Every week at SiftPop.com, we challenge our writers to come up with their favorite answer to a movie-related prompt tied to a recent release. This week, with the release of Longlegs, starring Nicolas Cage, we’re discussing some of our favorite Cage performances! Let us know your favorites @SiftPop!
Nicolas Cage’s go-for-it mentality allows him to give all manner of gonzo, over-the-top performances, but it also allows him to tap into an uber-earnest form of performance that hits on a deeper, more personal level. When tasked with adapting Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief for the big screen, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman instead chose to write a screenplay about a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman struggling to come up with a screenplay when adapting Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief — and thus we have the film Adaptation. When you have such a fascinating premise, it only makes sense to cast an equally fascinating figure like Cage in your lead role. In addition to portraying the highly anxious and insecure Charlie, Cage also plays Charlie’s fictional twin brother, Donald, with his borderline annoying level of confidence. It can be easy to forget that Cage is a legitimate world-class actor given his whole larger-than-life persona, but his role in Adaptation remains one of his genuine best. (Foster Harlfinger)
Over the course of Nicolas Cage’s career, he’s developed a reputation as a performer who always goes over the top, and who doesn’t have another speed of performance. And since Martin Scorsese made some public comments a few years ago (I can’t remember exactly what they were for some reason, though), he’s been accused of making the same movie over and over since the ‘70s. Well, these two cinematic icons teamed up for 1999’s Bringing Out the Dead, and jointly proved their naysayers wrong. Cage gives a subdued, strained performance as an ambulance driver with dark demons, and Scorsese directs what could easily have been a pulpy movie about New York City’s darkness to be an exploration of a man’s soul (it should also be no surprise that Paul Schrader wrote the screenplay). Cage and Scorsese have their statuses for a reason, and their versatility is demonstrated within their lone collaboration. (Robert Bouffard)
While Dream Scenario is a messy, uneven, and pretty thin movie overall, the one person who makes it completely watchable is Nicolas Cage, because of his wonderful performance. He plays a regular man, Paul, who randomly starts appearing in the dreams of everyone in the world, turning him into an overnight celebrity. This bemuses Paul, who’s your typical dorky dad who just loves his family. Cage plays this bemusement in such an endearing way, with all these little quirks, ticks, and mannerisms to make the character a perfect comedy protagonist. Think of a slightly more groundedly silly Michael Stuhlbarg in a more absurdist A Serious Man. (Robert Bouffard)
One of the most underappreciated aspects of Nicolas Cage’s acting is his ability to adjust to each film’s genre and speed. Kick-Ass is essentially a middle school boy’s vision of superheroes kicking and punching each other come to life, and Cage’s performance as Big Daddy (fantastic character name, by the way) fits right in. Raising and training his young daughter with hilarious intensity to become the crime-fighting Hit Girl, Cage transitions seamlessly from dorky dad stereotype to hardcore action hero to the surprising heart of the film in his character’s final moments. Big Daddy, as ridiculous as it may seem, ends up providing one of Cage’s most unexpectedly dynamic (and expectedly entertaining) performances in a film that, while occasionally outdated in its sense of humor, acts as an incredibly fun precursor to the self-aware era of comic book films that would soon follow. (Foster Harlfinger)
Before Nicolas Cage became known for being… well, Nicolas Cage, it’s good to remember that he has a few roles where he proves that he doesn’t have to be unhinged to grab our attention. One of those roles, Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas, earned him an Oscar for Best Actor in the Leading Role. Now, I can’t say Leaving Las Vegas is an easy movie to watch, especially if you have ever had a firsthand experience with someone who lost themselves to alcohol. Still, it is a movie that depicts the self-destructive nature of this addiction truthfully. It won’t leave you cold or indifferent, not just to Ben’s character, but also to Elisabeth Shue’s character, Sera, who exists as a painful reminder that addiction affects everyone around you, whether you like it or not. Leaving Las Vegas is a film I have only seen once, and I don’t know whether I will ever rewatch it because of how devastating it is. Many people point to drugs and films like Requiem for a Dream or Trainspotting, but I feel like more people would find this movie relatable, given how common alcoholism unfortunately is. Leaving Las Vegas a superb movie about an uncomfortable topic full of uncomfortable things. And Cage’s performance is brilliant. He’s had some films lately where he comes to what he had done here, but not exactly. (Luke Burian)
What the hell was going on in Panos Cosmatos’ head when he came up with Mandy? It is one of the most visceral and visually arresting films in recent memory, as a strange concoction of cult/folk horror, revenge thriller, acid trip, and hellacious supernatural horror that is all wrapped together in a haunting package. The dreamlike (or nightmare-like) atmosphere is filled with unrelenting colors and fog. But the maddest thing we have to work with is Nicolas Cage himself. For the first half of the film, Cage is doing some effective humanistic acting that we do not get so see much of anymore from him. Many do not realize, or they forget, that Cage is a strong actor from a legendary film family, and he shows great range with this wild ride. Once his beloved Mandy is taken from him in a fiery act by an insecure and weak man who leads a terrifying cult… all bets are off. The moment we see Cage screaming his pain clad in a pair of white undies, this film kicks into a bloody and madness fueled trip like no other. He goes full-blown Nic Cage, with insane glares and unhinged cackling while wielding giant shiny axes and chainsaws. Mandy begins with Red Miller as just an everyman, but it ends with some of the most unhinged and entertaining Cage possible. (Shane Conto)
Conman movies and stories are always so fun, and one of my favorites is Matchstick Men. It’s also at least a top-five Nicholas Cage performance for me. There is a truly unforgettable scene where Cage has a freakout at a pharmacy — he plays a tightly-wound person with OCD and works as a conman, Roy Walker. Things in Roy’s life go haywire when Angela (Alison Lohman) shows up claiming to be his daughter. This movie has cons and twists you wouldn’t believe. Cage pulls off his character so well, and has great chemistry with Lohman and Sam Rockwell, who plays his partner, Frank. Cage is an actor who pours an insane amount of energy into a character to make them memorable. (Austen Terry)
My favorite thing about Nicolas Cage as a performer is his commitment to each role. He’s committed in the sense that he does so many different genres, often doing dramatically different ones back-to-back. This is perhaps never more apparent than in National Treasure. As Cage himself lovingly points out in this interview, he needs to take something like stealing the Declaration of Independence as seriously as his character, Benjamin Franklin Gates, does, or else it would just be too goofy for the audience to buy in. And credit to him, he does it better than any other actor could. For a long time, I didn’t understand Cage’s reputation as an over-the-top actor, because I’d only seen National Treasure (about 100 times, at that). He portrays such a genuine earnestness as the lead that it becomes easy to get on board with a movie which, on the surface, is quite ridiculous. But because of him, you’re on board for every second. (Robert Bouffard)
Was Pig the film that brought Nicolas Cage back out of the slump of schlocky films? The reception to his performance in it may prove so. Ever since, Cage’s career has seemed to be back on the up-and-up, with critically acclaimed outings in Renfield and Dream Scenario, just to name a couple. As a reclusive former top chef, his prized truffle pig is stolen after a violent robbery, Cage whips into a vengeful escapade to recover the only thing in the world he loves or cares about. He puts in a reserved, quietened performance, while maintaining a threatening single-minded, and determined enigma beneath his surface. Amidst the premise of Pig underlies deep themes about fighting for the things you really care about, living up to your own expectations, and dreams. Like Ratatouille, there are also themes about the communal bonding of food, and its importance in shaping our relationships and memories of our loved ones. Supported by a fantastic Alex Wolff, Cage is really back to his ‘90s best and doing things he had hidden from the world for so long. Pig is a revelation not just as a film, but as a showpiece for a great actor who had lost his way for a while. (Adam Ritchie)
The late ‘80s early ‘90s portion of Nicolas Cage’s career has got to be my favorite. Whether he’s Guarding Tess, hopping out a plane dressed like Elvis, Trapped in Paradise, or kissing vampires, I love the eclectic group of lunatics the increasingly eccentric Cage portrayed during this period. But none of those roles makes me laugh as hard, year after year, as H.I. McDunnough in Raising Arizona. Cage’s face and hair are expressing more than words ever could throughout the entire madcap adventure. From the sideways smirks he flashes while getting his mugshot taken, to the dopey looks he gives while holding Junior or running from the cops, Cage’s time as “Hi” is nonstop “Hi”larious. His confident swagger walking into the convenience store with pantyhose over his face while he states, “I’ll be taking the huggies… and whatever cash you’ve got” inspired countless giggles when my kids were babies, as I’d often quote the line during diaper changes. Cage is able to embrace the bizarre, while exuding charisma as H.I., making you want to root for things to work out, despite being a character that is a burglarizing, kidnapping, thief attempting to carry out an ill thought out plan. (Patrice Downing)
When the casting announcement of Nicolas Cage as Dracula came out for Renfield, a horror comedy sending up the classic characters, there was unanimous applause in all corners of the internet. It seemed perfect. Though the movie itself got mixed reviews, the tone was predictably perfect for Cage. His take on Bela Lugosi’s classic cinematic portrayal is one of the highlights, even among the film’s detractors. He understood the assignment, or the filmmakers just knew how to perfectly deploy his talents (probably a mixture of both). The result is a wonderfully hammy performance that fits perfectly with the rest of his eccentric filmography. (Jake Bourgeois)
One in a long line of incredible movie names, Nicolas Cage plays Stanley Goodspeed in Michael Bay’s The Rock, the movie about breaking into Alcatraz. It’s about as good as Bay can get, and when he has committed performers like Cage and Sean Connery doing their committed thing, the bar for how good one of his movies can be raises exponentially. The Rock is an absolute blast, and it’s worth a watch alone because of some of Cage and Connery’s line readings, on top of the fun action and memorable Hans Zimmer score. (Robert Bouffard)
Wherever he goes, the wind follows. He likes to drink egg creams and fight Nazis. Sometimes he lets matches burn down to his fingertips just to feel something. Anything. A role so great that it is apparently leading to its own Amazon Prime original series spinoff, Nicolas Cage’s voice performance as Spider-Man Noir is one of those simple joys in life. In Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a movie full of scene-stealers, Cage unsurprisingly comes out on top. The role may feel slight compared to the other entries on this list, but the iconic nature of Spider-Man Noir comes almost entirely from the fact that he is voiced by Cage, making it absolutely worthy of inclusion. For as minor a part as it may be, few roles better exemplify the power Cage’s sheer presence has over his audience. (Foster Harlfinger)
The story behind the movie that almost was with Nicolas Cage being cast as Superman for Superman Lives is fascinating (and the documentary on the matter, The Death of “Superman Lives:” What Happened?, is worth your time if you can find it; R.I.P., Jon Schnepp). So, though his role isn’t big, it was a fun meta touch when Cage was cast as the Man of Steel for Teen Titans GO! To the Movies. It’s a fun time filled with meta references — perhaps too much at times — but the hits far outweigh the misses, and the 85-minute runtime absolutely flies. It’s a great example about how to pay homage to one of the great casting what ifs. Take note, The Flash. (Jake Bourgeois)
Every now and then, there is the perfect pairing of actor and character that seems like a match made in heaven. Some of these examples include Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector, and, of course, Nicolas Cage as Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. I mean, seriously, who better to cast as eclectic actor and worldwide superstar Nic Cage than the madman himself? In a career full of great performances and strange characters, the chance to play a fictionalized version of himself offers Cage a chance to lampoon himself and his filmography, resulting in one of my favorite performances of his to date. Additionally, you have the electric chemistry between Cage and Pedro Pascal, playing an obsessed fan of the actor, offering a more compelling relationship than any other I can recall in Cage’s career. Although I hope he continues to have a long career ahead of him, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent could have been, in another world, the perfect capstone to the end of his career before a well-deserved retirement. (Jake Hjort)
What is Nicolas Cage’s best performance? It would be easy to list his more emotionally raw roles in films like Pig or Leaving Las Vegas, but I am here to tell you that the single best performance Cage has ever given comes from Vampire’s Kiss. After finding himself aroused by a bat that flies through his apartment window, literary agent, Peter Loew (Cage), believes that he is turning into a vampire. One of the most bizarre movies you’ll ever see in your life, Cage gives a performance so utterly untamed that it simply must be seen to be believed. Half the Nicolas Cage gifs you love and use so frequently come from Vampire’s Kiss. Whether it be his impassioned recitation of the alphabet or dejectedly trudging through the streets of New York, screaming at the top of his lungs, Cage commits to this role with the intensity of a man who has nothing to lose. It would be easy to mistake Cage’s over-the-top mannerisms for poor acting, but his interviews in the years since have revealed the amount of thought and dedication he put into this wonderfully ridiculous performance. Aiming for a modern depiction of Expressionist silent-film acting, Cage bugs out his eyes and flaps his arm around with reckless abandon, and the result is a performance unlike any other. (Foster Harlfinger)