Nicolas Cage’s latest Shaman-like acting feat, this one is called “Renfield,” was released in theaters a few weeks ago. It’s not a good movie but it is another bonkers performance from the actor. In it, Cage plays a supporting role as Dracula.
It’s also Cage’s 40th movie in the last 10 years. Is that a record? Maybe only Bruce Willis has made more in that time span. Regardless, Cage has had some brave and exciting performances in films as diverse as "Adaptation", "Leaving Las Vegas", "Raising Arizona," "Wild At Heart" and "Red Rock West," just to name a few.
However, the actor isn’t of the belief that any one of these works is the best movie and performance he’s ever given. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Cage says his greatest and proudest work can be found in Michael Sarnoski’s “Pig.”
When I played Rob in “Pig,” I felt I entered the room. I felt like I was closer to me than maybe I have ever felt before in film performance […] that I wasn’t acting. I felt like I was doing exactly what I cared about. I think that it’s probably my best movie and I would put it up against “Leaving Las Vegas” or anything else.
That’s definitely a very personal choice on the part of Cage. Some believe he deserved an Oscar nomination for his work in “Pig.”
I’ll take his work in “Leaving Las Vegas” as not just the best and most raw movie performance he’s ever given, but also one of the very best performances of the last 30 years or so.
In that same interview Cage admits that he took on a slew of low-quality roles after 2008 because he was millions in debt. That would explain some of the more puzzling movies he starred in, many of which didn’t even make it to theaters.
Ethan Hawke has stated that Cage is “the only actor since Marlon Brando that's actually done anything new with the art of acting; he's successfully taken us away from an obsession with naturalism into a kind of presentation style of acting that I imagine was popular with the old troubadours."
David Lynch even described Cage as “the jazz musician of American acting”. I love that description, because, much like Jazz, there’s an improv-like nature to the delivery of his perfomances that feels incredibly unpredictable and damn-near revolutionary.
Up next for Cage is a role in A24’s “Dream Scenario.” In it he plays a schlubby professor who becomes an overnight celebrity after appearing in everyone's dream. Sign me up.
For Schrader, AI solves the curious practical filmmaking problem he had. How about just creating Black people? No casting calls, no agents, no actors turning down the roles.