?

It was the first time that I played Ghost Rider. Blaze was easy; I knew he was a man who had been living with a curse for eight years of having his head light on fire, and the tone that would take. I compared him to a cop, or a paramedic who develops a dark sense of humour to cope with the horrors he has seen. But Blaze has also caused the horrors, so he's hiding out because he doesn't want to hurt anyone else.

Ghost Rider was an entirely new experience, and he got me thinking about something I read in a book called The Way Of Wyrd by Brian Bates, and he also wrote a book called The Way Of The Actor. He put forth the concept that all actors, whether they know it or not, stem from thousands of years ago - pre-Christian times - when they were the medicine men or shamans of the village. And these shamans, who by today's standards would be considered psychotic, were actually going into flights of the imagination and locating answers to problems within the village. They would use masks or rocks or some sort of magical object that had power to it.

It occurred to me, because I was doing a character as far out of our reference point as the spirit of vengeance, I could use these techniques. I would paint my face with black and white make up to look like a Afro-Caribbean icon called Baron Samedi, or an Afro-New Orleans icon who is also called Baron Saturday. He is a spirit of death but he loves children; he's very lustful, so he's a conflict in forces. And I would put black contact lenses in my eyes so that you could see no white and no pupil, so I would look more like a skull or a white shark on attack.

On my costume, my leather jacket, I would sew in ancient, thousands-of-years-old Egyptian relics, and gather bits of tourmaline and onyx and would stuff them in my pockets to gather these energies together and shock my imagination into believing that I was augmented in some way by them, or in contact with ancient ghosts. I would walk on the set looking like this, loaded with all these magical trinkets, and I wouldn't say a word to my co-stars or crew or directors. I saw the fear in their eyes, and it was like oxygen to a forest fire. I believed I was the Ghost Rider.

Apos: Nicolas Cage: Mediocre actor. GREAT troll.

He is gold to watch when he plays a crazy person. You know, when he has to try to express emotion. He's not meant for mudane movies like National Treasure and The Wicker Man (though the bees part was horribly hilarious). He's meant to be weird so he needs to play weird roles.

Why isn't he in prison for tax evasion???

GET IN THE CAGE!

The way he lights Liz Shue's cigarette in Leaving Las Vegas is how I like remember him, when he was great. That and Raising AZ.

LeroyBourne: That and Raising AZ

Maybe it was Utah...

Nicolas Cage's Agent, NSFW.

Apos: he inexplicably wallows in.

No, it's explicable. It's called money and money problems.

I would have liked to have seen him in Costner's role in 3000 Miles to Graceland

Dear Movie Gods,

Please, please, please let Takashi Miike read this interview. Also, please have Nicholas Cage dress up in a dog costume in an attempt to get a wealthy old dowager to leave her fortune to him in order to fund the resulting movie. And then release a documentary of how this film was made.

Sincerely,

Humanity

GimpyNip: FARKERS love to bash Cage. I don't see why. Drive Angry was alright for what it was. Wicker Man was hilarious for what it wasn't. Family Man is ok on a Saturday afternoon. Raising Arizona and LLV are classics, Lord of War, Matchstick Men, and BL POC are very good. Con Air is dumb and enjoyable. He has a few terrible films like Knowing but so what? Overall, he's done some awesome shiat.

Wicker Man was the best comedy of the decade

GimpyNip: I don't see you people telling Steve Buschemi to go eat a bowl of dick Porridge because he was in Armageddon, Grown Ups, G-Force, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry

in a movie does not equal lead role in movie

Treygreen13: One thing that surprised me about Bad Lieutenant is that Roger Ebert loved it. I dunno. Maybe Roger was on painkillers at the time because that's the only way I can imagine somebody seeing that movie and then gushing over it.

everyone I know with good tastes in movies loved Bad Lieutenant (haven't seen it yet, but Herzog in general is amazing so I'm sure it is at least interesting)

Nicholas Cage is flat out one of my favorite actors. I will watch him in anything. He is still running on the good will he earned with his role in Wild At Heart. Sure, most of his movies are absolutely terrible, but goddamn is it fun to watch him chew scenery.

I think it all comes down to this: Nicholas Cage is from a powerful Hollywood family, and thinks Hollywood is one giant ridiculous joke. And sometimes he hooks up with a great director who knows how to use his energy to good effect and you get something like Face/Off (which is terrible, but highly entertaining). Other times you get a weak director who is cowed by Cage's mega-wattage craziness, and Cage just makes him his biatch, crapping all over the movie and being insane (like, say, Wicker Man).

Also, Nicholas Cage is ten times crazier in real life than any of the characters he has ever played.

I can not WAIT for Ghost Rider 3D.

It will be epic.

Cage is a good actor in good movies, and an almost indispensable actor in bad ones. - Roger Ebert.

And that is why I loves him.

Thus Speaketh the Cage: The only reason why I tend to pass on a movie is either I don't think I'm right for the material and can't play it honestly, or because of time constraints with personal things in my life. There were two movies that asked me to go to Australia or New Zealand for long periods of time. One was Lord Of The Rings and one was the Matrix. But I was actively involved at that time raising my family and I couldn't really take that time out.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the concept of a Lord of the Rings or Matrix film that included Nic Cage. Both of those trilogies were so ponderous and laconic, I just can't picture how his weird energy could have possibly fit.

But there's one trilogy that absolutely screamed for a massive Cage injection, and that's the Star Wars prequels. As they are, they suck the rotted balls off a pile of dead horses, but just imagine Special Editions with a digitally-inserted Cage playing Anakin (yes, including young "Phantom Menace" Anakin - just give Nic a longer hairpiece and shorter pants, and let his incomparable acting carry the rest). Would such a wonder be the greatest cinematic experience ever witnessed? I doubt it, but I'd damn well buy the box set and love the hell out of it in ways that are probably illegal in the continental United States. Especially if the Force Lightning attacks are replaced with FORCE BEES. Ooo, just typing that sentence made my fingers orgasm.

That was a surreal interview. I had no idea Cage was really that batshiat insane.

I think that makes him my favourite actor now.

FTA: On my costume, my leather jacket, I would sew in ancient, thousands-of-years-old Egyptian relics, and gather bits of tourmaline and onyx and would stuff them in my pockets to gather these energies together and shock my imagination into believing that I was augmented in some way by them, or in contact with ancient ghosts. I would walk on the set looking like this, loaded with all these magical trinkets, and I wouldn't say a word to my co-stars or crew or directors. I saw the fear in their eyes, and it was like oxygen to a forest fire. I believed I was the Ghost Rider.

What is this I don't even....

Of COURSE they wouldn't look you in the eyes!!! Your crazy might be contagious!

/never posted in Cage thread until now
//hangs head in shame

Cage needs to play a hitman, but one of those troubled hitmen that is more of a sidekick than a lead, villainous not heroic. He's got to be insane, Joker level insane, completely chaotic.

That, I feel, is the perfect Cage role.

DeathByGeekSquad: Cage needs to play a hitman, but one of those troubled hitmen that is more of a sidekick than a lead, villainous not heroic. He's got to be insane, Joker level insane, completely chaotic.

That, I feel, is the perfect Cage role.

Instead of settling for an imitation, why not have him actually play the Joker? His take on the character would certainly be... unique.

TappingTheVein: Nicolas Cage's Agent, NSFW.

So...damn...funny...TappingTheVein: Nicolas Cage's Agent, NSFW.

A Very Pol Pot Christmas

/"AAAAHH, THEY'RE IN MY EYES! MY EYES! AAAAaaaahhh!"

I like Nic Cage and the National Treasure movies.

WizardofToast: He is gold to watch when he plays a crazy person.

You are welcome. (new window)

Oh: "Not safe for work".

don't understand: I don't care what anyone says, Con Air is one of the funniest movies ever made. Absolutely horrible, but funny as hell.

On any other day that might seem strange.

/i actually like this movie

EdgeRunner: I'm trying to wrap my head around the concept of a Lord of the Rings or Matrix film that included Nic Cage.

i can actually see nic cage playing agent smith from the matrix. he could easily play the dark robotic character slowly losing his grip and going nuts in the end. hugo weaving was fantastic, but cage in that role would have been really surreal. he might have also been tagged to play a character like cypher.

as for lord of the rings, i am going to assume they wanted him to play gollum.

Ooo, just typing that sentence made my fingers orgasm.

i am totally stealing this line.

GimpyNip: falcon176: GimpyNip: I don't see you people telling Steve Buschemi to go eat a bowl of dick Porridge because he was in Armageddon, Grown Ups, G-Force, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry

in a movie does not equal lead role in movie

Ya but that's because Steve Buscemi is rarely the lead in any movie. Who is your favorite actor? Michael Douglas? John Cusack? Just curious.

Clint Eastwood