Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage (b. January 7th, 1964)
a.k.a. Nicholas Coppola

Nicolas Cage is an actor who has made a career out of pushing the emotional envelope. Venturing to places few other actors dare to go, he has devoured the screen in some of the most impassioned performances of the last decade. Think of him as the sex- and Elvis Presley-obsessed lover on the lam in David Lynch's WILD AT HEART. Or as the gleefully malevolent sociopath in John Woo's FACE/OFF. His role as a suicidal drunk in Mike Figgis's LEAVING LAS VEGAS earned him an Oscar for Best Actor and put him on the Hollywood A-list. Cage returns to similarly volatile territory in Martin Scorsese's 1999 film, BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, playing opposite his real-life wife at the time, Patricia Arquette. Cage brings a lyrical intensity to his role as a paramedic on the verge of a nervous breakdown in Scorsese's nightmare vision of contemporary New York City. The actor chatted with Barnes & Noble.com about working with Martin Scorsese, sharing a screen with his wife, and upcoming roles that will allow him to get in touch with his lighter side.

Barnes & Noble.com: You and Martin Scorsese seem like such a natural match. Did you two do anything together before BRINGING OUT THE DEAD?

Nicolas Cage: We had not worked together, but we had met. And we spent about an hour at his house. He and I, we talked about different things we wanted to do. Actually, I think it was Francis [Ford Coppola], my uncle, who put that together. Francis knew I wanted to work with Marty. And since Francis and Marty are friends, he would say to Marty, "Would you meet the kid?" And so I met him, and we had a nice talk and I told him what I was trying to do. That was five years ago. And then I got the offer to do this with him.

BN: Did you know when you agreed to do the film that your wife, Patricia Arquette, was going to be involved?

NC: No. I didn't. And that was really exciting. I mean, this was something that came totally from Scorsese. He had produced THE HI-LO COUNTRY, and I know that he had been watching her and really felt that she had the right style for the part. And when it came up that he wanted to do it, I thought that was great, and we were both excited, but I was also very nervous. I knew that working with Patricia I wouldn't really be able to fake it, because she knows me so well. When you're that intimate with somebody, you really can't act. I always knew she was a great actress, and her performance here is quite remarkable, because I don't think there's a dishonest moment in it.

BN: Patricia is as bold on the screen as you are. She's done some sexy scenes. Can you watch her films?

NC: I got over that issue when I saw TRUE ROMANCE. But I've also made enough movies to know that it's not real. But, OK, it is still hard to watch.

BN: You've been doing some heavy roles between this and your last film, 8 MM. Is it time for a comedy?

NC: Actually, it is. I want to go to another place again. I feel like it's time, so I'm doing a romantic comedy called FAMILY MAN. There was a point when I was sort of all 'laughed out.' Now I'm not laughing enough. So I'm going to be doing some comedies. I also have an action-adventure coming out this summer called GONE IN 60 SECONDS, in which I play a car thief. Jerry Bruckheimer, whom I worked with on THE ROCK and CON AIR, is doing the film. It's a lighter form of entertainment. It's going to be a very entertaining, stimulating ride, as most of his movies are.

BN: Do you have a favorite action film?

NC: I really enjoyed THE FUGITIVE. And part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much was because the protagonist was a brilliant intellect, not a muscle man, like in most action films. Yet the THE FUGITIVE is still the kind of large action film that you can watch with a big bag of popcorn and just have a lot of fun. I love those kinds of movies.

BN: You usually have such wild props or clothes in a lot of your movies. Have you ever kept anything from a film?

NC: I'm not very good at keeping mementos from my movies, although I think it would be great if I had some of the stuff. I would like to have the wooden hand from MOONSTRUCK or the snake jacket from WILD AT HEART.

BN: When you won an Oscar for your performance in LEAVING LAS VEGAS, you finally changed your image from being the "quirky" actor. Do you look back at some of your earlier performances and see your growth?

NC: Yes. The first time I saw BIRDY, I became embarrassed. I was 19 when I made that movie; I was a sort of raw nerve ending that wasn't really thinking. I can't watch myself in that movie. So after that I began putting more of my thought processes into the characters and the result was films like PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, RAISING ARIZONA, and VAMPIRE'S KISS.

BN: You've worked with some amazing directors. Recently you collaborated with Brian De Palma in SNAKE EYES. What are some of your favorite De Palma films?

NC: I used to watch SCARFACE annually. I love those performances. The movie is so flashy and so full of life. Also, I think CARRIE has an incredibly sensitive portrayal by Sissy Spacek. It's a heartbreakingly beautiful performance. And it shows a lot of Brian De Palma's sensitivity to get that kind of performance out of an actor. PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE I liked when I was a child, and I still like it. I have a copy of it on laser disc. Those are all really great movies in my opinion.

BN: Talking about dealing with varying emotions, did working on BRINGING OUT THE DEAD open up a different set of emotions for you?

NC: It definitely got me in touch with a sense of mortality. That it doesn't matter who you are, that we are all going to end up in the ER at some point. The whole concept of being born and knowing that you are going to die is an alarming notion. And I don't know that any other animal has to deal with those thoughts, but as people we do. And so when you do a movie like BRINGING OUT THE DEAD or LEAVING LAS VEGAS, you think about your own mortality a little more than you normally would. At least I did.

Awards & Nominations