In a new interview to promote the “gonzo post-apocalyptic Samurai-Western,” Prisoners of the Ghostland, Nicolas Cage opened up about his upcoming extremely meta project that will involve the actor playing a bizarre, fictionalized version of himself. Announced over two years ago, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will see Cage play a down-and-out version of himself who agrees to appear at Mexican billionaire’s birthday party for a cool million bucks. There’s just one problem: the billionaire played by Pedro Pascal is also the head of the drug cartel, and he has no plans on letting Cage show up for a simple meet-and-greet.
Instead of mingling with guests, Cage is forced to recreate scenes from his vast catalog of films and with the same level of manic energy. While the actor relished the opportunity for “taking the piss” out of himself, he has absolutely no intentions of ever watching the final product. Here’s what he told Collider after being asked what it was like for Nicolas Cage to tackle the role of “Nicolas Cage”:
That is a really great question and I’m still trying to answer it. One of my answers is that I’m never going to see that movie. I’m told it’s a good movie. My manager, Mike Nilon, who is also a producer on it, looked at it. He was very happy. I’m told the audience loved the movie. But it’s just too much of a whacked-out trip for me to go to a movie theater and watch me play Tom Gormican’s highly-neurotic, anxiety-ridden version of me.
According to Cage, he doesn’t see himself as the “neurotic, high-strung” type, but after Gormican told him that’s the “best Cage,” the actor couldn’t really argue with that and dialed up his performance. “I won’t see it,” Cage told Collider. “But I do hope you enjoy it.”
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent premieres April 22, 2022.
(Via Collider)
