The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: Pedro Pascal Says Working With Nicolas Cage Helped "Reawaken" His Passion For Acting
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talentis finally being released next week, and it stars Pedro Pascal (Star Wars: The Mandalorian) as a billionaire named Javi who hires Nicolas Cage to attend his birthday party. Of course, Cage is playing himself in the movie, which has a lot of people reflecting on the actor's filmography. Cage himself recently shared in a Reddit AMA that his favorite Cage movies are Leaving Las Vegas, Bringing Out the Dead, and Pig. Recently, Pascal had a chat with BroBible, and explained why working with Cage helped reawaken his love for acting.
"There was almost something about, I don't know, reawakening the things that you care about and why you got into it in the first place, because he's still challenging himself, he's super prepared, he's coming up with new ideas, and, honestly, it was an incredible challenge to rise to but it was mostly a really beautiful inspiration and a reminder of why I had this fantasy to start with and then study and then job. It was because of how he feels and how he treats acting," Pascal explained.
The actor also talked about leaning into being Cage's "b*tch" during production.
"If I was going to do my job correctly – to be intimidated is completely natural – but to be worried that they're going to blow you off-screen wouldn't really be good logic for the heart of the character. So, it was really easy to anchor myself into admiration and worship and if he wanted to blow me off the f-ing screen, he always allowed to blow me off the screen. If he wanted to invite me into the scene, if he wanted to give me light, if he wanted to take it away – I was his b*tch, basically. And I felt like that was the right thing to do for the character and to tell the story. And, of course, he wouldn't do any of those things, he's a complete professional, he's an incredible scene partner."
ComicBook.com's Patrick Cavanaugh called The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent "a charming and authentic celebration of Nicolas Cage" in his review, which is exactly why we've been brushing up on the actor's filmography. You can check out our Month of Cage streaming guide HERE.
Cage has been answering a lot of questions this month in honor of his upcoming movie. This week, it was revealed that the actor wants to be in a Muppet movie. During Cage's Reddit AMA, he also shared that he wanted David Lynch to appear in Massive Talent, and said he'd be down to make a Face/Off 2. One fan asked if Cage had any dream roles, and the actor revealed he'd like to play Jules Verne's, Captain Nemo.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is hitting theatres on April 22nd.