Nicolas Cage is a Hollywood legend.
The A-list actor commands not only the screen but even the box office. National Treasure franchise earned a jaw-dropping $230 million worldwide. So what is it like to work with Nicolas Cage? Apparently, it’s not a walk in the park.
In an interview with Business Insider director Paul Schrader, who recently worked with Nicolas Cage for the upcoming feature film Dog Eat Dog, reveals what it is like to work with Nicolas Cage. Schrader is no stranger to working with big name actors. He has worked with Martin Scorsese and has filmed critically acclaimed movies such as American Gigolo and The Canyons.
But, when it comes to work with Nic Cage, Schrader explains that he helps getting your movie financed but, that is both an advantage and disadvantage.
“Nic gets your movie financed. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he eats up most of your budget in the process of getting it financed because you end up basically paying him the budget. But he still commands those big numbers,” Schrader explains.
Schrader also reveals that Nicolas Cage works hard to understand his character and questions a lot of the movie’s storyline and scenes. There was one scene in particular in which Nicolas Cage insisted on making his character similar to Humprey Bogart, a legendary stage actor who is most known for Casablanca, even though the movie’s script nor the director approved.
“But Nic had this idea for his character who thought himself somewhat foolishly as Humphrey Bogart, so he was doing Bogart things, which I wasn’t that crazy about, but I wasn’t going to pick a fight over it. I could always cut it out.”
Nic Cage was eventually able to sneak that character development into the movie.
“And he kind of stunned this on me on the day we were shooting that. We went through it and all of a sudden he’s doing it as Bogie and I was like, “Whoa, you sure you want to do that?” And he said, “Look, you’ve been telling me for five weeks that we have to be bold. This is the only way you can do this genre today.” He said, “I think this is a bold choice.” I said, “Yeah, I think it is, too. Let’s do it.”
You can read the full and interesting interview here.
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