You guys, Nicolas Cage knows about your memes. He knows about “Cage Rage.” And frankly, he’s a bit annoyed by it.
In a new interview with IndieWire, the Academy Award-winning actor discusses the memes that have gone out of control and how it affects his most recent film, “Mandy,” as well as explaining his artistic inspirations for his wild performances.
First, let’s talk about “Cage Rage.” The Internet is exploding at the seams with Nicolas Cage-inspired memes, where his often-manic-looking characters accompany some sort of silly out-of-context quote. They’re endlessly funny. However, the actor is worried that the memes overshadow his good work, including his critically-acclaimed (seriously, it’s incredible) work in “Mandy.”
“It’s been branded ‘Cage Rage,’ and it’s frustrating,” said the actor. “I’m sure it’s frustrating for Panos [Cosmatos, ‘Mandy’ director], who has made what I consider a very lyrical, internal, and poetic work of art, to have this ‘Cage Rage’ thing slammed all over his movie. It’s one thing for me, because I’d like to think I could continue to work with Panos, but the internet has kind of done the movie a disservice.”
And ultimately, Cage feels like people misinterpret his acting performances as crazy when they’re in fact, carefully-crafted and inspired by some of the greats. And while he does give examples of some acting legends that he models himself after, one of his more interesting comparisons was when he described his work in “Ghost Rider.”
“I had made a decision a long time ago that I wasn’t only going to explore naturalistic acting. I would do that sometimes — like I did in ‘Joe’ — but I also wanted to look at some of my other inspirations. I believed in art synchronicity, that what you can do in one art form, you can do in another. So if I wanted to be abstract, like imitating Edvard Munch’s ‘The Shout,’ as I did in ‘Ghost Rider,’ I could do that. If I wanted to be more operatic or Western kabuki, I could do it. And I’m not the first,” Cage explains, as he clearly meant to say “The Scream.”
READ MORE: You Don’t Say? Nicolas Cage Speaks Eloquently About Robert Bresson
When he’s criticized for his seemingly over-the-top outings in film, Cage doesn’t fully understand the hate. He actually likens himself to a style of acting that has come and gone, saying, “Look at James Cagney in ‘White Heat,’ when he says ‘Top of the world, ma!’ Was that realistic? Hell no. Was it exciting and truthful? Hell yeah. Or Richard Burton in ‘Night of the Iguana,’ or Bruce Lee in ‘Enter the Dragon.’ The list goes on and on about these old troubadours who embraced a kind of charismatic and larger-than-size stylization. A grandeur, if you will.”
Nicolas Cage does admit to picking some crazy roles, which may have attributed to the memes and lore, “I have to be honest. I did make certain choices to realize my abstract and more ontological fantasies with film performance, by playing people who were crazy, or by playing people who were on drugs, or supernaturally possessed — so that I have the license, if you will, to explore the German Expressionistic style of acting, or the Western kabuki. Whatever you want to call it.”
READ MORE: Nicolas Cage Wants To Quit Acting In 3 Years And I Beg Him To Reconsider
So, there you go, guys. Nicolas Cage is just operating on a whole different plane than the rest of us. You may laugh at his “Vampire’s Kiss” performance or his work in horrible VOD films, but it’s just the actor channeling some of the greats. And you’re the crazy one.
But seriously, check out “Mandy,” which is on VOD now.
