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The Fandom Portals Podcast
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The Fandom Portals Podcast
Who is the Hardest Working Man in Hollywood? Nicolas Cage's Cinematic Odyssey with Isaac Edlund from The Infinity Bros Podcast
Join us as we welcome Isaac Edlund from the Infinity Bros podcast, a passionate movie enthusiast with a special love for the eclectic filmography of Nicolas Cage. From Isaac's first encounter with Cage's work in "National Treasure," his fascination has only deepened, fueling a quest to experience every film in the actor's dynamic career. Together, we explore Cage's versatile roles, his polarizing reputation, and the unique flair he brings to each character, whether in intense dramas or action-packed hits like "Con Air" and "Face/Off."
As we share our mutual admiration for Nicolas Cage, sparked by performances in films like "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Pig," we dissect his thoughtful approach to choosing diverse roles. With Isaac, we highlight Cage's ability to oscillate between serious drama and quirky, offbeat projects, showcasing his dedication to the craft. From the comedic brilliance of "Raising Arizona" to the B-movie charm of "Willy's Wonderland," Cage continues to surprise and captivate audiences. We also touch on his remarkable work rate, releasing multiple films annually, reflecting both creative passion and practical motivations.
Join us for this engaging conversation with Isaac Edlund, as we celebrate Nicolas Cage's unique journey through Hollywood and his enduring legacy as one of the industry's most fascinating figures.
Special Guest:
Isaac Edlund
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Hello and welcome to the Fandom Portals podcast, where curiosity meets community in a celebration of all things geek. We build connections on every episode by delving into your favorite fandom questions. In the time it takes Nicolas Cage to steal the Declaration of Independence. I'm Aaron Davies, your host, and today I am joined by one of six, or one out of six, of the Infinity Bros from the Infinity Bros podcast. It is Isaac Edlund. How?
Speaker 2:are you going today, isaac? I'm doing great. I'm very excited to chat with you. I've been listening to some of your previous episodes and you're doing an awesome job with this podcast, so keep it up. Excited to listen to more.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much and I appreciate you for guesting on it. Your podcast as well is one of the ones in my listenership. You guys do a geekly news podcast. You're an avid movie enthusiast yourself. You have an immaculate letterbox profile as well, which I have gone through the list of to see. Do you want to give us a little bit of a rundown on what your podcast is, just for those people that are tuning in and may not have heard of the infinity bros podcast before?
Speaker 2:absolutely so. The infinity bros are a group of six guys who, I mean, we have a weekly, bi-weekly podcast that, like you said, we talk news, uh, pop culture, review films, tv shows, video games, kind of whatever is on our on our nerdy plate for the week or month or whatever, and we also basically are content creators. I guess we we have a pretty substantial tiktok and instagram accounts that one of my fellow infinity bros uploads daily content too. I try to contribute as much as possible but you know, as a full-time dad and husband and also having a full-time job, content creation kind of takes a backseat sometimes. So I do love it, but it is lower on my priority list sometimes. But we have a blast just basically doing what we would do offline but recording it for the Internet to listen to. If you listen to tune into one of our podcasts, you basically hear us ripping on each other over their hot takes of pop culture. So that's kind of what our podcast is all about.
Speaker 1:That's exactly what friends should do, I reckon, is, you know exactly Talk to each other about the things they love and combat each other's opinions as well.
Speaker 2:That's really good. There's too much positivity among friends. Sometimes you just need to. You just need to tear each other down a little bit to like, get to know each other better.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, exactly, you know to show your love in the correct way, you know, just to see if they really do. No, I, I, I really enjoy listening to your podcast weekly, that you recently did an episode that talked about the teaser or the last little part of Deadpool Wolverine, where Gambit had a little bit of a cameo, and that sort of like geek news is just centric around the infinity bros podcast. So if you're a person who really wants to keep up with the geek news, make sure you go and check out the infinity bros. Isaac is there all the time in here, his lovely voice weekly. So this podcast here.
Speaker 1:What our audience can expect is that we are going to be talking about the tumultuous career and the infamous or famous character of Nicolas Cage. We're going to be talking about Isaac's journey with Nicolas Cage. We're going to be diving into some of his most famous or infamous roles, maybe even creating a little watch list for our audiences which you can look for at the end of the podcast. We're going to be talking about this guy's unique personality and some of the myths and legends surrounding the character of Nicholas Cage, and we're going to reveal some of Nicholas Cage's upcoming works. So by the end of the podcast, you'll definitely have an appreciation, or an upgrade in knowledge, at least for Mr Nicholas Cage and as to why he is probably one of the most hardest working people in all of Hollywood. Isaac, you've been a Nicholas Cage fan for a while. All of Hollywood, isaac, you've been a Nicolas Cage fan for a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's been a few years now. Just give a little bit of background on my start with Nicolas Cage. So my first movie that I ever watched of Nicolas Cage's was National Treasure. That came out when I was probably in high school, like formative years. Watched that, absolutely loved that movie and to this day remains my overall favorite nicholas cage movie. I could just re-watch that one all day long. It's it's fantastic.
Speaker 2:But always had a little bit of a just mild like fascination with him because he's in so many movies and so many people are so divided on what they think of him, like so many people think he's a horrible actor. So many people think he's an amazing actor. He's won an academy award, so he definitively is a good actor, but there are plenty of roles that people don't really like or appreciate that he is in because, I mean, as, as we mentioned, he's in a, he's a very hard, hard-working dude and is in a ton of movies. I always had just like this kind of mild fascination. And then I believe it was 2021 the unbearable weight of massive talent came out and this is a movie that nicholas cage plays himself, where he goes on an adventure as Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal. With Pedro Pascal, like it is, it's one of his best movies. Honestly, it's so funny. Pedro Pascal and him have hilarious chemistry. And that movie made me realize that I guess I don't really fully appreciate him as an actor, because I thought before that I was like, oh yeah, he's a good actor, like he's not bad. When I saw that I was like I feel like I need more context to his career after watching that movie. So I kind of made a little journey or goal for myself to watch all of his movies. And that sounds like massive, you know ordeal, which it is, so it wasn't was just kind of a fun thing that I was like, yeah, I'll try it out. And then it kind of turned into a bigger thing where on our TikTok, our socials, I will review every Nicolas Cage movie that I have seen. You know, just quick reviews, just the basic thoughts on what I thought.
Speaker 2:And then, like you said, over the past few years I've I've been using letterbox to kind of track them and I have a list on letterbox I, my letterbox is the same as, like all of my social profiles, isoglistic, which we can. I don't want to spell that out for you guys because it's too. We'll put it in the show. Yeah, it'll be in the show notes, yeah, so, uh, it's uh, it's been fun to use letterboxd to track all of those films and I think on my nicholas cage list on letterboxd right now I think I have 57 films. If I'm remembering correctly it's in the higher 50s. Um, I did a count on his imdb full feature films that he is in is at 110 right now, so I'm about halfway. I'm about halfway on his films list, which you know I for, for me, I grew up in a house where we didn't watch much tv or movies at all.
Speaker 2:So I have this massive gap of we watched a ton of like kids films. Like that was the thing that we did watch a lot of Disney I'm like very fluent in. I can quote any Disney movie to you. Like animated films, know them very well. But when it comes to like my film history, like anything prior to like early 2000s, there's a good chance that I have not seen that film. So it's a pretty big gap in my like film history. So watching a lot of these Nicolas Cage films is the first time I've seen any of them. You know I didn't grow up watching these action movies. That's another big hole that I have in in my, you know, viewing history or whatever. And so yeah it's. It's been a really fun journey to go through and watch all of his movies and I mean to not, like you know, I cutting to the chase.
Speaker 2:I do believe that he is a really good actor. The difference between him and a lot of other actors is that he does not shy away from taking risks in his acting roles. A lot of actors kind of nowadays will play relatively the same character in a lot of their film or roles and stuff like that. But Nicolas Cage, he goes out on a limb and he just goes 110% in every role out on a limb and he just goes 110 in every role doesn't mean he nails it in every role and is in so many movies that inevitably at least half of them are probably going to be not so great. So I like that three star mock on letterboxd yeah, there's.
Speaker 2:There's plenty of those on my list that are below probably two, two and a half. Like three star on letterbox is where I would say like I would re-watch that movie, like it's yeah, yeah, it's a, it's a fun, entertaining movie. You get to two and a half and lower. That's probably a one-time watch for me. I'm not coming back to that movie. Or if they have a really good or a struggle to finish, yeah, yeah, that's true, I will. Though I am very generous when it comes to entertainment. In general, I I'm able to find joy in movies, even if they're bad movies, like if I can laugh at the bad things. I can still find entertainment out of them, and that's where a lot of his roles come in. It's a lot of those movies are. Yeah, I do Hilariously bad.
Speaker 1:You can find it kind of find the sweet spot with Nicolas Cage's movies as well, like obviously he appeals to you, but you said before in our opening, like you obviously podcast with six other or five other people six including yourself has there been any conversations or any contention between yourself and your other castmates about how you perceive Nicolas Cage? Is there any sort of defining personalities or perspectives that are completely opposite? Personalities or perspectives that are completely opposite? Because, yeah, nicholas cage can either be seen as someone who is vastly loved and appreciated for his talent or somebody who just seems like a meme worthy actor that appears primarily on social media feeds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the great thing about having six hosts or co-hosts is that we get a very wide variety of opinions and honest. A lot of times that comes out on the podcast, which is kind of why it's fun to podcast with all these. These guys are all good college friends, that that we all, you know, have been friends for years, before even starting the infinite rose podcast. So you know what, like everybody on my, all of my co-hosts know that I have this like mild obsession with nicholas cage, so they all are 100 all in on that. Um, I would say they're all like appreciative of him as an actor. They definitely have movies that they like with him in it. I don't think there's any of them at the top of my head that does not like actively, does not like nicholas cage. So, yeah, so I'd say it's a pretty good like when, when I start talking nicholas cage, they just like kind of smile and laugh and and you know, isaac stewart is the older eyes a little bit maybe yeah, yeah yeah, exactly, no, yeah, no, that's really good.
Speaker 1:You talked before about your your first experience with nicholas cage, which was the movie National Treasure. Mine was as well, so I saw National Treasure in the movies at the end of high school. It was like one of our reward day things. I had no idea what the movie was, sat in that feature film, watched Nicolas Cage I'd heard of Nicolas Cage before, but watching him in that movie he just played this awesome character, benjamin Gates, and then the soundtrack coupled with that movie towards the end I still remember the moment where the treasure was revealed. After all that hard work and soundtrack that hit. It was probably like I've felt goosebumps in a cinema before, but in National Treasure with Nicolas Cage, that is one that goes on my list as feeling goosebumps. As to a moment in cinema Speaking of, has there been any roles that Nicolas Cage has done or any of the movies that you've sort of been watching starring Nicolas Cage that has left like a lasting impression on you or has taken you by surprise?
Speaker 2:Nicolas Cage has won an Oscar. He won an Academy Award for his leading role in Leaving Las Vegas, which is like a drama, like a romance, like drama, I guess, and I remember watching that movie. This was in my like watch, you know journey, watching that movie and I was like that really doesn't stand out to me as Oscar winning role, you know, like it was good, it was fine, but there are so many more roles that he's had in his career that to me are more definitive and better roles in general, as, as you know, as an actor for him. So I found that fascinating and I did actually look at the lineup for that and I had not heard of almost any of the movies that were also in contention for like best picture and, you know, leading actor and stuff. So that's probably part of it. But at the same time it's like, yeah, I mean, dude's got some other role, underrated roles.
Speaker 2:By the way, I think the one that stuck out to me in recent years is Pig and that's that's a very, very intriguing movie. That's like I guess I would describe it as almost like john wick ish, yeah, in a more mentally intriguing way. Like john wick is awesome, like it's yeah, it's fantastic, but you watch john wick for the action, right? So pig is the story of nicholas cage as a former chef who has this pig that gets stolen, and he's on this journey to go rescue a pig and he's going to do that no matter what the cause. That's so good, wow, dude it.
Speaker 2:There's a clip where he is basically not reminiscing isn't the right word he gets. He gets faced with a former chef from his past and it is one of the best acting clips that I have ever seen him do. It is. It is a phenomenal scene and this is one. If you're looking for kind of a off the grid, like you know, out of the box, type of good Nicolas Cage performance, this is the one that you want to see. So that's just the scope of his. And then, immediately before that, the same year, he does Willy's Wonderland, which is basically a ripoff of Five Nights at Freddy's, where he murders a bunch of animatronic animals and he doesn't say one word.
Speaker 2:The whole movie he does not have a line and he doesn't say one word. The whole movie he does not have a line. So it's just the range of acting that he does is just it's wild. Yeah, that's what intrigues me about him. And again, some of those roles aren't that good. I personally love willie's wonderland because it's hilarious, but a lot of people would probably watch that and be like what the heck am I watching? Like what is?
Speaker 1:it. You know, I think it goes back to that thing where there's a flavor of nicholas cage for everybody.
Speaker 1:And I haven't personally seen pig, but I have seen him talk about it in interviews where he says that that's one of the favorite movies, that's one of his favorite movies that he's ever acted in, so yeah, and he also says that it's sort of like this poem about grief and loss, and there's sort of nuance, the character, and I feel like he brings that nuance to a lot of his different roles, even if it is kind of like a simple or not so serious role, because he does take his work as a thespian, as he calls it, quite seriously, to the point where I was reading some information about Con Air, for example, and he personally spoke to the director about how he thinks that Nicolas Cage should be, or the character in that that he plays should be a southern sort of man with a, an accent from alabama, because notoriously though, or famously, those sort of people have a really strong affinity for like justice and also like taking care of the chivalrousness of ladies, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So he kind of really thinks deep about his, his character choices and his characters in that way. So, even like a high-end action flick like Con Air, he's sort of thinking about where his character is at and what sort of way he can approach his character from. Now, speaking about the roles that he actually accepts, I haven't really seen much about whether, like, what sort of, draws him, do you know, to a character? What sort of draws him to a movie Because, as you said, he does make some interesting choices in terms of risk, in terms of movie that he puts onto his filmography.
Speaker 2:So there is a little bit of a story behind why he started churning out movies so much. In his it was probably around the mid 2000s, maybe. Like, since then he's almost made six movies per year. That is incredible, it's insane, like most actors nowadays barely do one a year, because it's such a huge commitment, because you're filming for months, you know, at a time for these big, you know, blockbuster films and stuff like that. So the fact that he can, you know, do five or six in one year is just incredible. So the reason why he started doing that is actually because he got in really deep financial trouble and he did not want to file for bankruptcy. So he like basically was like I'm going to work myself out of this, and he basically took pretty much any role that he could until he, you know, kind of gained back his, his financial state that he had previously. So pretty cool story. Also a little bit of a a a cautionary tale, I guess I'm like hey, like maybe you know, be smarter about your, yeah, be financially savvy, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but also it just shows the endearing. That's a really endearing quality. You know it's so easy for people to give up in a situation like that, but he literally worked his butt off in the film industry to to get back to status zero, you might say, and you know what? Now he's regarded as one of hollywood's artist working actors and he's got a filmography that just really shows his length and breadth of talent. It's just yeah, it's interesting to see how far he's come and the different sort of phases of Nicolas Cage, you might say as well, because I know we did some commenting on our threads account here at Fandom Portals and I asked everybody what their go-to Nicolas Cage film was. So I think right now, isaac, we're going to have some time where we can sort of discuss some some of our favorite nicholas cage films or maybe curate a list for our listeners as to what they should divulge their time into if they're going to take this journey.
Speaker 1:So our threads account was pretty, it was pretty vocal, uh, when we we put this one out and the three movies that came up for the the threads community, the first one was obviously gone in 60 Seconds, probably, apart from National Treasure, one of his more famous roles. The second one was On Air and Face Off. Those two were really sort of prevalent as well, but the other one that surprised me was Raising Arizona. That was one that I had never seen before, but I watched five movies in preparation for this interview with you today, and the one that I loved the most out of all five of those was Raising Arizona. So have you had Raising Arizona on your list? What have you thought on his character?
Speaker 2:I have, and that was also a surprise for me because I did not expect it. For a little bit of context, raising Arizona is one of his earlier movies. I believe it is 1987. Yeah, it's 87.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and at this point Nicolas Cage is known for his dramatic roles. You know Moonstruck was kind of one of his big ones that got him on the map and you know these dramatic like romantic roles. So him doing a comedy was a little bit outside the box for him at this point in his career and to me I've heard people talk about it and stuff like that had no clue what the context of this movie is going into it and I was pleasantly blown away by this movie. I also thought it was phenomenal. I have it at number six on my all-time Nicolas Cage list, so it almost made the top five. It's a great movie and he just has like this great comedic timing with, you know, just a great quirky Nicolas Cage role. Like you're almost laughing at his character more than anything else that happens in this film. But yeah, that great performance is all around. I mean, john Goodman is one of the bad guys and it's great. It's just a really fun film.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's like this screwball, looney Tunes-like comedy, that sort of was out of the box for Nicolas Cage at the time. But the thing that drew me to this movie and what put it above the rest from the five that I watched, was the character that he plays HI. He's always got these really good intentions and they just seem to just not work out for him. Like he almost seems like people please alike in his role where he's trying to keep his wife happy, he's trying to keep his prison buddies happy, he's trying to do what's best for everybody. And then also when he actually finds the baby and he steals the baby, nathan Jr, because he and his wife obviously can't conceive a child, naturally you know he does that. And then the pressures of fatherhood kind of get to him as well, where he goes through that moment where he actually has to get a job, he has to work a nine to five, and then when his prison buddies sort of come back and say we've got this massive score, he considers that for a moment and that kind of commitment to him being this sort of father figure where he had absolutely no issues before about going into a convenience store and frequently being a jailbird in and out.
Speaker 1:It was just really compelling to see that character change from where he was at the start of the film to where he ended up being, where he gave the baby back.
Speaker 1:He would have absolutely sort of faced jail time for it and he said it's all my fault, and even in the end he was trying to take that blame from his wife as well. So that sort of self-sacrificing character, but also just the transition in this comedic movie was just. It was amazing for me to watch and I think that all comes from Nicolas Cage's performance, but obviously the incredible script writing that was from Raising Arizona and it came at a time as well, like, as you said, moonstruck came out the exact same year, which was a dramatic role, and then shortly after that he played Italia in Vampire's Kiss, which came out in 1988, which is completely different. Again, that's like psychological and not screwball comedy at all. It is absolutely almost the opposite. So what are some other movies that you have on your list as Nicolas Cage's top standout ones that you would recommend? Obviously, our threads, community said, said those ones, raising Arizona being one.
Speaker 2:I think Raising Arizona for me would be like top three for me. So what about yourself? What else is on your list? All right, let's see here. So I already mentioned Willy's Wonderland. That's a green b-roll like horror film. If you're into into those, if you're a horror fan, I feel like you will appreciate that. But it's it's like got the nicholas cage like flair on it and he's been doing a ton of he's been going into the horror yeah, horror, and like kind of b film type stuff lately and that's his top one and in my opinion, I absolutely love that movie.
Speaker 2:I think one of the most famous roles that he plays or movies that he's in is the Rock as well, with Sean Connery where he is. You know, sean Connery is the ex convict that is helping them with a hostage situation on Alcatraz. Yep, just the chemistry between Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage in that one is great, he's, he's a Nicolas Cage. This is another thing that fascinates me about him. In almost every movie that one is great, he's he's and Nicolas Cage this is another thing that fascinates me about him. In almost every movie that he's in he plays like kind of the straight man, like he is not the overly funny guy he's, he's kind of just the guy that's there. And then he obviously has those moments where he gets to show kind of the famous you know age rage, yeah, kind of the famous, you know age rage, yeah, yeah, right, where you know those are the, the meme clips you know, from vampires, this and all those different films that he just has his crazy eyes on and he's he's going nuts. But he gets a few of those moments, but most of the time I mean, the focus is on sean connery and what he's doing. And nicholas cage is.
Speaker 2:I think he just shines in that like kind of co-star role, whereas a lot of his films he pretty much is the the star, because you know he's nicholas cage. So, yeah, exactly, that's. That's a great one. I think face off is one. It's not really on my top five but that's one that if you're going on a Nicolas Cage watch, that is absolutely essential. I agree the fact that he and John Travolta are like so tuned into each other's acting and like personalities and stuff, it is that's an actually like incredible, like filmmaking masterpiece I think, even though it is ridiculous, it is. It's crazy. You get the slow-mo jumping while shooting in the air, you know over the countertop where things are smashing like glasses.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's a full action. Just comment not not comedy, but like slapstick almost in its premise and its action scenes. And I do agree like the acting in that it could have come off so much more of a parody than it actually did. And I think that the reason it didn't was because travolta and cage put so much effort into getting to know each other's styles, like I read somewhere that they spent two weeks just sort of living bunkered down together so they could get like two or three or four or five cues that they could run off of. Because sometimes when you're watching a scene with nicholas cage, you're watching nich Cage play his character, but then he's also playing his character pretending to be John Travolta's character, who is also then pretending to be Nicolas Cage's character. Like it's just that level of acting. It's yeah, it's real like meta.
Speaker 2:Before meta was really a thing you know. Yeah, it's, it's pretty incredible, so that's definitely one that I would recommend. Yeah, it's, it's pretty incredible, so that's definitely one that I would recommend. One also underrated one that I did not expect to be on top of my list is Matchstick Men. That's a Ridley Scott directed film where he plays basically a con man and he and Sam Rockwell are co-star together in it, and it's like it's actually a really, really great movie. And underrated, I feel like there's not a lot of people that have heard of it or seen it, but it's actually a really, really great movie. And underrated, I feel like there's not a lot of people that have heard of it or or seen it, but it's definitely up there in his acting roles and he plays he plays a guy that's got like severe ocd and it's a perfect, perfect role for him, like he. He plays that role so well one of one of his probably better casted movies, I think.
Speaker 1:So that's definitely another one to check out if you're if you're like, interested in in seeing his acting prowess yeah, I feel like he thrives when there is like, not not a bit, but there is a theme to the character that he's playing, where there's something that he can dive into or something that he can lean against. That is so nuanced, as we said, said to some of the other roles that he's done Because even when you're looking at his holy trinity, as some people call it you know the Rock, con Air and Face Off you could say that some of the characters that he's playing throughout those three movies can be very similar in their character role. You might say like he plays the everyman or he plays the guy that is there to drive the narrative, but he also kind of does bring that element of. There is a uniqueness to this character and that's sort of subtle as well, and you know a lot of actors in action blockbusters. They kind of go like verbose with it, they go boisterous with it and they try to make their character stand out amongst the rest by having X, y, z in their acting repertoire.
Speaker 1:That just really sort of blows the nuance of the character, whereas Nicolas Cage does it in a more subtle way, for example his character in Gone in 60 Seconds. He's a leader there, but he's also so calm in that moment, in those moments there to be that ultimate car thief, but he's also so dedicated to his family and protecting his little brother. And you know he's gotten out of the life but you know there's that nuance to his character where he just has that loyalty, that sort of passion for cars. There's just that moment of character depth that I really feel like Nicolas Cage just brings action to any of the movies that he's in. So I think he's definitely really, really talented yeah, I agree, there's definitely.
Speaker 2:You know what. I'm definitely gonna be honest and say there's a lot of roles and a lot of films that he does not nail. And you know, again, those are ones that I've rated less than two and a half stars and probably will not be watching again, unless I'm watching it in a room full of my infinity bros or something we can sit and make fun of it. That's when it's okay to watch a bad movie, when you've got a bunch of buddies over and you can sit and make fun of the movie absolutely.
Speaker 1:I think one of those for me that I watched in prep for this was primal. Have you seen primal? It's surprisingly okay. But I feel like nicholas cage's character in that. He just plays this grumpy old hunter. I feel like that's. That's just how he kind of dove into. That role is just like I'm going to be grumpy for this. But the actual premise of that movie is it's a really fun group watch. I would honestly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, the premise of that movie is actually really good, gets the lost a little bit and execution it's. It's not as good as it promises to be, but honestly, the story was pretty solid. It wasn't that bad. Yeah, nicholas cage that. That's one of those roles where he grabbed onto something that really I don't know if it was maybe a little cliche, that he was like the grumpy hunter guy. You know that, like you know, wanted to stay away from people and like was in it for himself, but at the same time he cared about other people, you know, like a little bit cliche.
Speaker 2:So that, yeah, not one of his defining roles, but that's a perfect example of a movie that you could sit and be like. Okay, this is, this is free yeah, and you know what?
Speaker 1:just the combination of him being like this grumpy hunter who's being transported on on this ship, and then also, you know, some prisoners get put on this ship. But on top of the prisoners being on this ship, there's also all of the deadly animals that he caught. And then, all you know, some prisoners get put on this ship, but on top of the prisoners being on the ship, there's also all of the deadly animals that he caught. And then all of them get loose at once. Like it just sounds ridiculous, but it's actually a really, really fun watch, you know, like it's not a good movie, but it's a fun watching movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly that's a way I describe a lot of his movies. They're entertaining.
Speaker 1:They're fun watches. They're not good movies, but they're fun to watch, definitely, definitely. So, speaking of fun, there has been some awesome fun stories of Nicolas Cage over the time that really curate his larger than life reputation, you might say. There's some interesting myths and legends that people have either heard of or spoken of or written about in articles about Nicolas Cage that really sort of cement that juxtaposition of him being this actor that's sort of thespian in his way, with character acting but then also off screen.
Speaker 1:He's kind of extravagant as well and I've watched an interview with him on Jimmy Kimmel recently where he actually talked about how he turned $200 into $20,000. And it's the only time he ever gambled. He went and he did roulette and he said that he was feeling on that day and he kept selecting various different numbers, ended up changing this $200 to $20,000. And he thought that the night was so magic. He went to this orphanage, put the $20,000 towards the orphanage, met the madam and everything like that, or the head mistress, and then he'd never gambled, since that's almost like a character out of one of his movies. You could make a movie about just that moment. So have you heard of any myths, legends, interesting stories about Nicholas Cage that you could share with our audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of my favorite ones is actually I mentioned before that he made a string of probably poor financial decisions in his in his career in the late 90s, early 2000s, and one of those poor financial decisions that he made was buying a tyrannosaurus rex skull like a real one, wow skull. He doesn't disclose how much he spent on it, but at one point he was worth about 150 million. In his career. He, like I said, he went near bankrupt, uh, around that time. So I mean, this skull probably was millions of dollars, yeah, and he ended up having to give it back to the mongolian government because apparently it was sold illegally.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. But you know, that's like one of those things where you see it on a headline of an article and you're like, is that real? Like, yeah, is this satire? I can't tell if this is real life or if this is satire, but that's just, that's just nicholas cage for you man, he's. He's almost as much of a quirky, eccentric guy in real life as he is in a lot of his movies no 100, and you know that's spending on various different sort of animals.
Speaker 1:I've heard as well that you know he once had a two-headed snake that he bought as well, and there's like an incredibly intelligent crow that he owns, like there's just so much of this sort of slapstick that you just look at it and you're like, is this real? And you know.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, that, along with the memification of a lot of his crazy moments right, and you have those crazy moments in Face Off is another movie that there's probably very popular GIFs memes. Vampire's Kiss is another one. Like the only reason people know vampire's kiss exists is because of memes today, because the movie is not good. It's not a good movie, but cage is probably at his most unhinged in that movie. Um, and yeah, like I said, I mean it doesn't. It doesn't speak to the level of actor that he is, but at the same time, I mean, everybody knows who Nicolas Cage is. Even if you, you know, don't really appreciate or like him as an actor, you know who he is. He's pretty up there on the list of famous people, or infamous, if you prefer to refer to him as such.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. But I think one of his most memed movies in in modern culture is you know the unbearable weight of massive talent that we were talking about before where he stars with pedro pascal. Obviously he plays himself, uh, and pedro pascal is this obsessed sort of character. He's obsessed with nicholas cage and all of his works and all he wants is to hang out with nicholas cage and that that movie as well is almost like a love letter to all of his his movies before. You mentioned before that it was probably one of your favorites. Where does that sit in your, your letterboxd list? What are some favorite moments from that movie?
Speaker 2:yep, and and, like I said before, unbearable weight of massive talent is what started me on this whole thing, because I was like I need to understand the context behind this almost memification of you know nicholas cage and that movie does. Despite being an incredible movie, it really does almost cement him as a memified. Uh, but it is, it's incredible, it's number two on my list. I I absolutely love unbearable wave of massive talent, one of my favorite nicholas Cage movies of all time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think especially to the point where there's that scene where he's on the LSD with Pedro Pascal and there's just the antics that they go through while they're on. That sort of hallucinogenic intoxicant is just.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when, when this movie came out and that clip got memed. It's the one where Nicolas Cage looks over at Pedro Pascal and he just looks growly like nasty and Pedro Pascal's just smiling and laughing. It's like that that was the source of so many memes at that time. It was. It was absolutely loved that moment.
Speaker 1:I agree, I think that that was what sort of got me to because of all those memes sort of got me to because of all those memes. It got me to watch that movie. So, and then they coupled it with that, that perfect song. That was just yeah, built it there. People are so creative. I love it. Yeah, all right. So we've talked a lot about Nicolas Cage, but let's talk about what he is doing in the future. So are there any projects from Nicolas Cage that you're aware of that you are completely excited for? That you would promote to the heck's on your radar, isaac. What are you looking forward to the most?
Speaker 2:oh, that's a great question. The biggest one that I'm looking forward to is he has been confirmed by amazon and mgm studios to be starring in his own spider-man war series. Or I mean it amazon mgm is the one that will be distributing it. Sony obviously owns the property of spider-man war, so they will be involved in in the production of that as well. But he played an absolutely perfect spider-man war voiced I should say yes, voice acting spider-man into the spider verse, which is my favorite movie of all time. I absolutely adore that movie. The fact that Nicolas Cage plays a minor role in it, that's a cherry on top, the icing on top of that movie. It's incredible.
Speaker 2:I did have a lot of questions when I heard that news is coming out, because I mean, how does it work with the difference from live action and animation? Obviously he can voice that role really well, but he's, I believe he is 60, 61 years old right now. Yeah, 61 looks it, you know, like 100. He's, he's aging. Uh, so how does that translate to a spider-powered noir detective? You know, I don't know, but I decided for another one and they did. They did in that announcement they did say that he's playing like a retired noir detective.
Speaker 2:So this is going to be in his, like you know, later years as Spider-Man, more probably looking back on a lot of things that he did and then maybe getting into a new caper or however you want to say it. That's something I'm the past coming to to bite him in the future. I I'm looking forward to it too. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I I'm. You know, part of me was also a little worried because sony's live action projects are pretty suspect, continuing with madame webb this year and Craven later this fall, which looks like a pretty generic action movie to me yeah, I don't think anybody's going to be writing home about too much coming from Sony, but I also hope this is good right.
Speaker 2:The fact that Amazon and MGM are involved is promising to me because hopefully they can avoid the very Sony-esque poor decisions that are made in the production of a lot of those films. So who knows, we'll see, but I'm still excited to see it. Spider-man Noir again one of my favorite characters in Into the Spider-Verse, so love that for him. He's in a movie later this year called the Surfer. I don't know much about that, but he is playing a retired surfer as well and I think it's described as like a thriller. Man returns to his beachside hometown in Australia. He's humiliated in front of his teenage son by a local group of surfers who claim ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. So he's going to have to fight to get his beach back. I guess I love the fact that he's. I hope he tries an Australian accent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that will be interesting as an Australian to see how he does that notoriously one of the hardest to replicate well, so let's see if Nicholas has the chops, but it sounds like a really good premise, I think for me. There's a couple that are on my radar for Nicholas Cage coming out, and the first of which is obviously Spider-Man. Beyond the Spider installment of that trilogy seeing him as spider new are again in the animated form, but he's going to play john madden in the biopic called madden, which that got some some hot and cold remarks based on whether they think he can play that role as well. And yeah, I will admit I haven't had much to do with john madden other than playing the the video games, obviously, but I feel like he can lean into any role that sort of puts his mind to and I think there's a lot of breadth of character for John Madden.
Speaker 2:Yeah, john Madden is a very unique voice and Nicolas Cage has a unique voice. The fact, you know? The question is, can he kind of replicate that unique voice of John Madden's? Honestly, when I heard this news, I thought of a few different movies in his career. That leads me to believe that I think he can probably pull it off. Number one is army of one, which is a bonkers movie. The fact that this movie is based on a real true story is even more bonkers. But it's about a American guy who goes to Pakistan to try to hunt down Osama bin Laden himself.
Speaker 2:Wow, and he plays the titular character in that. And he it is very crazy, very quirky movie. Russell Brand plays God in that. So, like I mean just just hearing that, you're like, okay, yeah, this is a weird, it's going to be a trip. I'm going to be a trip, exactly, but he has this like higher pitched tone of voice in that that. I'm like you know what? I think he could probably tweak that a little bit. And you know, nicolas Cage, he is a, he loves the acting crap. So he's going to study that. He's going to do a lot of things modifications to his voice to try to replicate that If that comes to pass, I think he will be fine. I think it is an interesting casting because there's definitely people out there that look the role more than Nicolas Cage, for sure. I mean, the iconic John Madden voice is going to be the thing that people are going to remember about this biopic, so we'll see if he can pull it off.
Speaker 1:It'll to be the thing that people are going to remember about this biopic. So we'll see if he can pull it off. It'll be interesting for sure. I think. As you said before and has said a few times during this interview, he's not afraid to take a risk playing john madden, a very famous american sort of person in the the nfl sphere. Definitely a risk, and now I'm looking forward to seeing if he can pull it off as well. The last thing that I'm looking forward to in terms of things that are coming up for Nicolas Cage is there has been rumors circulating that he will appear again as Johnny Blaze, aka Ghost Rider, in the new Secret Wars movie for the Avengers that's coming out. Have you heard any rumors about that, isaac?
Speaker 2:I have, and actually just had, posted a review of Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance on our socials last week a review of Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance on our socials last week and in that review I mentioned Ryan Reynolds said this earlier after Deadpool and Wolverine came out that he actually did talk to Nicolas Cage about reprising his role as Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider for Deadpool and Wolverine. It didn't work out. I mean, probably I would assume it's due to Cage's availability because of all of the junk he's doing. Yeah, but still, the fact that Ryan Reynolds straight up admitted that I think is a very good sign that we're probably going to get Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider in Secret Wars. Because, I mean, if you guys are fans of the Infinity Bros at all, this is like our bread and butter, like we love talking about the rumors that are floating around on the internet.
Speaker 2:Uh, one of our infinity bros, mark. He's like we. We call him the tinfoil hat distributor of the infinity bros universe. He's all about the conspiracy theories and what could be happening in the in the Marvel cinematic universe. So when we've talked about this Very good chance that he and many other characters come back for Secret Wars, which, in the comics, is this multiversal event where they basically bring all of the you know, multiverses or universes together to one plane called Battleworld. So I mean there's no limits on this one. We could see Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, we can see Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man back again. You know, like every character that you can think of from the past could potentially be in Secret Wars and, like I said, the fact that Ryan Reynolds discussed this with him, I think is a very good chance that we'll see him in Secret Wars, which I'm all in on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd love to see it, just to see that bike again. That transformation was fantastic In the first Ghost Rider movie, when he's riding alongside Sam Elliott on the Ghost Rider horse. That's in the brain, that's locked in as a memory. It was a good piece of cinematography. Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah, with that Western song in the background, absolutely great.
Speaker 1:All right, let's move on now and leave our audience with your top movie from your letterbox, from Nicolas Cage, my top movie. And then I also want to talk about, because you're a dad and I'm a dad, what would be an introductory movie that you would give for Nicolas Cage, for your kids as well, Because he has done some voice roles, he has done some live action. What would you show kids? And also, what's number one on your letterbox list, mine? I'll start, obviously, if you are listening to this and you want to join in on Isaac's Nicholas Cage marathon, my recommendation to you would definitely be, as I said before, raising Arizona, go and watch that movie. It was a really breathtaking performance, really nuanced and just that comedy sort of slapstick vibe as well. It's a bag for everybody. So that's, that's number one for me. What about yourself, isaac?
Speaker 2:I didn't bury the lead. I already said that my number one is National Treasure and after starting this Nicholas Cage watch, I went back and rewatched it because I was like how does this hold up among? Obviously, I had very fond memories of it because I watched it all the time as a kid, but I I look back on it and I'm like maybe I had some, you know, nostalgic clouded glasses, like I should go back watch this again, see if it holds up. And it does. It's one of his best performances. I think Ben Gates is one of his. My favorite roles of his, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and like you, you mentioned too that the the soundtrack is phenomenal for that film. It really adds a huge, huge boost to the film itself. Still my number one movie and and there probably is a little bit of nostalgia in that uh decision, but at the same time I'm I'm completely fine with that. So you know that's, that's my, my number one and it's also one that the kids can watch because that's a it's a very clean, great family like almost semi-action film. You know got a lot of fun stuff in there. That that's great for the whole family yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1:I think that that would be a great entry point for for any family. If your kids are younger like mine's currently younger than yours at the moment I would say so probably like something like the Croods would be mine. There's a great voice actor in in in the Croods as as Grug the father there, and you know my son's already sort of watched that and he is at the age now where he's getting the stamina to watch an entire movie through. So I'm I'm on an exciting sort of path with him, showing him the movies that are good to me, and obviously he can develop his own taste too.
Speaker 2:So that would be on the list for me as well. We're big Croods fans in this household and the second Croods film is actually probably better than the first one. So if you haven't watched that one, definitely check that one out as well. One more that I would recommend for like families and this is probably more like for older kids, like into preteen years. But sorcerer's apprentice is actually a disney film that nicholas cage did and it's it's actually really, really good.
Speaker 2:I watched it kind of like I mean it looks cheesy, like you look at the front of it and like this looks cheesy. It is cheesy, but that's. It makes for a great family film. I was pleasantly surprised by how charming that movie was. Nicolas Cage is great in it. It's that's also along the family like level that is right up there with Nick like a national treasure, excuse me. I think those are two great films for like kids that are right Getting in my kids my oldest is seven and we're just starting to watch like live action movies that my kids can sit and watch. You know we are here to the caribbean a couple weeks ago great film we started watching the star wars movie. You know like all these films are, my kids are just starting to get into, so that's one that I would like show my kids, and I think that they would really really enjoy yeah, I agree, like nicholas play about the czar in movie, who's an older sort of sorcerer mentoring Jay Brachelle is it the younger one, I believe.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, young Canadian actor. Yeah, and it's just like a really good mix of magic and fantasy and it gives off like Percy Jackson vibes to me as well. It does, yeah, so if you're into that, then definitely go and check out the Sorcerer's Apprentice 2. But yeah, I think we've got a really good list for our listeners here. So with that, isaac, I think it's time to bid you farewell and I want to thank you again for joining me here. I know you've got a busy schedule, but thank you for being part of the Fandom Portals journey Everybody. You can find Isaac's details in the show notes below. You'll get his letterbox down there. You'll get the Infinity Bros podcast. Make sure you you go and follow. Also, look at their Instagram and TikTok. You will see Isaac appearing reviewing his Nicolas Cage films, as he is doing them. You can join the journey with him and go and watch some Nic Cage on the cinema. So again, isaac, thank you so much for being here today thank you so much for having me dude.
Speaker 2:It has been an absolute blast and pleasure to be on.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that, man, and we can have you on anytime. Love geeking out about this stuff and I'm sure it won't be the last time we hear your voice on the fandom portals podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you, alright see you later, guys. Bye, thank you.
