What can Creatives learn from Nicolas Cage?
(Part 1 of a 15 part series)
It's been a magnificent, deranged ballet of screaming and shouting, of nervous energy, unpredictable outbursts and stunning hair. I’m talking about, of course, the career of Nicolas Cage. Definitely the greatest actor, and possibly the greatest cultural figure of the last 100 years, Cage's films are invariably excellent; with the notable exception of the 98% that are awful. His intonation, appearance and mannerisms are all completely unique propositions, representing a perfect storm of randomness, intensity and maniacal verve that lends the star an oddball charisma all of his own.
Simultaneously the worst and best actor I have ever seen, Cage's IMDB profile brings to mind a handful of truffles that have been stored within a huge vat of actual vomit. There’s some incredible stuff there, but it's more or less overwhelmed by a foul mass of disgustingness. Fascinating, frustrating, confusing and comic, if nothing else, Nic Cage’s CV is a testament to his absolute uniqueness, and that’s why he’s so interesting. Yes he’s sold out a fair few times, and yes he’s delivered many, many sub-par performances, but that all adds to his appeal. He’s flawed, massively. However, for all that, there really is no comparable screen personality to a fully fledged, fully crackers Cage- He’s a one off, as the following clip proves.
To me Nicolas Cage represents that occasional crazy idea that sneaks through the net, the one exception that defies explanation. You can’t describe why it’s funny, or why it’s evocative, or interesting, but it just is. It’s like trying to explain a good joke, it can’t be done- the more you explain the more you lose. His appeal defies reason, but when he’s on form, he’s undeniably brilliant. In the right role, at the right time, Nicolas Cage brings an intangible, inexplicable, bat shit quality to each scene, and to my mind that excuses all the bad stuff. In our industry, it would be nice if from time to time, instead of having to explain every last detail of why an idea adheres to the brief, Creative’s were allowed a ‘Cage card’, which grants the holder free reign to see one outlandish idea realised. Some ideas just work, and even though they’re imperfect, and aren’t easily rationalised, they give an extra something that could never have been predicted or planned for. So it’s worth risking it occasionally. A brief example.
Somewhere in America in the mid 90’s, studio executives decided to make an all out, testosterone driven macho fest of a movie called Con Air. Who did they choose to star in this muscle-bound action bonanza? Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, Stallone? No, they chose John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, John Malkovich; and Nicolas bloody Cage. For the uninitiated, this is a group of actors who look more like a post grad pub quiz team than a rag tag bunch of badass bastard types. Yet somehow, Con Air is brilliant. How did this happen? The accent, the vest, the hair, anyone who’s seen the film will know what I’m talking about. It’s overblown, it’s cheesy, and it’s glorious, and it all happened because filmmakers went against the safe option, just for once, and were rewarded with something unexpected and entertaining.
You can’t go throwing daft ideas at everything, 99% of the time you can’t take the Cage approach, and even when you do, it still needs to be well executed. However I do feel we’ve all become so research, data, and ROI obsessed that we’re scared to push for something a bit more outlandish, and a bit less rational. In today’s climate Nic Cage would never become a star. He’s to idiosyncratic, too erratic, he’d never pass the focus groups. It’s a tragedy to ignore those real sparks of mad, illogical inspiration that strike from time to time. If nothing else but for the collective sanity of the industry, we need to cast Nic Cage occasionally. So next time you think you’ve got something special and you’re pondering whether to stick with your gut or not, think of The Rock, think of Face off, (if you haven’t seen them, sort it out) and think of Con Air, if the time’s right, you’ll know what to do.
