For Nicolas Cage, the movie biz isn’t a career: “I just see it as work”

"It’s just like trying to catch lightning in a bottle," Cage says of making a film that's actually good

For Nicolas Cage, the movie biz isn’t a career: “I just see it as work”
Nicolas Cage Photo: Rich Fury

Nicolas Cage may come from the most significant showbiz family in the United States (insert obligatory “Cage is a Coppola” reminder here), but in his view, he doesn’t consider showbiz a career, just “work.” In fairness, this is not a general distinction but a personal one, an idea that seems to have protected him from the rollercoaster of the entertainment industry—with which he’s all too familiar.

“You know, I don’t really see it as a career—I even made a note of that in [The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent]. I just see it as work. I never had a career, I only have work and that’s the way I look at it. Everyone’s going to have ups and downs. So I just prefer to look at it as work, and sometimes we’re lucky enough to have a few jobs coalesce in such a way that people can see some creative spark occurring,” he explains in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “But it’s very hard for a movie to come together. It’s just like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. It doesn’t happen often.”

“Both Pig and Mandy were like capturing lightning in a bottle and so was Leaving Las Vegas. But those movies only come once every 20 years,” he continues. “Who knows? I thought Massive Talent was terrific. And you probably know how trepidatious I was about entering that experience, because who wants to play themselves in a movie? It was a high-wire act of the first order, and it terrified me.”

Long story short: sure, Cage is on a hot streak now, but he’s been here before, between years of less-than-stellar output. It’s not an ideology born of being a working-class hero, but a quick perusal of his lengthy resumé shows that the thespian is undeniably a workhorse. After 40 years in the game, Cage says he’s “not afraid to be ugly, and to show the darker side of our nature.” His aim has always been to emulate “film performances that break my heart, that shatter me, that are vulnerable,” he tells the outlet. “So if there’s a movie like Mandy or Pig or Leaving Las Vegas and I can say I’m just starting to get close to that experience I felt in the cinema when I was 14 watching James Dean or Brando, that’s my goal.”

The full interview covers a great many subjects of interest, including Cage’s working relationship with Werner Herzog, his fashion sensibility, and his review of Paddington 2. You can read it for yourself over at The Hollywood Reporter.

 
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