Over the past few years my view of Nicolas Cage has changed dramatically. I was a casual fan of some of his work, but hated even more of it. His catalog of movies has not been the best. Cage started his career off in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and it was off to the races ever since. His rise has been steady since the early 80s. Looking over his career we can see he averages about 4 movies a year these days. For a name worthy actor this is a good and steady body of work. Often the complaint about Cage is his lack of reasonable acting. Sometimes there is screaming or whispering for no apparent reason. The word overacting is often used to describe roles in which he is involved. I don’t disagree at all with these observations. However, I think there might be something that people are missing. Allow me to propose my theory: Nicholas Cage is the greatest troll of all time. For those of you who don’t know, a troll is someone who purposefully pretends to be one way to attract controversy. They are not genuine in their behavior, but rather, attempting to gain a certain response out of the audience.
Exhibit A: Leaving Las Vegas
Nicholas Cage wins an Oscar for his performance as Ben Sanderson, a drunk who’s life is spiraling out of control until he meets a hooker with a heart of gold. Cage succeeds here not because he was lucky, but rather because he Caged it up just right. He knew what he was doing.
Exhibit B: Matchstick Men
Cage once again excels at playing a clinically diagnosed OCD sufferer. He wants you to think he is acting…he isn’t. This is what trolls do, they pretend. Matchstick Men is less of a film about scam artists and OCD but more of a week in the life of Nicholas Cage documentary.
Exhibit C: Vampire’s Kiss
It is impossible to believe that an actor could be this insane and keep getting work. The amount of
good actors out there how is he still working? The yelling in the below clip is just madness.
Exhibit D: Face Off
There is no other movie that brings all of Nicholas Cage’s trolling to a single point than Face Off. Cage is on fire with his performance as Caster Troy. John Woo seems to sit back and just film Nicholas Cage pretending to be a villain, but he isn’t pretending!!! Have we learned nothing from his past work? I truly believe he had his face taken off just for fun. He is a super villain of this world, the Joker come to life! “Peach, I could eat a peach for hours”…WHO SAYS THIS!!! I bet it wasn’t even in the script. You can’t script crazy!!!
(Sorry about video quality here)
Does Nicholas Cage pay the directors to let him just do what he wants? Are the directors in on the joke? Is Hollywood in on the big scam? Are we a victim of the most epic troll that has ever graced the silver scene? The man even said he based his portrayal of Ghost Rider on his pet cobra snakes! Yes, cobras...the man is screwing with us. He may be the very best at it. A modern day Andy Kaufman...pure genius or just filmed insanity, you decide. Lastly, here is a video of Cage actually being the most honest we have ever seen him.
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