Nicolas Cage + Kim Jong Un Biopic? We’d Believe It
This is something you should know about Nicolas Kim Coppola, or as everyone else refers to him, Nicolas Cage. To get this bit out of the way sooner rather than later, he’s no blood relation to leaders from North Korea, Kim Jong Un (although, given his eccentric film selections, I wouldn’t be that surprised to see Cage act out his portrayal within a strangely captivating indie biography film someday).
Born January 7, 1964, this man did not so much come into being as burst into earth as a star/motion-picture missile. Cage has made a career out of a single guiding principle: “Why not?!” He’s king, or should his name be, of “Wait, HE was in that movie?!” You know, that one. He’s been a part of Academy Award-winning dramatics and action movies that defy reason and physics both—not to mention that abhorrent truffle-gun-foraging pig film. (Yes, it exists. No, I’m emotionally drained from trying to give a explanation.)
The Coppola Connection (or Otherwise)
Fun fact (or possibly slightly interesting fact, your mileage may vary): Nicolas Cage comes from Hollywood royalty. The brainchild behind The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola, just so happens to be his real uncle. That’s right, creator of Vito Corleone also bestowed our world with Nicolas Cage. Now, did Uncle Francis set a very, very high standard? Very much so. But being Cage, he chose to abdicate having a name like Coppola’s nepotistic sheen to having a name like that and strike out his own strange course through Hollywood. Hence, he became “Nicolas Cage” from Marvel’s Luke Cage since, well, that man cannot make things ordinary.
A Career That’s One Part Genius, One Part “What?”
Nicolas Cage’s filmography feels a bit of a smorgasbord from a no-holds-all-you-can-eat Vegas buffet. There’s a bit everywhere, but nothing quite seems to add up.
He began with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but maybe you flashed past him behind the tidal wave that was Sean Penn’s stoner philosophy. There was Valley Girl and a few benefits to being a Coppola brother or so by association with Rumble Fish. Leaving Las Vegas (1995) made him Hollywood royalty, though, with a Best Actor Academy Award. Take a moment to marinate that—we are a world where Nicolas Cage has a Academy Award. It’s fabulous.
Then again, there’s something with Cage. There’s a brilliance flip to every Adaptation, where he’s two takes on himself, but then a full-out-of-the-blue’s-he-kidding-right? moment, where he’s riding around on a flaming bike, Ghost Rider. He’s a real-world definition of “go big or go home.”
The Action Star Era
For a very particular instance from the 1990s, Nicolas Cage was our man action dude. The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off (you know, where John Travolta and he exchange faces, just because why the heck not?)—those are films that solidified him as our loose hero whom we never wanted but oh so desperately needed. The cage sauce to his victory? The fact that he could say something like, “How in the name of Zeus’ butthole?!” with stone-cold seriousness.
Drama, Memes & Bees
But he doesn’t want to be action man. No, no. He’s even less one-dimensional even than that sticky note holder with pencils near your desk. We want a brooding, by-the-book Romantic Hero? He’s holed himself up in City of Angels. Horror? The Wicker Man. And then there was “NOT THE BEES!” If you’re not memifying that moment, are you even internet-living?
And just when you thought he was finished, he leaps into voice work with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (why not, Spider-Man could be noir).
The Meta Masterpiece
Flash-forward to today, and Nicolas Cage is more than willing to collaborate. If you’ve never watched The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, where Nicolas Cage himself plays a stylized, over-the-top semblance of himself, do yourself a favor and remedy that. It’s the Nicolas Cage-iest thing you’ve ever seen. He’s essentially taking a dead-the-eye gaze and going, “Yeah, I’m insane. Enjoy.” It’s Cage’s World; We’re Just Living In It Unsatisfied with just behaving, he’s even attempted to make things (Shadow of the Vampire), to direct things (Sonny, anyone?), and to purchase up the strangest things known to man (such as a dinosaur skull and, once, a pyramid tomb). In a sentence, there’s no corner of the world that he hasn’t attempted to dominate. He even’s got a star on his Walk of Fame, just to provide formal proof of his legend status. But still, still he’s still not quite through. In future releases such as Dream Scenario and Longlegs, Nicolas Cage continues to careen full speed into tomorrow. The question, though, remains.does Nicolas Cage ever sleep? Maybe he just rides flaming cycles into evening Hollywood sunsets every night? Either way, there’s something that’s a dead cert. You never see Nicolas Cage, you live it. Frankly, couldn’t any of us do with a pinch or two of that manic, Academy Award-winning, bike-riding insanity? Perhaps. Very probably. In all honesty, who but Nicolas Cage can be Nicolas Cage?
Nicolas Cage’s Family: From Coppola Roots to Cage Rage
Nicolas Cage’s saga started long, long ago in Long Beach, California. Because, naturally, any film legend comes from a city with a world-class aquarium and a hustle-and-bustle port life, right? He was born to August Coppola, a literature professor who likely kept his bookshelves full of leather-bound tomes and a permanently authoritative eyebrow, and Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer so exotic-sounding she likely moonlit as a Paris cabaret star, young Nic was already bound for melodrama.
But as box-office smashes were being dictated by genetics, then his genetic material was bribing Academy voters to left and right. He’s got Italian roots going from his father’s side that basically guarantees oven-fresh, authentic pizza coursing through his veins. His grandparents? Composer Carmine Coppola (you know, The Godfather theme?) and actress Italia Pennino, who by having a name seems to be plucked from a vintage Vespa commercial. How Italian a family is this? His great grandparents were from Bernalda, Basilicata, a city so quaint it might as well be a Hallmark film setup called Christmas Pasta Piccolo.
Then there’s his mom’s side, a grab-bag German, Polish, English, and Scottish. If there’s a guy to sum up the European Union, it’s Nic Cage. It’s no wonder that he’s got a perpetual brooding, “I’ll steal the Declaration of Independence,” look going in his eyes. He’s a Renaissance man and a grumpy pub poet, all in one.
But The Coppola clan’s more than a family business, it’s The Avengers of Tinsel Town. Through his old man, Nic’s nephew to film mogul Francis Ford Coppola. You know, the dude who dealt with The Godfather, no problem. Talia Shire’s his aunt (because somebody’s gotta be “Yo, Adrian!”ing ad nauseam), his cousins are Sofia Coppola (of Lost in Translation) and film dirctorial brother to Sofia, Roman. And completing supporting cast during family Christmas are film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert and Jason Schwartzman. That a family tree or a credits page from a film?
But Nic wasn’t to be a family footnote entry listed as a “nepotism babies” entry. No sir. Mr. Cage desired ideas. The kind where, hey, you change your name so nobody’s going to sit next to you side by side with, oh, say, the real Godfather dirctor, but rather, give yourself a name after Luke Cage, Marvel man. That man woke up one morning and said, “You know what’s going to be classy? A bit comic book snazz and a pinch of experimental composer John Cage.”
First, though, he was one of three bros, including Marc Coppola, a club DJ who works with a radio station in New York who needs to change his station’s name to “The Cope,” and Christopher Coppola, a filmmaker because, oh, by association, flipping burgers minimum wage just doesn’t seem to be a future career option within his family. This family approaches film-making just as any of us approaches Subway sandwiches–as a no-brainer, foregone career option.
Nic went to Beverly Hills High School, essentially Hogwarts for teenagers who come from families who store award night champagne, rather than, say, soda, in their fridge. His very first role, though, wasn’t a film, but a school play (Golden Boy) where he concluded, with all requisite confidence a 15-year-old possesses, “I’m killing this.” And being Nic Cage, never half-hearted, he became completely fixated with James Dean. Not fanboy, but a man who his work influenced deeper still even than a Led Zeppelin solo influenced a person. The roles Dean played in Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden were, supposedly, Nic’s emotional awakening. Picture deciding as a 15-year-old your career goal is to act better than James Dean. All well then?
Then comes the crowning moment of adolescent pretentiousness. He’s 15 and flat-out says to Francis Ford Coppola, who directed Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, “you know, give me a screen test. I’ll give you a demonstration of acting.” He got crickets. And likely the strangest family car ride home from that moment. See that kind of confidence. You say to Uncle Francis, “Get out of my way, Brando,” and Uncle Francis gives you a side-eyed glance, as though you just mocked his sauce recipe.
Yes, Nic did a few of his uncle’s movies, did his uncle work. But sooner or later, he was, “Nah, no thanks, no cloud of nepotism over my head.” And voila, poof, Nicolas Coppola was Nicolas Cage, Hollywood mystery that still lingers to date. And, as everyone’s aware, lions go into cages, rebels go into cages, and those who are going to be a leading man someday in a film where they steal the Declaration of Independence are going to be locked up.
Nic Cage doesn’t act, he’s a walking, talking paradox. Half European roots, half comic fanboy, half Hollywood gall. The man did not inherit the name Coppola; he looked at it, shouldered his Italian leather, and became a man who could play no one but himself.
Nicolas Cage Films (1981–1988): Chaos, Charisma & Pure Genius
Nicolas Cage’s body of work as an actor is a theme park built by a fired crazy scientist who got let go from his job due to “too much creativity.” One moment, it’s high-flying Academy-worthy material, and the next, it’s upside-down twists and spinning corkscrews of so-wrong-it’s-right decisions that you are yelling, “What am I watching?!” And still, somebody enjoys it. The element of doubt, the whiplash—that’s Nicolas Cage’s magic. He doesn’t act; he infuses life with life. Let there be flops—we come to roast, toast, and question his career decisions every so often because, well, nobody nor nobody does a “Full Cage” better than he.
The Eccentric Punk Romeo (1983)
Seeing it: Valley Girl, a bargain-rate Romeo and Juliet set aflame with neon-infused ’80s colors and filmed with a bottle-white fog of Aqua Net. The actor himself portrays Randy, a punk rock legend with a penchant for mixtapes and a combustibility that screams, “I may or may not erupt into tears at a moment’s notice.” He falls hard into love with Julie, a valley girl who’s packed to the brim with legwarmers and mall culture. It’s schmaltzy, it’s sentimental, but it’s undeniably Cage.
Until now, however, you never quite know his lovesick hound eyes are deep or he just darn well has to go. Nevertheless, the guy courted his object with a Clash cassette mixtape, punk-rocking Shakespeare to kingdom come. Tragic missteps? Love? Horrendous synthesizers? Valley Girl was our initial pinch of our Cage seasonin’ with which we became addicted.
Oscar, Is That You? (1987)
Then there’s Moonstruck, a rom-com no less messy and lovely as your Italian grandma’s Sunday dinner. Cage leads opposite Cher, half-sprightly, half-tetchy (who wouldn’t do Cher a favor?). He’s one-armed pastry baker Ronny, who’s bitter with anger against “life and love and bread, it seems.”
What other actor could market a monologue where a disheveled, unkempt man yells existential terror to a woman in his smoke-wreathed bakery? Cage, naturally. It’s demented craziness pitched so sincerely that you, yourself, are asking yourself whether or not life’s improved with fewer carbs. Critics praised; we were flabbergastered. He even received a Golden Globe nomination, solidifying the truth that dramatic collapse with carbs are, yes, eternal art.
When the Coen Brothers Got into Trouble (1987)
If you have never seen Raising Arizona, then abrogate. Right. This very minute. Cage portrays H.I. McDunnough, a geniably unstable ex-con who believes snatching a baby is a darn acceptable cure-all for his marital ills. Logical? Never. Hilarious? Umm, yes.
It’s a playground where a person moves from slapstick to lovesick goofiness with such facility. He’s scuttling around here in a desert with purloined pantyhose, carrying a purloined baby. It should’ve been insanity but becomes sheer genius. That’s just Cage being himself–concocting completely ludicrous situationsftely touching. There’s probably a real baby in the audience to deliver his standing ovation.
The ”Mad Dog” That Everyone Never Forgot (1984)
Oh, The Cotton Club. It’s a story of gangsters and jazz which flopped like a drunk on closing time. But Cage? He did not flop. Not. He exploded into view as wild-eyed Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll, crazier man even than hyenas are sane.
Yes, it wasn’t a blockbuster, but Cage’s “go big or go completely berserk” manifesto made every frame he donned unforgettable. His Mad Dog was crazed, snarling madness–as though ripped from a gangster film by error but completed, “We’re improvising, and we’re doing it loud!” Critics did notice, however, and they demonstrated that Cage could act up a storm with a box office rising up in flames.
The Metaphorical Lightning Rod (1984–1986) Between Birdy and Peggy Sue Got Married, though, Cage was cementing himself as lord of Hollywood’s “Wait, what’s he doing?” He did a tormented soldato… and his own buddy’s fixation with birds (parrots, naturally, since, hey, no reason to question things here).
Thought he was committed? He notoriously had his teeth yanked to be real. HIS ACTUAL TEETH. Not veneers, no CGI, no nothing. And then everyone got so middle-of-the-road with life suddenly. Becomes America’s Loose Cannon Sweet Not all Nicolas Cage movies are home runs. There are ones that are third-draft hallucinations. But where Nicolas Cage lands, oh boy, does he. This is a man who’s been a punk rock Romeo, a baby stealing ex-con, a one-armed soap opera baker, and a flat-out crazy dog. You don’t see Nicolas Cage, you endure Nicolas Cage. You walk away from his movies with no idea whether to cheer or get a therapist. And isn’t that, folks, what movies are supposed to be? Cage is no actor. He’s a work of performance art. He’s disruption and charisma embodied within a strange work of art. And, inexplicably, maybe that’s life’s very greatest representation.
Inside Nicolas Cage’s Most Bizarre Career Years (1989–1994)
Bizarretely Incoherent Odyssey To Nicolas Cage’s Experimental (but Eccentric) Career Doldr
What unites camp vampires, Elvis impersonations, and trash-for-them Top Gun rip-offs? Not a joke setup; Nicolas Cage’s output between 1989 and 1994. That period of experimentation during which, by myth, Cage signed his name to every script to cross his desk, however preposterous, dangerous, or frankly jaw-dropping it was.
It was the Bermuda Triangle of originality, where reason and moderation vanished into thin air. And yet, by alchemy or accident, from all that madness and insanity, something wonderful ensued. He became a legend. A meme-worthy, preposterous, oft-critiqued legend. Buckle up, everyone—we’re going to be taking a wild timeline tour of Cage’s career.
1989: Enter the Vampire
First, Vampire’s Kiss (1989). Thisblack komedia noirein which a guy believes he’s becoming a vampire deserves an Internet corner to itself. Cage, who shows up with plastic vampire fangs and manic enthusiasm to light up a small city, gives aperformance that veers from sublimely ridiculous to “What did I just see?” over a full minute or so. Critics shredded it. (“Self-indulgent, overly theatrical mess,” snarked The New York Times’ Vincent Canby.) Fans boycotted. Still, oh, how it endures to this very day as a cult film, solidified forever within meme culture. If you’ve seen that bug-eyed gif of Cage, well, congrats, you’ve seen cinematic history.
1990s Kickoff with Elvis. and Helicopters
Skip to Wild at Heart (1990), David Lynch’s bizarre collison of crime, romance, and Elvis impersonation. Sailor Ripley, played by Nicolas Cage, is a man who’s fanatical about his snakeskin leather jacket (individuality and conformity to personal freedoms, of course) and overall crooner of Elvis songs to his heart, played by Laura Dern. Split reactions? You better darn. But, hey, the film strode away with Palme d’Or from Cannes. Only Lynch could make loose love birds and hitmen to be, well, nearly poetry.
Still not quite finished with Lynch, even, Cage added his lyrics to Industrial Symphony No. 1, a bizarre stag-film collaboration involving ghost-float-girls and… um, no further explanation. Frankly, it’s probably better to decipher hieroglyphics.
Then there was Fire Birds (1990), longingly wishing to be Top Gun, Army helicopter Edition, but ending up film equivalent to making Ray-Bans from glasses purchased at the pharmacy. The critics thrashed it. There was a moment where he portrayed a hotshot flyboy going up against nasty men andSideways Hamlets-type bad dialogue.
Straight to the VHS Bargain Bin
1991’s erotic thriller Zandalee missed theaters with a bullet, going direct-to-VHS with a swagger that’s no less deserved. Heavy with sweaty closeups, melodrama to go, and Cage’s eccentric gaze toward, oh, just just nearly everything. Surprise! It did not quite ignite any flame. But oh boy, it’s worth a popcorn-munching watch just to see cage’s half-charming, half-crazed mojo.
1992-1993: Elvis Meets Cringe Dad
Then came Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), a romantic comedy where Cage sported an Elvis-like jumpsuit and parachuted into matrimony. Roger Ebert declared Cage’s excesses to be over-the-top and quaintly endearing, but others, naturally, were less so. In promotion, even, a Saturday Night Live sketch was setup by Cage himself, demonstrating that he could blend Elvis atmospherics and klutzydad sensibility with a truly marvelous sense of humor. But oh, 1993 was by no means lenient. All together, Red Rock West, Deadfall, and Amos & Andrew were dumped to market all at once… and poof, into thin air. The former, from brother Christopher Coppola, proved nepotism never equals quality film. See DERANGED sneers, plot twists gone wrong, and, by chance, seething Cage like a supernova even as the script’s gravity pulls toward middle-of-the-road.
Wholesome… then WH
He sought to redeem himself with It Could Happen to You (1994), during which he played a gentle-hearted cop who splits his lottery fortune with a waitress. Sweet? Yes.forgettable? Also yes. There’s then Trapped in Paradise (1994), which trapped Cage in one of the worst reviewed comedies of the decade. Descending into nightmare, where SNL comedians Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey improvise their way around, no wonder then that it’s said that Cage himself intervened to direct bits of film himself. Comdy? Hostage situation? We know not. Bold Steps, Nutty Legacy That’s it. Nicolas’s 1989–1994 experimental year was a work creating “choices.” Gold, trash, or both to a portrait? The question never comes into consideration. The Bottom Line: The truth is, every character, however flaky, crosses with undying energy, a man who’s been trained with snake skin coats, plastic vampire dentures, and a sufficient dose of Elvis impersonation to cause a Vegas act jealous convulsions. Would I say that chapter was regrettable? No. Audacious? Oh, yes. Legendary? Yes. And wasn’t that just exactly what we adored Nic Cage?
Nic Cage Unleashed (1995–2003): Chaos, Oscars, and Cult Classics
If you’ve ever watched Nicolas Cage act and thought to yourself, “Is he acting or putting together a solo performance art exhibit?”, no judgments, you’re among friends. Buckle up-we’re going back to his wackiest, meme-iest, and Academy Award-winning body of work from 1995 to 2003. Spoiler alert? Critics were sometimes gobsmacked by just exactly what they just watched.
1995: The year Twice cage stole The Show
It’s 1995. Cage begins with Kiss of Death, where he’s a gangster boss played with a delicacy matching a sledgehammer. Critics said a “strongest point to the film,” just fancy doublespeak to say “he stole it lock, stock, and barrel.” David Caruso, touted as lead, could still be protesting.
But Cage wasn’t finished. Months later, Leaving Las Vegas arrived, and Cage screams, “Hold my whiskey!” Literally. To place himself in character to play an alcohol-abusing screenwriter who’s killing himself with booze, within a two-week time frame, he binge-drinked. Method actor or excuse to go on a binge? You be the judge. One way or another, it paid off. An Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and what I’m assuming was a standing ovation by bartenders around the world followed. Iconic. Unhinged. Pure Cage.
1996-1997 Action Hero Period: The Rock, Con Air, and Face Swapping
By 1996, Cage assumed world wasn’t quite sophisticated, did need him as action hero. Along comes The Rock, where he was rebranded from Academy Award-winning sad boy to cerebral FBI chemical wizard to partner Sean Connery to steal Alcatraz. Possible? Not a bit. Enjoyable? 100%.
Then there was 1997. Oh, 1997. He topped the bill with Con Air, where he played Cameron Poe, a drawling southern convict with long hair, stuck on a plane with crazies. Roger Ebert declared his work “the wrong choice.” Show that to his cast and crew. Right or wrong, it’s a cult phenomenon among preposterous movies.
But hold up, there’s more. The same year gave Face/Off, where Nic Cage and Travolta exchanged faces and competed with one another to melt actor’s seams with a blur of insanity and eccentricity. Critics adored it. Fans adored it. Science? Does NOT approve, no question. Seeing Nic Cage as Travolta and Travolta as Nic Cage? Every second worth it.
1998-1999 Drama Detour (With Some Angels)
Cage, clearly sick of explosives, attempted a side trip into melodrama. There was City of Angels (1998), where he was an angel who, oh no, falls for Meg Ryan. The critics were. divided. Some were “endlessly resourceful” to his credit, and others compared his vibe to “a serial killer in celestial drag.” ouch.
Then there was Snake Eyes, a corrupt-cop-at-a-boxing-match film with operatically excessive zooms, wind-blown monologues, and a screenplay critics said was penned during a binge with a bottle of whiskey.
Fortuitously, 1999 was corrected with Bringing Out the Dead, in which Cage was neurotically and aggressively present as a burned-out paramedic within a Scorsese-directed film. Box office? Eh. Performance by Cage? Just creepy enough, a refresher course that nobody descends into insanity better than he.
2000-2003 Reinvention, Conmen, and Twins
The 2000s then combined action with melodrama. First, it was with Gone in 60 Seconds, as a full-fledged adrenaline junkie as a former car thief. In a story-telling sense, it was eye-roller-ish, but its economic success did then cement that Cage could blow up things and still have a crowd.
Then there was Adaptation (2002), a brain-spinner where Cage played, no joke, twins: a neurotic screenwriter and his twin brother, a jovial guy. Columnists tiptoed past one another to proclaim his genius, and it earned yet another Academy Award nomination. The same year also included directing Sonny, a film everyone diplomatically agreed to never speak of again. Alternating with them were 2003’s Matchstick Men, a snappy heist film where Cage’s obsessive-compulsive conman demonstrated, as with so many times previously, that he’s capable of shouldering films probably beyond his station.
Grand Finale? In Fact, Just Intermission By 2003, Cage was a walking paradox within film. He could be commercial wild card and critical darling. Whether body-swapping with Travolta, binge-drinking his way to Oscars, or corrupt car-thief and corrupt angel, he did something more within film. something more than to act. No, cage burst through scripts and vomited up performances so fantastically deranged they cannot be remembered. Love him, meme him, or see-sideways from a distance, something’s a given where Nicolas Cage’s involved. Acting’s never a question of safety. It’s a question of danger. And nobody’s dangerous quite as Nicole Kidman’s archetypal adversary, Nicolas Cage. G’nosh to you, Nic. We could all be so adventurous (and eccentrically compelling) as yourselves.
Nicolas Cage 2004-2011: The Treasure Hunter & Flaming Skull Era
Nicolas Cage film history throughout this entire freak period of his life is a crazy roller coaster, loop-the-loops and switchbacking are included, with a side helping of flaming wreckage. Fasten your seatbelts, babies, as we snarkfully look back on Nicolas Cage film career highlights (and, ahem, career misfires). Spoiler alert: There’s quite a bit of yelling, dubious career moves, and, oh yes, bees.
1995–2003: Action Hero to Academy Winner to Franchise King
First, it was sometime in the middle ’90s that Cage broke into megastardom with a dash of grime, action, and…con-airplanes? It was with 1995’s “Leaving Las Vegas” that he won his Academy Award, and proved underneath all that deranged nuttiness exists a gifted actor. But since Cage doesn’t go “predictable,” he then proceeded to see his Oscar success topped by a litany of way-over-the-top action epics such as 1996’s “The Rock,” 1997’s “Con Air,” and 1997’s “Face/Off,” so preposterous, they became classics.
It was essentially a slow motion action sequence, melodramatic gaze, and Cage being, “I’m going to steal the Declaration of Independence.” Which, by coincidence, ends up leading to…
A National Treasure, 2004
Well, “National Treasure.” Indy’s action-adventure history-major-treasure-hunter alter ego here gives way to Ben Gates, played by Cage. Maps being scared by. Frankly, no, no, no, no, no. This film oughtn’t to have been a success. The map having been obviously impressed, then, onto a backing American icon? Secret societies? Ridiculous leaps of logic? And yet, oh boy, a financial success, solidifying its place as Cage’s number two film. We laughed. We smiled. We learned that, yep, sure enough, sometimes treasure does. end up being. profit.
2005–2006: The “Hey, At Least I’m Acting”
Prior to 2005, where Cage was trying things with “Lord of War” and “The Weather Man,” those were invariably reviewed work from his filmography, but together, as people, audiences rolled their eyes, so those movies were “good but forgettable.” There’s then 2006’s “The Wicker Man” to live off infamy by virtue of association with the ungainly shout, “NOT THE BEES!” It’s a remake no one’s desired into existence, with a history being to a large extent YouTube parody. Do remember that scene where Cage proclaimed himself done with acting? Neither does everybody.
2007–2008: Ghost Riders and Werewolves and Bangkok, Oh My
“Ghost Rider” (2007) must be slow clapped, stupidly proud but fun. The antiheroic flaming-skulled picture of Cage deserves a Marvel film to be a poster boy or poster child, I should say, of stupidest Hollywood has to offer. Critics panned it, but audiences were hooked. Fast forward to 2008’s “Bangkok Dangerous,” where a Thailand-bound guilt-ridden hitman, played by Cage, looks chic, okay, but returns from box were as dead as its title.
It’s a reference to 2007’s “Grindhouse,” where a brief appearance by Cage as Fu Manchu is from a parodic preview from “Werewolf Women of the S.S.” Five minutes by Cage, 100 minutes lost.
2009–2011: The Cage Renaissance (Sort Of)
“Knowing” (2009) is what you end up with from pairing an end-of-the-world screenplay with Cage as a didactic MIT professor sketching disaster scenarios. Critics did not bother, but audiences lapped up its pandemonium-and-existential-terror smasher. The day’s actual star, though, still remains motionless “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.” Werner Herzog’s direction and a loose-and-living-performance by Cage meant a critical darling-of-a-fever-dream-of-a-film of corruption, drugs, and hallucinations featuring iguanas. Insane? Absolutely. Genial? Absolutely. Turbulent later days, though, swung back to incredibility yet again with “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (2010) and “Season of the Witch” (2011). Fantastical idiocy from his own fancy with regards to CGI, middle-age obtuseness, and blundering-along-by-mischance into a ‘wrong’ set by Cage. And, naturally, just to finish things off, there’s the unnecessary but inexplicable-for-being-“Ghost Rider: Spirit of Nicolas Cage, El Verdadero Tipo Salvaje From flagship-popular hits to distracting flops, Nicolas Cage remains Tinseltown’s wild man leading man. He burst into every role with a certain ferocity that’s commonplace with life-and-death situations. It’s a career comprised of brilliance, bombast, and utter madness, and quite frankly, we couldn’t possibly want it another way. From box-office smash to meme-fodder failure, Cage’s a star beyond a star. He’s a phenomenon. And, quite honestly, we’re just here to see.
The Cage Age of Madness, Most Chaotic Career Moments
Nicolas Cage in “Stolen” and More Bizarre Movie Swings
Nicolas Cage. The man, the myth, the meme. There are fewer actors who have cultivated a career as eccentrically unpredictable (and, ahem, unhinged) as our Nicolas Cage. A ticket to a Nicolas Cage movie is less a purchase to see a film and more a front-row ticket to one of Hollywood’s strangest thought experiments. From 2012 to 2017, Cage offered a smorgasbord’s worth of performances that were laughably entertaining or, ahem, why does this even exist? Buckle up, everyone, as we look back over his biggest career swings during his golden age of craziness.
You know Stolen? If so no problem; so does the entire species. Cage played a reformed thief who was given a time-limited window to extract his abductee, stuffed-at-the-back-of-a-cab-daughter. It’s like Taken branched a branch from the clearance section. The silver lining? cage did, however, brood, dash, and scowl his way through it. The bad news? The audience, and critics, did not even change to the GPS to where to find this one.
Nicolas Cage’s 2013 Hat Trick of Chaos and Genius
Dear 2013. The year that a hat trick was completed by Cage, as he provided prehistoric family friendly pandemonium, serial killing melodrama, and independent grime.
First, The Croods. Visualizing Nicolas Cage as a prehistoric patriarch named Grug. Yep, it sounded every bit as wonderful as it did. All his heart’s concerned with are two things: caring for his family and seething with rage like a man who’s, oh so, barefoot on a Lego. Critics adored it. The box office? A very $585 mil to accompany a film with rocks and values, familial. Got to give them credit, even cavemen adore Cage.
Then there’s The Frozen Ground. John Cage versus John Cusack. It’s chilly. There are serial killers. Near-fatal near-fatal teen encounter survives Teenager Vanessa Hudgens. Check, check, check, check. The real film? Grab bag. The grumpy Alaskan State Trooper played by Cage? EERILLY compelling. To say it’s a “family friday night TV” to do it or a family time together, manhunting’s being insinuated, kind of, would be stretching it unless.
Leaving Las Vegas to Cannes Chaos: Cage Unleashed
Third. Joe. That’s where they were headed, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Oh, look, he pretends!” With a grizzled look with a heart a soft a center that’s not-so-safe-for-work, Nicolas Cage cemented once again why he’s a definition of Hollywood mystery man walkin’. In a turn heavy with depth and a pinch of his Leaving Las Vegas brilliance, Cage tossed just enough morsels to get critics chatterin’. Box Office returns? Gosh, let’s just say they probably just purchased popcorn. Critics? Ho boy, they were buzzin’. Indie cult icon staking his high-art cred? Locked. And. Loaded.
Skip ahead to 2016, and from magnificent to absurdine to Cannes. Hello Dog Eat Dog. Acrime-comedy fever nightmare nobody could’ve possibly anticipated (no joke, nobody). Imagine Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe loose, and unabashedly finding their way into a baby-thievery anarchy and obliterating all within their radius with fearless abandon. This wasn’t aperformance; This was Cage and Dafoe oozing a manic chemistry so potent, they might just seduce a room full of naughty toddlers with three helpings of birthday cake to a coma.
Directed by Paul Schrader, film wild man, his film opened wide at Cannes, but by means of derailing it. Because who better to burst a tidal wave of anarchy into a room full of very important, very serious film critics? The critics were divided between “weirdly brilliant” to a sort of general WTF moment over just how exactly it managed to get through any kind of approval process. But isn’t that just what great art’s supposed to do?
Mom and Dad: A Cage Rage Masterpiece, John Waters Approved
2017-ish, but Really 2018 John Waters Favorite Then there’s Mom and Dad, a film where Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair’s “parenting” are cranked up to eleven. The story? Moms and dads get a sudden twinge to murder their young ones by virtue of some absurdist nervous-zapping fit. Cage go 0 to 100 and stays there during a demented-eyed scene so over-the-top, it became a work of Performance Theater. It opened during TIFF’s Midnight Madness, and correctly so, since there’s but one place rowdy film like that could go. Rotten Tomatoes issued a virtual slap to Cage’s back, and John Waters declared it one among 2018’s very finest. If John Waters gives his stamp of approval, then so be it, next. In Chausic by Nicolas Cage From cave-man dads to huntsman-murders to yanking babies away, Nicolas Cage did not just act from 2012 to 2017; he moonwalked from extreme to extreme within the bell curve of film. Even as movies flamed, Cage was unpredictable, unrepentant, and completely captivating. Isn’t that just exactly what exactly are here to see? He’s Hollywood’s wild card, his very existence a guarantee by which no film that ends up within his lap are going to get less than 110% Cage energy. And real talk? That alone deserves entry every time.
Truffles, Talent & Technicolor Screaming Since 2018
There is but one man in Hollywood who can go from truffle hunting to playing Dracula and somehow make it seem like a reasonable career trajectory—that man is Nicolas Cage. Yes, Nicolas Kim Coppola himself, Hollywood’s enigma who can swerve from high art, meme-baiting madness, and anything in between. Cage does not appear in films; he consumes them whole, chews them up with his “feral intensity,” and grudgingly leaves us mere mortals nothing but Oscar-worthy crumbs as an afterthought.
Mandy (2018): Peak Cage, Peak Chaos
Remember Cage’s psychedelic fever dream Mandy? It premiered at Sundance and saw critics like RogerEbert.com’s Nick Allen praising Cage for hitting “career-best” levels of insanity. The man used a chainsaw the length of your grocery list with such ferocity you’d think it just mocked his hairline. Producer Elijah Wood even tried to campaign him for an Oscar nomination, but some video-on-demand release technicality early in the game killed that dream. But if they handed out awards for “Best Actor Channeling a Grizzly Bear on a Bad Day,” Cage would have been a two-time winner that year alone.
2018-2020 Cage gets animated, noir & Lovecraftian
And who can forget Spider-Man Noir? Imagine Cage doing his best Humphrey Bogart impression in Into the Spider-Verse. It’s like somebody said, “Hey Nick, you know those old black-and-white movies, right? Terrific. Be all of them at once.” Incredibly, it worked. Before that, he got meta with Teen Titans Go!, voicing Superman, a role he once almost played IRL in Tim Burton’s ill-fated Superman Lives. See? Even Cage’s failures have layers.
And then along came 2020’s Color Out of Space, a Lovecraftian acid trip with alpacas, shrieking off the rails, and Nicholas Cage battling a technicolor alien invasion. It’s as though Cage said, “What’s missing from this genre is MORE Cage” and somehow made it terrifyingly brilliant. Naturally, this level of insanity earned him awards—for being himself.
2021-2023 The Renaissance of Relentless Cage
Get this. Just when you thought Cage was settling for B-movie heaven, Pig dropped in 2021. Critics started scratching their heads, going, “Wait, Cage can actually act?” Here, he trades in his manic energy for quiet devastation, playing a truffle forager searching for his kidnapped pig. Some dared to call it his John Wick moment, but with swine. Nah, it’s just classic Cage showing off he can still gut-punch your soul when he wants to.
Shortly after that, he blew our minds as a group with The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), where he played, well, himself. Except heightened. It’s Nicolas Cage playing “Nicolas Cage.” And if you had even a passing familiarity with Cage’s life, you weren’t certain if the movie was satire or autobiography. Either way, it’s peak Cage-on-Cage action.
By 2023, Cage swung again, this time in Dream Scenario, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Who else but Nick Cage as a middle-aged guy inadvertently haunting people’s dreams and darkly crushing it?
Dracula, Superman & What’s Next? The Cage Multiverse Expands
And naturally, in 2023’s Renfield, Cage as a flamboyantly narcissistic Dracula was chef’s kiss perfection. Because if anyone can turn a cape, fangs, and camp into an art form, it’s Cage. And just for sport, his Superman cameo in The Flash sent us into nostalgia overdrive, CGI de-aging and all.
Speaking of nostalgia, the man is not taking a rest. 2024 finds him leading Longlegs, a horror thriller where he is a literal serial killer (Cage can’t even be metaphorical anymore). And if that Spider-Man Noir goodness was your thing, prepare for more in a live-action series, filmed in gloriously moodily monochrome, the only way Cage could demand.
The Takeaway? The World Spins & the Cagemachine Churns
Here’s the thing about Nicolas Cage: whether he’s screaming at a chainsaw, gently crying about a pig, or maniacally grinning as Dracula, the man will not play it safe. Love him or meme him, one thing’s certain—we’re all just supporting actors in Cage’s endless cinematic multiverse. And honestly, would you want to be anywhere else?
Nicolas Cage’s Love Life: Wedding Bells, and the Cage Family Symphony
If Nicolas Cage’s love and family life were a movie, it’d be the kind of cult classic that’s so wild you can’t look away. The man’s been married five times, has kids with three different mothers, and somehow manages to make all of this seem like the most Nicolas Cage thing imaginable. Strap in folks—this is a wild ride.
The Rock Meets Black Metal
Way back in the late ’80s, Nic dated actress Christina Fulton. The two of them gave us Weston Coppola Cage, the eldest of the Cage kids. But Weston isn’t your average celebrity kid. Oh no, this guy was the lead vocalist in not one but two symphonic black metal bands. That’s right, black metal. Think darkest, spikiest, most eyeliner-heavy metal you can think of.
And if that isn’t strange enough, Nicolas himself showed up at a 2007 concert at the Whisky a Go Go. The sight of Cage headbanging in a dark goth metal-filled club? It’s strange and iconic at the same time. Weston’s also dabbled in acting, with a appearance in dad’s movie Lord of War and the thriller Rage. Oh, and did we mention Weston’s continuing the eccentric tradition with two children of his own? Grandpa Nic’s got one crazy family tree.
Wife #1: Patricia Arquette
Next on Nic’s matrimonial rollercoaster was Patricia Arquette. They were married in 1995, and for six whole years, things were (relatively) ordinary—for Cage, at least. There is not much to report here, which, quite honestly, is suspicious from a man whose life is otherwise chaos in IMAX.
Wife #2 Is Literally Royalty
And then there’s Lisa Marie Presley. That Lisa Marie Presley. Elvis’s daughter. And if you know anything about Nicolas Cage, you’re saying to yourself, “Of course he’d marry Elvis’s daughter.” The lead in Wild at Heart more or less worships Elvis, going so far as to channel The King in his acting in that movie.
Their love story? A whirlwind by any standard. Nic and Lisa Marie got hitched in Hawaii in 2002, and a whopping 107 days later, they hit Ctrl-Z on the whole ordeal and got divorced. That’s barely Netflix mini-series short. It took two years to fully finalize the break-up, because life, apparently, is more bizarre than fiction when Nicolas Cage is involved.
Wife #3 Accomplished the Impossible
Nic’s subsequent record-breaking romance was with Alice Kim. They married in 2004 in an adorable ranch wedding, and they even welcomed a son, Kal-El, in 2005. (Yes, Kal-El, as in Superman’s Kryptonian name. Was there really any other option for a Nic Cage kid?)
Alice lasted for twelve years, which, in Cage years, is just about forever. That’s longer than most Marvel franchises. Sadly, the “happily-ever-after” had its run by 2016. Still, twelve years and a Superman-worthy kid? Not bad.
Wife #4 Was Pretty Much a Blink
Now we come to Erika Koike, a union so speedy it essentially had the shelf life of a supermarket avocado. They tied the knot in Las Vegas (classic Nic) in 2019, but just four days afterward, Cage concluded he might’ve been “too drunk to comprehend his actions.” It only got messier when Erika’s “complicated personal life” came to light, and Nic requested an annulment quicker than the rest of us cancel free trials. The divorce was finalized in three months, so this is one of the fastest plot twists Hollywood has ever seen.
Wife #5 and a New Horizon
And here we are today with wife #5, Riko Shibata. Nic married Riko on February 16, 2021, making it official while the Valentine’s Day vibes were still in the air. Just when it seemed like Cage would catch his breath, Riko gave birth to their daughter, August, in 2022. It’s the perfect punctuation in this wild, unpredictable, strangely endearing family. At 59, Cage has moved on from black metal concerts to Superman-inspired baby names to quiet domestic life with wife #5 and his youngest son. Hollywood Script. or Nicolas Cage Biography? Nicolas Cage doesn’t so much live life as write it in real-time, complete with all the ridiculousness, drama, and heart you’d expect from a guy who, on a whim, once bought a dinosaur skull because, why not? From black metal concerts to Elvis ties to marriages that don’t last longer than a carton of eggs, Cage’s love life is pure, unscripted entertainment. And honestly? We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Nicolas Cage’s Strange World of Philosophy, Politics, and the Quest for the Holy Grails
Nicolas Cage is not only an actor but an experience. You don’t view his films but experience them. You’ve also been pushed over the edge with his enthusiasm for building castles as a hobby, sat on the edge of the couch during his overbearing performances, and perhaps questioned his hairline winning something. But do we even understand the depths of his off-screen emotions about politics and religion being as absurd as his career? Hold on. The experience has more twists in it than National Treasure and roughly as few questions being answered.
A Sacred Cup, But Not on the House
Nic Cage’s spiritual routine is characteristically Cage. Civilized Catholic, perhaps we should be preparing ourselves for answers on religion with maxims from the classics, a dusting of thanksgiving or as much of a party line on humbleness. Not so with Mr. Cage. “Looks best on the screen,” Cage once said about people to people about movies. That is to say, religion is unclear and Mr. Cage desires it as confounding as a movie plot from Face/Off.
but wait, it gets better. One time our beloved Nic actually attempted his Indiana Jones routine and hunted for the Holy Grail. Yes, THAT Holy Grail. You’re in the process of digging through the couch cushions looking for the keys and Cage is out there scouring the UK for a lump of history from the Middle Ages. The UK was only the start of our modern-day Arthurian knight. He was said to have snuffed around bits of the United States as well. Because wherever else would a 12th-century Grail be except possibly Kansas?
Spoiler warning: the mission didn’t go so well. But then maybe it still did. If Cage actually discovered immortal wisdom in a cup, then the next time we’d hear about it is during the course of some otherwise unrelated interview about taxes.
Politics, But Do It Sneaky
From spiritual cups to the public policy gospel. Discussing politics with Nicolas Cage is like asking a cat to recite the history of string theory. The guy is. slippery. Speaking on campus during his appearance on the University of California Santa Cruz campus as someone broached the subject of politics and Cage, the actor replied, “I’m not a politically active actor— I do it in my work.” You know, like foaming at the mouth in The Wicker Man is political activity. Heavy-handed allegory or Nicolas Cage being about the bees? Due to the vagueness of life we’ll never be sure.
All rules have an exception, even the Cage-rules. Step into the Andrew Yang world during his 2020 presidential run. In the time it took to blink an eye, Cage became the unlikely promoter of the then-leader challenger. The guy who pilfered the Declaration of Independence found Yang to be the greatest treasure. Surprising? Yes. Anyone have the least idea why? Of course not. But something about the two’s energies meshed. More so than politics and large platforms; sometimes life’s about vibes.
Nicolas Cage Philosophy of Life
If Cage’s pranks and postures of non-conformity have anything to teach us, it’s this credo of life (most likely inscribed in flickering letters on the back of a dinosaur’s skull once balancing on his mantlepiece): Life is an adventure best enjoyed loudly. He never thinks outside the box – he blows the box up and writes his own myth on the embers. You try to freeze him out with restrictive questions like “What do you think about politics?” He’ll bound over questions with the passion that existed in his work on flight in Con Air. This is the catch, however. In all the pandemonium, someone’s got to be able to enjoy the chutzpah. Cage’s life isn’t about answers; it’s questions. He maybe didn’t find the Holy Grail per se, but his life’s the pursuit of something substantial—whether or not something inexplicably so just so happens to be discovered in the state of Nebraska.
Channel Your Inner Cage Nicolas Cage has provided us with stupid movies, campier haircuts, and belly laugh scream after belly laugh scream. But his most transparent-as-glass shame of all? The audacity to live shamelessly. It’s purchasing castles or financing Yang or going on an literal treasure hunt – Cage challenges us all to snort in the face of absurdity and all-in on the experience. Maybe out there awaits your own Holy Grail. Maybe it’s the new job, calling the friend from the past, or just getting the completely extraneous desert tonight. Who knows? If Nicolas Cage can scour the European continent after mythic icons the globe over, the least we can do is, well… show up to the twists and turns of our own life’s stories.