Nicolas Cage Reveals He Prepared To Play Himself By Watching One Film That 'Aged Beautifully'

Nicolas Cage has revealed he prepared to play himself in his new film by watching one of his former titles which he believes has 'aged beautifully'.

You might think an actor with as many credits as Cage wouldn't need to prepare for the role of himself, given that he's spent decades in the business and even longer just being himself, but he made clear this week that he wasn't going to just walk into his new film,The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, with no thought.

The movie sees Cage, as himself, befriend a Spanish millionaire named Javi, played by Pedro Pascal, who is secretly a huge fan of the actor. He is then recruited by CIA agents who believe Javi is responsible for kidnapping a foreign dignitary's daughter, throwing up a story which isn't quite reflective of the actual Cage's everyday life. At least, I can't imagine it is.

The film is set for release in the UK next month, but Cage spoke about how he prepared during an interview with Insider at South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, this weekend, March 19.

He described looking back at his 1997 film Face/Off, in which he stars alongside John Travolta. The film tells the story of an FBI agent who undergoes facial transplant surgery to assume the identity of a criminal mastermind, and Cage explained that in watching the film again he was 'really wowed by' it.

'I think that movie's aged beautifully,' he said.

Cage said again that he was 'very wowed' as well as 'fired up' by both the film's director, John Woo, and his co-star Travolta, though only time will tell whether the actor will draw on his Face/Off character Castor Troy when depicting himself in The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent.

Alamy

Face/Off wasn't the only film he watched ahead of taking on the role though, as he said he also rewatched older films, including the 1920 movie The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Cage said German expressionism films like Dr. Caligari have helped influence his acting technique, which he's described as 'nouveau shamanism'.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cage admitted that he initially 'wanted no part of' the film when he first heard about it, but upon receiving a letter from writer-director Tom Gormican he learned he was 'not just trying to mock so-called Nick Cage', and that there was 'a real interest in some of the earlier work'.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is set to be released in cinemas on April 22.

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