Top 10 Times Nicolas Cage Went Full Cage
5. Deadfall (1993)
Directed by Cage’s own brother Christopher Coppola, Deadfall is a complete dreg of a movie that doesn’t even attempt to hold Cage back from doing whatever the hell he wants with his screen time.
In it, Cage plays Eddy King (for the first time), premiering the porn-star moustache and fake rubber nose, utilising every frame he’s in to try and out-Cage even himself.
In one scene that finds King accusing his lover of cheating, Cage lets loose a tirade of hilarious ‘Cage-isms’ culminating with him having a hysterical hissy fit on the bed.
This could easily be Cage at his worst. Or best, depending on your outlook.
4. Kick-Ass (2010)
Nicolas Cage is big fan of superheroes. Over the years he’s played Ghost Rider in two sub-par outings, lent his voice to the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and was even up for the role of Superman in an ill-fated 90s reboot. But in the Mathew Vaughn directed adaptation of cult comic book Kick-Ass, Cage gets to flex his superhero powers once more. This time though, he’s a tough-loving moustached father by the name of Big Daddy.
In a scene that finds Big Daddy (looking all-budget Batman) and our hero Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) tied up and ready for a live broadcast execution, Big Daddy is set on fire and begins burning to death as he shouts out tactical commands to his superhero daughter.
It’s Cage’s delivery of the lines here that elevate the generic dialogue into something only Nicolas Cage could deliver.
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3. Face/Off (1997)
John Woo gives us two Nicolas Cages performances for the price of one.
Nicolas Cage is big bad terrorist Caster Troy who’s being hunted by FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) until a plane crash nearly kills Caster and, along with him, information about a bomb set to go off somewhere in the city within the next few days. So, being a highly trained and rational human being, Archer decides to get a little face transplant and go undercover as Caster Troy (stay with me) to gain information on the bomb’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, the real (and now very faceless) Caster awakes and forces the surgeon to put Archer’s unused face on his and play him at his own game.
There are so many scenes to pick from here, but we’ll take ours from the opening credits where Cage is disguised as a priest, and generally chewing up the scenery.
After a celebratory dance and belting out a few lines of ‘Hallelujah’ with a performing choir, Cage grabs the backside of one of the young singers and gives a big, wide-eyed, orgasmic gaze to the heavens.
Enough said.
