Nicolas Cage’s new film, “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” has been given a new release date. While it was originally set to be released in March of 2021, it has been delayed to April 22nd, 2022. The film’s synopsis is, “An obsessive fan forces actor Nicolas Cage to re-create his most famous characters and scenes during a birthday party.” I would have loved to hear that elevator pitch go down.
This bizarre premise is perhaps one of the most exciting things coming to cinemas in 2022. Cage also has his new film, “Pig,” releasing on July 16th. The film follows a a truffle forager and chef whose truffle-finding pig disappears. Even if the story seems a bit odd, the trailer of the film looks genuinely intriguing. Beyond several other projects, Cage is also starring as Joe Exotic in a TV miniseries. Why am I so excited? We are entering the Age of Cage.
Younger audiences may think of Nicolas Cage as somewhat of a joke. He is literally the face behind several memes thanks to his now-famous overacting. When Gen Z thinks of Cage, their mind is likely to jump to his questionable “Ghost Rider” films and the heinous remake of “The Wicker Man.”
While I personally loved Cage in his older roles in “Raising Arizona,” “Adaptation,” and “Moonstruck,” I cannot deny that screaming “NOT THE BEES!” may be his most iconic contribution to cinema.
After Cage blew his $150 million dollar fortune in creatively ridiculous ways (dinosaur skulls, etc.), he entered a phase of desperately starring in direct-to-video flops. Cage has starred in not one, but two films that literally have a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes…I had not seen that score before today. Cage has starred in about five films per year for nearly a decade, and you probably haven’t heard of half of them.
Now there is hope. Nicolas Cage has taken interesting roles, where his unique style of acting has thrived. “Mandy” was a surprise success in 2018, which was soon followed by Cage’s voice performance in “Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse.” He’s doing it. He’s taking decent roles!
With three intriguing performances on the horizon, I have high hopes that we are entering the new and improved Age of Cage.
