Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage, aka Nicolas Kim Coppola, is among the world’s greatest and most versatile actors capable of impressive yet truthful explosions of emotion. The actor has made several horror films that have left an undeniable mark on the genre and cinema. While many have admired his work for decades, in the last five years, his style of acting and commitment to roles has had a resurgence of popularity, especially with his latest film, Osgood Perkins' Longlegs.
Cage is not just a celebrity but an actor of extraordinary gifts.
Nicolas Cage made his feature film debut in 1982 in Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a film realistic yet funny look at the lives of Southern California teens in high school with future stars Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, and Phoebe Cates. This was his second and last credit with his birth name. He changed his name to avoid being accused of succeeding in Hollywood due to nepotism because of his connection to the Coppola family.
His breakthrough role came in 1987 when he starred in the popular romantic comedy Moonstruck, directed by Norman Jewison. He starred opposite Cher as the hot-tempered romantic brother of her character’s fiance. The film is about the effect of the powerful romantic connection between the two characters, which upends their family's plans and love conquering all. The role features the passion of his acting talent that would go even further in other films.
Vampire's Kiss features Cage's go-for-broke performance style that would become a trademark of his genre work. The film, directed by Robert Bierman, is a black comedy horror movie about an abusive New York City literary agent, Peter Lowe, who becomes convinced he has been attacked by a creature of the night and is turning into a vampire. The film has become a cult classic that has spawned memes still in use today of Cage’s wild portrayal of a man who seems to be losing his grip on sanity or becoming a vampire or both. María Conchita Alonso, Jennifer Beals, and Elizabeth Ashley also star in the film.
1999’s 8mm, directed by Joel Schumacher, is about a private investigator, Tom Welles, who a widow hires to discover where a “snuff film” videotape she found among her late husband’s effects came from and if it’s real. This dark thriller also stars Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, and Anthony Heald.
The Wicker Man is a notorious horror film from 2006, written and directed by playwright Neil LaBute. It is a remake of the cherished British horror classic of the same name, directed by Robin Hardy. The film reimagines the original movie and returns to the source material, which tells the story of a policeman who searches for a missing child on a mysterious island where a group of pagans live.
The film also stars Ellen Burstyn, Kate Beahan, Frances Conroy, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski, and Diane Delano. Cage’s intense acting style is on full display in the film, and it shocked audiences that the meme of Cage’s character Edward Malus being tortured with a basket of bees over his head while screaming, “Not the bees,” is still very popular.
Mom and Dad is a black comedy horror film from 2017. Nicolas Cage plays the father, Brent Ryan. The family is experiencing difficulties when strange static on radios and television sets drive the parents to violent insanity that makes them homicidal towards their children. Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur, Robert T. Cunningham, and Lance Henriksen also star in the film.
Panos Cosmatos Mandy has become a cult classic and is a psychedelic horror film that stars Cage as a recovering alcoholic and veteran who goes on a rampage of vengeance after a religious cult horrifically murders his beloved partner, Mandy. Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouéré, Richard Brake, and Bill Duke also star in the film, released in 2018. Because of the grand and outsized scale of the film’s style, this is perhaps the first time that audiences fully understood and accepted one of Cage’s most emotionally raw performances. His performance as Red Miller was the start of a career renaissance for the actor, as his work in the film was critically praised.
2019’s Color Out of Space is a modern adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, directed by Richard Stanley, that stars Cage as Nathan Gardner and Joely Richardson, Elliot Knight, Madeleine Arthur, Q'orianka Kilcher, and Tommy Chong. It is the story of a family who begins to have the life sucked out of them after a brilliantly colored meteorite lands in the family well and seems to have brought a strange lifeform to Earth. Critics referred to Cage’s performance as “gonzo.” in a wild, unconventional, and scary film.
2023’s Renfield is a tale of the King Vampire, Dracula, told from the viewpoint of his unfortunate human familiar, Robert Montague Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult. Chris McKay directed the film featuring Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Brandon Scott Jones, and Adrian Martinez. The film, a gory, action horror comedy, allows Cage to give his interpretation of Dracula, in which he strove to make it stand out among the previous iconic interpretations from Gary Oldman, Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Frank Langella. The film, which gives a modern spin on the myth, was written by Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead.
2024’s Arcadian, directed by Benjamin Brewer, is a post-apocalyptic monster movie about a man and his two sons who have survived the destruction of society by an invasion of man-eating creatures from space. Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins, and Sadie Soverall also star in this throwback to some of the classic British horror films of the 60s, like The Day of the Triffids. In the movie, Cage gives a much more restrained performance with a gravitas that adds a human aspect to what could have been a rote portrayal if played by anyone else.
2024 also brought one of Nicolas Cage’s most spectacular acting performances, just when everyone probably thought they had seen everything the actor had to offer. Longlegs, a film directed by Osgood Perkins, became a true pop culture phenomenon, and the film’s marketing campaign concealed Cage’s character, Dale Ferdinand Kobble, aka Longlegs, rather than pushing Cage forward as the star.
The film stars Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt, Michelle Choi-Lee, and Kiernan Shipka. Cage’s performance was a deeply disturbing mix of rage and manipulation. The character bursts into tears and song and uses obsequious servility to get what he wants. Cage’s mesmerizing work has won him even more dedicated fans after his acclaimed performance in 2021’s Pig, directed by Michael Sarnoski.
Nicolas Cage, née Nicolas Kim Coppola, is related to his uncle, auteur filmmaker and maverick Francis Ford Coppola, and actress Talia Shire, as the son of August Coppola and Joy Vogelsang. In contrast with other families in the film and entertainment industry, Cage’s attempts to convince his uncle to give him a screen test while riding in the car after saying, “I'll show you acting.” failed when Coppola said nothing.
He is also related to the extended Coppola family as a cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, actors Robert and Jason Schwartzman, and grandson of composer Carmine Coppola. His brother is director Christopher Coppola. Even though he later appeared in some of his uncle’s films, it was only after he earned his first starring role in Martha Coolidge’s Valley Girl. He auditioned for Coppola’s film, The Outsiders, but lost the role of Dallas “Dally” Winston to Matt Dillon. He changed his name to avoid accusations of favoritism from the famed director.
Cage’s first marriage was to actress Patricia Arquette, who connected him to the Arquette family of actors, which includes David Arquette (Scream), Alexis Arquette (Bride of Chucky), Rosanna Arquette (Crash), and son of actor Lewis Arquette.
His second marriage was to singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, which connects him to the Presley family, which includes superstar musician and actor Elvis Presley, actress Priscilla Presley (The Naked Gun), who wrote a biography called Elvis and Me, that was later adapted into a film Priscilla directed by Sophia Coppola. He was also related by marriage to Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter Riley Keough (It Comes at Night, The Lodge, The House that Jack Built, and Mad Mad: Fury Road.)
