In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Nicolas Cage talked about his new film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a self-reflexive, fully ironic spy-action film where Cage is playing himself. At least a version of himself. A heightened, just-off-center version of Nicolas Cage. We have come to know and love his films because of his infamy, over-the-top acting, and absurdity. The trailer suggests that the film will premiere at South by Southwest this weekend before opening wide in April. He has a concern about his place in Hollywood and how movies have shaped his personality and how people view him.
There is something delightful about actors playing themselves. The satirical evisceration of how we view the bodily autonomy of celebrities was created by being John Malkovich, featuring John Malkovich as an unintentional host body. We are allowed to own them and we are expected to connect with them as if they are our friends. In Episodes, an example of an actor playing a sideways version of themselves can be seen, as Matt LeBlanc is shown as inexpertly navigating work in Hollywood after being cast in an American remake of a hit British show. The way that fame can create absurdity inherently, and the way that people who make media can often find themselves remaking themselves in their art over and over again are all explored in this series.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent looks at the dramatic offerings and it appears to take it to an extreme. The trailer shows Cage confronting a wax replica of himself holding the golden guns. He is an overextended, out-of-sorts actor trying to hold onto his idea of normal.
The actor, Nicolas Cage, is more reflective than the version we see on screen. He knows he is being made fun of, but he is in on the joke. He was the one who came up with the most memorable line in The Wicker Man. I was sending it.
This man knows exactly what he is doing and is making it happen. He understands that his online persona is so far outside of his control that he can't even try. He has been memed thousands of times. You don't become a 40-year industry veteran without knowing a few tricks, and he's in on every single joke made about him. The exact opposite of Cage's trick is that he has no idea how absurd he is.
Nicolas Cage won an Oscar for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas, and he was also the star of Bringing Out the Dead, which was directed by Martin Scorsese. He has the ability to bring measured intensity to any role; it's how he chooses to use his talent that makes him brilliant. There is a younger version of himself that he has to contend with. Nicolas Cage will appear in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent in 1990 as an imaginary alter-ego. When I was promoting Wild at Heart, I appeared on the Wogan show in England. The guy was an arrogant madman. I think that I would be confronting as the contemporary Nick Cage if I were to play that version of me.
The interview shows a softer side to Cage than the personality that is often forced upon him due to some of his action film roles, not to mention the assumptions of his ability based on his early work when he was still pushing the boundaries of what he could get away with. An actor who is able to be objective without living in the past, who is able to see his impact and his imperfections, and who has decided that the only thing to do is keep working, to keep changing how people think about him, makes every audience sit on the edge of their seats He doesn't care about his films, he only has work.
Nicolas Cage is taking on Nicolas Cage. It looks like it will come close, even if it isn't Face/Off 2.
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