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Interview With The Oscar Winning Actor Nicolas Cage |
Written by Kam Williams |
Sunday, 10 April 2011 19:06 |
Nicolas Kim Coppola was born in Long Beach, California on January 7, 1964 to August Coppola, an English professor, and Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer. He attended Beverly Hills High in L.A., which is where he developed an interest in acting prior to studying theater at UCLA. Nicolas Cage made his big screen debut in 1982 in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, before changing his surname name to Cage to avoid any accusations of nepotism as the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola. He then embarked on a remarkable career which has included an Oscar win in 1996 for Leaving Las Vegas as well as memorable performances in everything from Raising Arizona to Moonstruck to Face/Off to Snake Eyes to Adaptation to National Treasure 1 & 2 to The Bad Lieutenant to Kick-Ass which was #2 on this critic’s Top 10 List for 2010. Here, he talks about his latest film, Drive Angry 3-D, a supernatural thriller where he plays a fugitive from Hell intent on rescuing his granddaughter from the gang of goons who also murdered his daughter.
Kam Williams: Hi Nicolas, I’m honored to have this opportunity. Nicolas Cage: Oh, thank you. Thanks for inviting me. KW: I’d like to let you know that I loved Kick-Ass which was the #2 film on my Top 10 List for last year. NC: Oh was it? Thank you! I’m happy to hear that. KW: What interested you in Drive Angry 3-D? NC: There were a lot of different elements, starting with working with [writer/director] Patrick Lussier. Within ten minutes of talking with him, I realized how imaginative a person he was, and how passionate he was about the genre. When he said that I was going to get my eyes shot out and handed to me on a silver platter during one of the film’s more unusual moments, I sparked to that immediately and said “I’m in!” for some reason which I can’t entirely explain. Plus, I wanted to work in the 3-D format to see what I could do with it. NC: I envisioned Milton as a mysterious, physics-defying phantom from Hell. So, I tried to play him like a ghost, almost, where you couldn’t tell what he was thinking. NC: During the first week of photography, Larry, I was like a kid in a candy store. I was doing whatever I could to mess with the format, trying to see if there was anything I could that would be unique in the 3-D format. Then, in the second week, I settled down when I began to realize that it was in many ways not unlike working on a regular movie with two dimensional cameras. It’s a credit to Patrick because you can easily blow out the 3-D effect, if you’re not careful about where you put your cameras and how you line up your actors. But because he had already done a movie in 3-D, he was a real maestro of the format and was able to shoot it efficiently. NC: I think that the main difference is in having to be more dense, more succinct, because you only have but so much time to develop and then convey the character. So, every moment has to count because there are other needs of the genre that have to be facilitated, like the car chase, the fight sequence, and so forth. Therefore, if you want to push a character through in this genre, you have to be precise and very efficient with any opportunities for development. But in answer to Irene’s question, I’d say that overall, in terms of preparation and commitment, I’m equally committed and working just as hard whether it be an action film, an art film, or any other type of film. NC: Well, it’s been kind of a challenge to play a living dead man. So, I would say that Drive Angry was perhaps more challenging than those other because there’s not a real frame of reference to rely upon. You have to build something totally from the imagination by asking yourself: What are the physics of being a living dead man? How does that unfold and what would create those odd moments which might make people scratch their heads and wonder who this guy really is? In terms of fun, Harriet, that’s really a matter of who I’m working with. Here, the experience was great working with people like Amber Heard and Billy Burke. But it might not be fun when you’re dealing with more moody subject-matter, but I don’t want to mention names. NC: Thanks, Kathy. Some part of me will always have a home in New Orleans, in terms of my memories, and the amount of movies I literally make there. So, I’m always returning to the city. I feel like I was almost reborn in New Orleans. I’ve had experiences there that bordered on the fantastical. So, I can’t ever really leave it. As far as the rebuilding, I don’t want to toot my own horn, so to speak. I’ve been more interested in immediate response as opposed to actual rebuilding. NC: That makes sense to me, because everything’s circular. NC: What’s interesting about the supernatural to me is that it’s something that is very natural. It’s not more than natural. It may be super-physical in the sense of something out of the range of our physical awareness, so that invisible forces like spirits play into it. But in my opinion, all that stuff is very natural. NC: The main thing, Patricia, is to stick to your guns and to remember to ignore the negativity from people who say that you can’t do it. That’s a start. And that’s something you have to remember even after you enjoy a measure of success in your career, myself included. Any kind of abuse can really discourage you from believing in yourself and from having the confidence to realize your dreams. I would especially offer to anyone just starting out that when someone tells you “You can’t,” that person has negative intentions towards you. NC: That was years ago. We were friends, but we really haven’t spoken to each other in decades. At the time we were both kinda just starting out, and we had a mutual friend and, yeah, I did see something in him and thought that he would be able to achieve what he has. NC: Well, they’re each extremely talented, but I would have a hard time comparing them because I wouldn’t want to praise one in a way which could possibly hurt another one’s feelings. But they’re all extraordinary actresses. NC: [Laughs] Yes, there are both, Jimmy. NC: No. NC: Yeah, I mean, that’s part of the human condition. NC: Yeah, that’s also part of the human condition. NC: Last night. NC: I do like sugar. NC: A 19th Century novel called “Zanoni” by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451597002/ref=nosim/thslfofire-20 NC: Stowkowski’s “Bach Symphonies” and Axl Rose’s “Use Your Illusion 1.” NC: Ultra-spicy eggs over easy with whole red peppers. NC: I don’t have one. NC: Me again. NC: A peaceful world where children aren’t hurt. NC: I must have been four years old. I was lying in a bed being shaken by women who were humming something in a foreign language. I was in a small, European village called Rodi. The women had cooked fox stew and they made me drink Anisette, a licorice-flavored alcoholic substance. They might have been trying to cast out demons. NC: I guess it would have to be the ultimate price, but I hope that doesn’t happen any time soon. NC: As somebody who cared about people and about the Arts. NC: Thank you Kam [Williams]
Nicolas Cage's filmography: 1980 Brubaker 1981 Best Of Times Some of the many Awards: 1988: Festival de Cine de Sitges Award for Best Actor for Never on Tuesday About the author of this article: Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications around the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean. He pens for www.eurweb.com, www.afrotoronto.com and so on. He is also a columnist for www.megadiversities.com. Some of Williams’ articles are translated into Chinese. In 2008, he was voted most Oustanding Journalist of the Decade by the Disilgold Soul literary Review. Williams is an erudite jurist who hold a J.D from Boston University, an MA in English from Brown University, an M.B.A. from The Wharton School. Kam Williams can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . |