Nicolas Cage is riding high after playing a heightened version of himself in the hit SXSW favorite The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, but is a return to Saturday Night Live next on the list? In 1992, Cage made his first and only appearance as the special guest host of SNL. Appearing on the show shortly about a month after the release of Honeymoon in Vegas, the actor was joined by musical guest Bobby Brown.
Three decades later, Cage says in a new interview with GQ that the sketch comedy series is asking him to return this spring. Though he's hosted once before, the Face/Off star doesn't seem to be sold just yet on the idea of coming back. In fact, Cage says he wants to suggest that they instead call the actor who spent a few years impersonating him on the show.
“I feel like saying, ‘Well, why don't you call Andy Samberg? I mean, I hear he's available,’” Cage remarked.
During his SNL tenure, Samberg had often impersonated Cage, usually on the Weekend Update segments. Cage took it well, showing that he had a sense of humor about it by making a surprise appearance on the show alongside Samberg in 2012. With Samberg spoofing him, the real Cage maintains a straight face in spite of all the digs at him, though he gets in a few barbs against Samberg as well.
"This Nic is calm and stealthy, like a ninja warrior," Samberg says of the real Cage.
"Whereas this Nic is an exaggerated, screaming psychopath, who really just doesn't exist," Cage retorts.
Nicolas Cage Has Impressed With His Newest Film
Directed by Tom Gormican, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent premiered earlier this month at SXSW ahead of its theatrical release in April. The film stars Nicolas Cage as Nick Cage, a fictional version of the actor, as he accepts a big-money offer to attend a billionaire super fan's (Pedro Pascal) birthday party. Unfortunately, things take a turn when his family is kidnapped, and Cage must channel his most famous movie roles in order to rescue them from the dangerous drug lord.
After its SXSW premiere, the film debuted with a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is the first Cage movie to premiere with a perfect rating on the review aggregator website, a new career-best for the veteran actor. Though, he has come pretty close to that coveted 100% rating in recent years. He voices a role in 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which has a near-perfect 97% score. Last year's hit acclaimed movie Pig, featuring Cage as a man on a mission to rescue his pig pal, scored an impressive 96%.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will be released by Lionsgate on April 22, 2022. As for Saturday Night Live, the NBC program has been lining up other talent for its forthcoming episodes. It was recently announced that the April 2 episode will be hosted by Jerrod Carmichael with Gunna as the musical guest. This will be followed by Jake Gyllenhaal with Camila Cabello on April 9 before Lizzo does double duty as both host and musical guest on April 16.