Nicolas Cage has obtained a reputation in recent years for making bad movies, but is that actually the case? While Nicolas Cage has starred in his fair share of hit movies, his status as an A-list star has waned over the last decade. His films nowadays usually go straight to DVD or streaming services, and are released at such a rapid rate that they often pass by unnoticed except by his most ardent fans.
Nicolas Cage has starred in over 100 movies over the course of his
career. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in
Leaving Las Vegas and was again Oscar-nominated for his duel performance of
Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Adaptation. After a slew of character roles,
Nicolas Cage reinvented himself in the mid-'90s as an action star, with
back-to-back-to-back hits The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off. Over a 40-year
career, he's worked with auteurs (Charlie Kaufman, David Lynch), living
legends (Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers), action directors (Michael Bay,
John Woo), and independents (Panos Cosmatos).
Famous for his over-the-top unique acting style, a Nicolas Cage
performance is always worth watching, even if some of the movies he's in
aren't. His penchant for chewing the scenery has gifted the internet with
countless memes and earned him a cult following, with many fans eager to see
his latest bout of "Cage Rage." But while there are some indisputably bad
movies in his recent filmography, is his current reputation for just staring
in bad movies justified?
Why Nicolas Cage Is Now Known For Making "Bad" Movies
The primary reason for Nicolas Cage’s reputation for making
"bad" movies now is due to his financial problems. Nicolas Cage was once one
of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, at one point being worth over $150
million. However, Cage found himself in financial difficulties after
adopting a lavish lifestyle. From buying castles in Europe, a fleet of Rolls
Royces, and an array of exotic items (including a dinosaur skull), Cage's
spending sprees were legendary. However, he found himself in hot water with
the IRS over unpaid taxes, and the financial crash of 2007/2008 wiped out
most of his assets. Suffering catastrophic losses, Cage took on as many
movie roles as possible in order to get himself back on track. As a result
of this, though, quality control inevitably took a hit.
In addition to this, many of Nicolas Cage's roles in recent
movies are low-budget independent fare that don't get a theatrical release.
While the size of a film's budget should have no bearing on a movie's
quality, it can hamper certain aspects of production and come across as a
B-movie as a result. Combining this with inexperienced directors and
lackluster, clichéd scripts, movies such as Grand Isle, Left behind, and 211
all fall into the bad Nicolas Cage movie category (Grand Isle even has the
unenviable position of a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes). He’s also primarily
making thrillers and horror movies, which are cheap to make, but often
difficult to find anything fresh to say narratively.
Why Nic Cage Makes So Many More Movies Than Most Leading
Actors
Between 2018-2019 Nicolas Cage starred in 14 movies. In
comparison, other leading actors of his era - such as Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise,
and Will Smith - averaged 2-3 movies each over the same time frame. It's a
frenetic pace for any actor, and one of the reasons for his proclivity for
making so many movies is his attempts to overturn his finances. It's far
rarer to have a new Nicolas Cage movie get a wide theatrical release than it
was 20 years ago. The perception of this without context would be that
Nicolas Cage has suffered the "dimming star" effect that strikes down so
many actors, aging out of leading man roles, and cast aside to make room for
the next generation. The reality though would be the other way around. While
Nicolas Cage still has some roles in studio productions, he made the
decision to largely abandon Hollywood in favor of independent movies, which
can be made at a far more rapid pace.
In an interview with Variety, Nicolas Cage stated that the
reason for this was that big-budget blockbusters came with commercial
constraints on his performance, whereas independent films give him "more
freedom to experiment and be fluid." That freedom and fluidity though is
often encased within a bad movie. Still, there is something very Cage-esque
about the fact that he'd rather star in a bad movie and give an honest
performance than be bland in a Hollywood blockbuster. Outside of his
financial issues, the other reason for his productivity is that Nicolas Cage
loves acting. The actor has no intention of retiring and believes that
keeping busy makes him a better man, curbing his self-destructive tendencies
that led to his financial problems. While he may be aware that some of the
films he's in aren't very good, he always strives to deliver the best
performance he can, and elevate the material.
