Many actors would have done anything to get involved in these major franchises, but for Nicolas Cage, family time was more important.
Screen Media Films
Based on the volume of movies he has released over the years, Nicolas Cage has a bit of a reputation as someone who doesn’t turn down many roles. However, according to the veteran actor, he passed on appearing in two of the most popular movie franchises of all time. Specifically, he couldn’t take on The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings, simply because they were filmed outside the country and that would have taken away too much time from his family.
In his newest film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Cage plays a parody version of himself called Nick Cage. This version of the actor is someone who prioritizes his Hollywood career above all else, even his children, though that changes when his family is kidnapped by a maniacal superfan (Pedro Pascal). To save his family, Cage must channel his various action movie heroes, with the real poking fun at his own career along the way.
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Cage spoke about the film in a new interview with People. The actor says that the biggest difference between himself and Nick Cage is that the real Nicolas has always put his family over his work. In fact, as Cage explains, he turned down roles in The Lord of the Rings as well as The Matrix. For an actor, these were both huge opportunities, but for Cage, he couldn’t imagine spending that much time away from his son.
“First and foremost … there’s no version of Nic Cage in reality that doesn’t want to spend time with his children. There’s no version of Nic Cage that didn’t put family first over career. I turned down Lord of the Rings and I turned down Matrix because I didn’t want to go to New Zealand for three years or Australia for three years because I needed to be home with my son Weston, that’s a fact. So there is a huge disparity between that Nick Cage in Massive Talent and the Nic Cage sitting in front of you right now.”
Related: Pedro Pascal Says Working With Nicolas Cage Gave Him a New Passion for Acting
Nicolas Cage and Nick Cage Are Not One in the Same
Lionsgate Films
The Nick Cage fans meet in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent can also be a bit of a diva, according to Cage. The actor says he has observed others in the industry thinking too highly of themselves, which always ends up leading to disastrous results. Cage always keeps this in mind so he can avoid heading down that same path.
“I always say to myself, ‘I never had a career, only work.’ What I mean by that is sometimes — and I won’t mention names — but when you get into this career-minded perception of one’s self it can be a slippery slope, and it can lead to things where you start believing in your own mythos and you start taking yourself way too seriously. You become pretentious and then you fall into the realm of diva, and that’s when mistakes happen in your personal life and on camera.”
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will be released on April 22, 2022.
Nicolas Cage Refuses to Watch His ‘Whacked-Out’ Meta-Movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
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Jeremy Dick
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Jeremy Dick has been a writer and editor since 2014. He is a self-professed horror expert, pop culture enthusiast, and Bob Saget fanatic.
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