In Hollywood, one of the most dedicated actors is Nicolas Cage. As an A-list actor and filmmaker, Cage is known by movie fans for the eccentricity and intensity he brings to the screen. Cage is a wild card; he goes to great lengths to put on a show. One time, he pulled his teeth for an acting role, but the good thing is that he never went as far as chopping off a hand, a movie he was allegedly thinking about for his role in Moonstruck, as Cher’s raunchy brother-in-law. After replacing his teeth, he was back in business, showcasing the devilish smile we all remember in Ghost Rider. Whether it’s eating a live cockroach or riding fast cars like a pro, Cage knows how to keep his fans on edge as he displays his craft. Let us take a look at some of the most iconic roles that Nicolas Cage has played.
7 Ben Sanderson: Leaving Las Vegas
In Leaving Las Vegas, Nicolas Cage plays a washed-up screenwriter who is seeking solace in drinking himself to death. In one case, he says to the bartender, “I don’t know if I started drinking because my wife left me or my wife left me because I started drinking.” After spending half of his wealth in bars and picking up what’s left in trash bags, he drives to Sin City while drinking the whole way. He almost knocks over an escort who feels sorry for him and provides him with comfort for the rest of the way. In the movie, Cage comes to his true element in a meltdown that led him to attack a cocktail waitress and overturn a blackjack table. This movie is a story about two desolate people who use love to alleviate their pain. It is a fascinating picture of the last stages of alcoholism.
6 Seth: City of Angels
The premise of the movie City of Angels is a crazy one. Angel Seth (Nicolas Cage) falls head over heels with Maggie (a lovable Meg Ryan) and tries all he can to become human and be with her. Cage’s character receives help from another angel who transitioned and became human, (Dennis Franz). Cage delivers his mastery in this complex story, yet simple to understand. As an Angel, he can only be seen by Maggie, and no one else. To transition and exist in a strange world could be unbearable for Cage. Simple things like tasting food for the first time and understanding the ways of the world put a lot of pressure on his shoulder, but as a passionate actor, Nicolas Cage brings the movie to life with his piercing stares and thoughtful quiet moments.
5 Memphis Raines: Gone in 60 Seconds
Gone in 60 Seconds is another Bruckheimer-produced movie starring Nicolas Cage. Other movies they have paired together include The Rock, National Treasure, and Con Air. Nicolas Cage also worked on this movie with stunt director Johnny Martin, who also worked with Cage in some movies mentioned above. Gone in 60 Seconds is one of those movies that had a list of expensive cars like the iconic 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 that was tagged with the name 'Eleanor'. Cage had a blast shooting the movie with the fast cars because he trained to perform his stunts with the cars.
4 Johnny Blaze: Ghost Rider
If you have read the legendary story in Western folklore about a man making a deal with the devil, Ghost Rider is a softer movie version because it was built to avoid drifting far from the PG-13 realm. But if Cage was the producer of the movie and was left to explore his passion for acting, he would have shot a much darker thriller movie. In an interview with JoBlo, Cage affirmed, “Y'know, Ghost Rider was a movie that always should've been an R-rated movie. David Goyer had a brilliant script, which I wanted to do with David, and for whatever reason they just didn't let us make the movie.”
3 Stanley Godspeed - The Rock
In The Rock, Cage plays the role of Stanley Godspeed, an FBI chemical weapons specialist who teams up with Sean Connery, a notorious Alcatraz escapee, to infiltrate Alcatraz. Ed Harris, a rogue commando, and his army have taken over Alcatraz and taken hostages as they demand $100 million as reparations for the servicemen who died while on covert operations. In The Rock, Cage is a funny, charismatic, and loopy character who is a great partner to John Mason, Sean Connery’s badass ex-con character. So, when the SEAL team that is sent together with Cage and Connery to take back Alcatraz is slain, and the world hangs in a balance, the two odd pairs who survive the onslaught go on a wild action adventure to fight the soldiers.
2 Cameron Poe: Con Air
Mind-boggling action sequences and glorious explosions characterize Simon West’s thriller Con Air. This high-flying action movie takes off like a jet plane and just soars high with passion, as we see psychotically great performances from some of the best actors of the '90s. Con Air is everything we expect in a movie that crosses various themes like family drama, vigilantism, and brotherhood. Nicolas Cage had two of his best movies of the '90s releasing in the same month, Face Off and Con Air.
In Con Air, Nicolas Cage acts as Cameron Poe, a respectable and kind Southern U.S. Army ranger and an unlucky man slaughterer who is depicted as a character who deserves our sympathies. It's hard not to connect and feel for a veteran defending his wife only to commit a crime and rot in prison as he tries to build a relationship with a daughter he has never met. Some say it is one of the best '90s films, and remarkably, it had two Oscar nominations.
1 Castor Troy: Face/Off
After shooting Broken Arrow in 1996, John Woo’s second film in the U.S. market, Face/Off, featured two of the most successful action stars of the ’90s, Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. In the movie, Cage takes the crown with his acting skills as he rocks a pair of gold-plated pistols on his back. John Woo created an amazing masterpiece with great choreography and filming techniques, including the memorable beautiful shots of the pigeons flying in slow-motion. One of the most interesting things about this movie is that it took four years from the day the script was written to the moment John Woo decided to shoot the film. There were lots of letdowns before the movie was shot. For instance, Warner Bros, who were to take up the film, dropped it, and Paramount Pictures wanted Johnny Depp to star alongside Nicolas Cage, but Depp declined the role after reading the script. After shooting the movie in 1997, Face/Off made over $245 million; it was a triumph that elevated John Woo, Nicolas Cage, and John Travolta to new heights in Hollywood.