Since the beginning of his career, Nicolas Cage has been recognized for his trademark overdramatized acting. His unforgettable style can be identified in his most well-known films such as Face-Off, Leaving Las Vegas, and Con-Air and has certainly solidified Cage’s success as an actor. Although memorable, critics and audiences have often questioned Nicolas Cage’s approach to acting. One of the most criticized performances by Cage is in the 2007 Neil LaBute horror remake of The Wicker Man, which Rotten Tomatoes has hilariously described as “puzzlingly misguided.”
Cage’s performances in films like The Wicker Man have produced multiple internet memes, and at times his acting has been judged as humorous rather than profound. Google Nicolas Cage and you are bound to come across “not the bees” memes and pillows decorated with Cage’s face. That said, the actor hasn’t slowed down because of these judgments. In actuality, Cage has molded his overacting into an intentional art. In 2017, Cage responded to criticisms about his over-the-top performances by telling Variety that he “designs where the top is.” Here is exactly how Nicolas Cage transformed absurd overacting into art.
Nicolas Cage’s Most Well-Known Overacting Performances
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Earlier in Cage’s career, the selection of ridiculous roles appeared less intentional. Directed by Cage’s brother Christopher Coppola, the 1993 film Deadfall has been regarded as one of Cage’s worst films, and an early example of his trademark overacting. Cage portrays an unhinged crime boss with many opportunities for yelling and throwing his weight around. Of course, the aforementioned Wicker Man and the unexpected masterpiece Face/Off are other examples, but one shouldn't overlook his surreal performances in David Lynch's Wild at Heart and the Coen brothers' comedy film Raising Arizona.
Another important example to mention is Cage’s part in the black comedy horror film Vampire's Kiss in which he plays a character that unexpectedly screams the alphabet and wholeheartedly believes he is a vampire.
According to Nicolas Cage in another interview with Variety, even in these instances, he approached his roles as an artist. He says in this discussion that “in painting, you can get abstract, you can get photorealistic, you can get impressionistic, why not try that with film performance?” In many ways, his approach in some of these films is akin to the Japanese acting style in kabuki theater, in which exaggerated performances and intensely expressive melodramatics were inherently part of the emotional conveyance. Regardless, the actor has certainly broken more rules and expectations this way and tried to establish new ranges for acting. Nicolas Cage’s film efforts are now paying off more than ever with his recent role in the Michael Sarnoski film Pig.
The Re-Discovery of Nicolas Cage
The 2021 film Pig, directed by Michael Sarnoski, has been widely regarded as the new age of Nicolas Cage both by audiences and Cage himself. In his interview with Variety, Cage admits that before Pig he had a “couple of flops” and knew that eventually, a young director like Sarnoski would come along and offer him a new part. In the film, Cage plays an isolated truffle hunter who embarks on a wild goose chase when his truffle pig is stolen. The role has opened new doors for the actor including a part as himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and in the 2023 film Renfield as Dracula.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a unique reflection of Cage’s overall career and his commitment to overacting. According to Indiewire, this 2022 film encouraged both audiences and Cage himself to accept that his career has “exploded with the advent of the internet and the memeification as a result of that.” Cage is now “playing with the creation” of these memes.
The way Cage studies his roles has also come into the foreground. Although it might seem at times that Cage is improvising, the characters he creates are much more deliberate than that. For his 2023 depiction of Dracula, he studied the performances of Bela Lugosi, Frank Langella, and Gary Oldman to bring something classic to the Dracula role. Although Cage promises to bring something familiar, he is also dedicated to bringing something new to Dracula in the way he moves and how he speaks.
Nicolas Cage in a New Light
Although Cage is playing with his new image and establishing a new phase of his career, he stands by the belief that his performances have always been fuelled by genuine emotion. He tells Variety that in Face-Off he became so involved in the character that “there was a moment where [he] thought [he] left his body.” In his conversations with Indiewire Cage reinforces the same thing, that the work he does and accepts “has to be sincere.”
If you watch recent Cage interviews, you’ll learn that the actor is not just passionate about performance but about movies in general. Cage is interested in experimental projects, silent film, and German Expressionism. As always, he is committed to pushing boundaries and realizes that “the very thing you’re afraid of, as long as it’s not hurting someone else, is probably the very thing you should go toward.”
Despite the criticism applied to many of Cage’s roles, his more recent roles and genuine flexibility in what he does has reignited his career. Many movie-goers have a newfound respect for his methods and self-awareness.