Nicolas Cage’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent just got a trailer. It’s a meta affair as the beloved actor stars as himself in a mind-bending trip through his career in show business. Some fan favorites like Con Air, Gone in 60 Seconds, Face/Off will all get some shine during this particularly strange entry. Casting Nic Cage as Nic Cage is absolutely wild and will probably lure some people into the theater on its own. But, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent also has a story to tell. One of towering heights and the weight that comes with being a visible performer. The public eye is not an easy thing to navigate and it would seem that will play a “massive” role in the upcoming film.
Videos by ComicBook.com
A previous Hollywood Reporter release said that the Lionsgate picture will see Tom Gormician direct with a script co-written by Kevin Etten. Both HBO Max and Paramount were also jockeying for this project when it came onto the market. Such a wild premise will turn some heads and become a widely discussed movie on social media.
When it comes to the meta structure of the film, Cage stars as a slightly fictionalized version of himself. He’s trying to secure a big role in Quentin Tarantino’s “latest” picture to reinvigorate his career. However, friction with his teenage daughter leads the beloved actor to start talking with himself. And that means literally as another version of Cage converses with himself and takes shots at the star’s recent cinematic outings. Things continue to spiral as he befriends a Mexican billionaire in an effort to help secure more cash. However, the rich benefactor turns out to be a drug cartel kingpin. The CIA naturally steps in to hire him as a spy.
Massive Talent makes no mistake about the kind of homage it’s crafting. THR’s previous reporting indicates that some stranger Cage movies get obliquely nodded at with certain inclusions. Gormician and Etten are working with a comedy pallette here. When they wrote the script, it was more of an attention-grabbing move to secure other opportunities. However, now it’s actually going to be a real thing out in the world.
Fascinatingly, Cage actually entered the picture after the director sent him a script. However, Gormician also had to include a letter on the side explaining that they weren’t making fun of him in its entirety. More like a love letter to all these different movies that the actor had made over the years.
How do you think Cage’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will shape up? Let us know in the comments!
