Nicolas Cage Reflects on Becoming a Meme

Nicolas Cage has over 110 acting credits to his name with many famous films under his belt. Last year, the actor played himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent which sparked a lot of conversations about his career and his favorite projects from his filmography. Cage’s next film is Dream Scenario, which sees him playing a professor named Paul Matthews who goes viral when he starts to appear in people’s dreams. Of course, Cage is no stranger to being popular online. During a recent interview with The Guardian, the actor opened up about becoming a meme.

“I got into acting because I was moved by film performance more than any other art form. I didn’t get into movies to become a meme,” Cage explained. “That was new. I made friends with it but it was an adjustment. I thought maybe they would compel someone to go back and look at the movies. But I had no control over it. The same thing happens with Paul in Dream Scenario: he has no control over this inexplicable phenomenon.”

Nicolas Cage Reacts To His Cameo in The Flash:

In another interview with Yahoo Movies, Cage talked about his brief cameo in The Flash earlier this year and addressed director Tim Burton’s recent comments about AI. Back in the ’90s, Burton almost directed Cage as Superman.

“First and foremost, I was on set,” Cage explained. “They did put a lot of time into building the suit … and I think [Andy Muschietti] is a terrific director, he is a great guy and a great director, and I loved his two It movies. … What I was supposed to do was literally just be standing in an alternate dimension, if you will, and witnessing the destruction of the universe. Kal-El was bearing witness [to] the end of a universe, and you can imagine with that short amount of time that I had, what that would mean in terms of what I can convey. I had no dialogue [so had to] convey with my eyes the emotion. So that’s what I did. I was on set for maybe three hours.”

“When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did. I don’t think it was [created by] AI. I know Tim [Burton] is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, OK, so that they could de-age me, and I’m fighting a spider. I didn’t do any of that, so I don’t know what happened there,” Cage continued. 

“I get where Tim’s coming from. I know what he means. I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating them. I get it. I mean, I’m with him in that regard,” Cage added. “AI is a nightmare to me. It’s inhumane. You can’t get more inhumane than artificial intelligence.”

Cage continued, “But I don’t think it [was] AI [in The Flash]. I just think that they did something with it, and again, it’s out of my control. I literally went to shoot a scene for maybe an hour in the suit, looking at the destruction of a universe and trying to convey the feelings of loss and sadness and terror in my eyes. That’s all I did.”

Dream Scenario is heading to theaters on November 10th.