As Nicolas Cage himself said recently, he doesn’t need to have a role in Marvel or anything like that because, well, he is Nicolas Cage. Recognizable worldwide, beloved in many places, the actor has managed to transcend his meme status (and mind you, that’s not easy; many have failed along the way) becoming once again one of the most valued stars in Hollywood… except for some director who has him, inexorably, on the blacklist.
Cage against Chris
Precisely, Cage has stated that there has only been one director who called him again after he turned down a role: “David O. Russell offered me a movie a million years ago. It was a good movie, and I said no, and he is the only director I have said no to who has come back to offer me another“. It is not, apparently, the general protocol in a Hollywood that sometimes has its egos very inflated.
In fact, the movie in question will be Madden, which will be released soon and will be directed by Russell and starring Cage. It’s not usual, according to the actor: “Most of the time you hurt their feelings and they don’t call you again. It’s happened to me a million times. With Christopher Nolan, with Woody Allen, with Paul Thomas Anderson. They don’t call back.” If you’re wondering if Nic was going to be Batman or have a role in Oppenheimer, you need to go back a long way in Nolan’s career.
Nolan’s was Insomnia, yes, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s was a very primitive film based on a short he made with Philip Baker Hall. Fortunately, Cage always responds. As he remembers David Bowie once told him, there is only one way to reinvent oneself: to be uncomfortable with anything one has been doing. Genius and figure.