Why Massive Talent’s Directors Were Nervous to Approach Nic Cage

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is officially out in theatres and sees Nic Cage playing “Nick Cage.” In the film, Cage is hired by a mysterious billionaire named Javi (Pedro Pascal) who wants the actor to attend his birthday party. The movie is currently “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes and ComicBook.com‘s Patrick Cavanaugh gave the movie a 4 out of 5, calling it “a charming and authentic celebration of Nicolas Cage.” Recently, ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with the film’s director and co-writer, Tom Gormican, along with co-writer, Kevin Etten. Together, they talked about approaching Nicolas Cage to play himself. 

“I mean, when we were giving him the script for the first time we were thinking, the first act of our film is really Nic at his lowest point,” Gormican shared. “And we were like, is he gonna read the first 10 pages of this and throw it across the room and be like ‘There’s no way I’m doing this.’ And we thought if he could just get to the end of the film where he’s the hero, we’re like then we’ve got a shot at this thing. But yeah, we were always nervous about it.”

“Yeah. I mean, especially like how much of a narcissist could we we write him ’cause you want that for the character arc, right?,” Etten added. “Like you want him to go from narcissist to selfless family man but we also knew it had to feel real and he had to go along with the ride.”

Cage also talked to us about some of his movie references that are in the new film.

“Those were all in the script,” Cage explained. “They came in pre-preloaded. Interesting choices. I thought the reference to Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was a good one. Because, that movie is underrated and I’m glad this movie gave it some props. I know Penelope [Cruz] was great in that movie. And I’m glad John Madden, I’m sure he’ll be happy the director, so that was nice.”

Cage has been answering a lot of questions this month in honor of his upcoming movie. Last week, it was revealed that the actor wants to be in a Muppet movie. During Cage’s recent Reddit AMA, he also shared his favorite Cage movies, the fact 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 now playing in theatres. Check out our Month of Cage streaming guide.