# What happened to Nicolas Cage **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343 "2009-03-22T15:58:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/41 "2009-03-24T15:36:29Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > No it’s not. There are actors who make the decision to do more artistically satisfying films for less money. And even more who do blockbuster type movies while mixing in the more challenging stuff. Now, I don’t think Cage owes anyone an apology for going for the big bucks (mostly), but he’s certainly not required to run his career this way. It surely doesn’t make him immune from criticism. Clooney does this too, I’ve noticed. He’ll prolly make **Oceans 4,357** as long as it gives him the money to be be involved with stuff like **Syriana** , etc. Ed Norton does it. Maybe it would be good if Cage actually found some good scripts with some talented directors and started making 1 arty movie for every 3 silly movies or something. ETA: Heck, [Natalie Portman even raps!](http://www.hulu.com/watch/1404/saturday-night-live-snl-digital-short-natalie-raps) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/42 "2009-03-24T16:11:50Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I’m not understanding this opinion that Nick Cage has ever been anything but terrible. The guy sucks, he has always sucked, but he occasionally gets penciled into a role that capitalizes on that fact or offers enough support to hide him. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/43 "2009-03-24T16:18:58Z")
Actors and writers have outpriced themselves, and this is a good example. In the old days actors made good money, but they HAD to work. Now an actor like Cage can make millions and sit back and ONLY do films HE likes. He doesn’t HAVE to work. So the choices actors make start to show. They don’t allow themselves to expand or to try new things. In the old days stars like Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth, Jimmy Stewart, were well off but they weren’t obscenely rich to the point they could dictate everything. When a person HAS to make compromises they produce better things, _in the long run_, because they have input from others. When they are rich and surround themselves with “yes men” who only echo back to them what they want to hear, decline happens. Cage is not the only example the TV, novels, etc are full of them. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/44 "2009-03-24T17:21:46Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Clooney does this too, I’ve noticed. He’ll prolly make **Oceans 4,357** as long as it gives him the money to be be involved with stuff like **Syriana** , etc. I got the sense that Clooney, et al did the _Ocean’s_ movies not so much to make money but just to get paid to hang out with a bunch of pals. And if he elects to make crap like _Michael Clayton_ again I’m going to be seriously disappointed. (_Good Night, and Good Luck_, on the other hand, was a great film.) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/45 "2009-07-24T15:59:33Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Sam Jackson is in a different category. I put him in with Gene Hackman and Michael Caine. Actors who are more interested in working than making art but make everything they are in better. Even the crap. I’d add Christopher Walken to that list, too. The latest on The Nickster: [Not much rattling Nicolas Cage these days - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/24/nicholas.cage.gforce/index.html?iref=mpstoryview) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/46 "2009-07-24T17:14:18Z")
I’m happy with the path his career has taken. I refuse to watch any movie he is in, so now I don’t have to worry about missing anything interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/47 "2009-07-24T17:37:17Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > …crap like _Michael Clayton_ again… You mean Best-Picture-Nominated _Michael Clayton_? **That** _Michael Clayton_? Damn fine movie, and any actor could only _wish_ he made more “crap” like that. [/Clooney career assessment hijack] ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/48 "2009-07-24T17:54:24Z")
Nobody liked _Bringing Out The Dead_? _Matchstick Men_? _Adaptation_? _8MM_? Even _National Treasure_ and _Ghost Rider_ had some broad appeal, even if they weren’t necessarily good movies. I think some of you guys are being too hard on the old Nickster. Sure he’s been in some clunkers, but almost every big movie star has. What makes him any different? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/49 "2009-07-24T17:55:26Z")
I have no beef with Cage. He’s in some complete crap, but i just avoid watching those films. I liked _The Weather Man_ and _Lord of War_, and thought he was good in both of them. _Next_ was completely fucking dire, however. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/50 "2009-07-24T19:29:41Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > You mean Best-Picture-Nominated _Michael Clayton_? > > **That** _Michael Clayton_? Yes, I mean that manipulative, ill-researched, unrealistic, trite depiction of yet again another venal megacorporation sticking it to the poor defenseless children, blah blah blah. It appears they just threw the script for _Erin Brockovich_ into a blender with an old VHS tape of _Three Days of the Condor_, added in a couple of rejected John Grisham novels, dumped in a fifth of J&B, and hit “puree”. Clooney’s performance was fine, but his selection of script was crap. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/51 "2009-07-24T19:40:22Z")
What I can’t figure out is how he got so popular in the first place. I find him utterly unappealing on screen. Some of his early roles capitalized on his odd looks and hangdog mien. But he just doesn’t work for me as a blockbuster star. I love Con Air in a so-bad-it’s-great kind of way and I’ll watch it whenever I catch it on TV, but I find Nicolas Cage so repulsive that I always find myself rooting for Cyrus the Virus. :eek: > [@lissener](#): > > We will usually automatically watch any of these filler titles if it includes a star turn by someone like Rutger Hauer, Eric Roberts, David Carradine, David Hasselhoff, Michael Biehn, Dolph Lundgren–you get the picture. You KNOW scenery will be chewed. That’s hilarious. My ex-husband LOVED those movies. He knew they were crap, but he watched every one he could find. His great favorite was Olivier Gruner, though I don’t know if he was ever any good. (There’s another guy who should be on that list, but his name escapes me at the moment.) Fortunately, he never expected me to watch any of them with him. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/52 "2009-07-24T20:08:09Z")
Throughout **Knowing** , Cage looked and sounded totally uncomfortable, as if he would rather have been anywhere else. Some of this might be attributed to the dumb dialogue, but he seemed to be having trouble even getting the words out. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/53 "2009-07-24T20:25:01Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > I liked The Weather Man too. :eek: I rented that one on DVD, and, after about 45 minutes, decided that: 1. Cage’s character was extremely unlikeable 2. I had no desire whatsoever to see what happened to him So, I turned it off (a rare thing for me). ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/54 "2011-01-07T15:23:41Z")
**Season of the Witch** has scored a whopping three percent on Rotten Tomatoes, worse even than \*\*The Last Airbender. \*\* > **[Season of the Witch](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10010694-season_of_the_witch)** > > His faith broken by many years fighting in the Crusades, a knight named Behman (Nicolas Cage) returns to Europe and finds it ravaged by the Black Plague. A dying cardinal orders Behman and his friend, Felson (Ron Perlman), to take an accused witch to... > **[Season of the Witch Might Be Nicolas Cage's Worst Movie Ever](https://www.gawker.com/5727316/season-of-the-witch-might-be-nicolas-cages-worst-movie-ever)** > > The reviews are rolling in for Season of the Witch, Nicolas Cage's latest home movie. And, surprise! They are not very kind at all. This might be Nicolas Cage's worst movie, ever! Which would be a feat. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/55 "2011-01-07T15:33:07Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > :eek: I rented that one on DVD, and, after about 45 minutes, decided that: > > 1. Cage’s character was extremely unlikeable > 2. I had no desire whatsoever to see what happened to him To be fair, his character is supposed to be unlikable, so that wasn’t a flaw in Cage’s acting (in this particular case). That said, you didn’t miss anything. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/56 "2011-01-07T15:57:53Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Clooney does this too, I’ve noticed. He’ll prolly make **Oceans 4,357** as long as it gives him the money to be be involved with stuff like **Syriana** , etc. > > Ed Norton does it. Maybe it would be good if Cage actually found some good scripts with some talented directors and started making 1 arty movie for every 3 silly movies or something. > > ETA: Heck, [Natalie Portman even raps!](http://www.hulu.com/watch/1404/saturday-night-live-snl-digital-short-natalie-raps) Johnny Depp continues to make the occasional weird, arty film. But Captain Jack has been [very, very good](http://yachtpals.com/johnny-depp-yacht-9056) to him… ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/57 "2011-01-07T17:27:50Z")
People! It’s Nicolas, not Nic **h** olas. In addition to _Valley Girl_, _Peggy Sue Got Married_, _Raising Arizona_, _Moonstruck_, _Red Rock West_ (a must-see), and _Guarding Tess_, since his turning point with _Leaving Las Vegas_ I have seen and enjoyed _The Family Man_, _Adaptation_ (wow!), _Matchstick Men_ (double wow!), _National Treasure_ (though the second one was a disappointment), and _The Weather Man_. I saw _The Sorcerer’s Apprentice_, which I fully expected to be a boring kids’ movie, and darn if Mr. Cage didn’t impress me. I told someone, he _never phones it in_. He never acknowledges that this is a silly movie and acts as if it is beneath him. He is always right there in the moment. So even if he is weird in real life and gives his kid a stupid name and doesn’t handle his money as well as he might, the man is an _actor_. I am wondering if _Season of the Witch_ might be worth seeing for this reason. Yes, I am aware of the “Don’t bother with any movie released in January or February” rule, but I haven’t seen a movie in the theatre since _Deathly Hallows_ and _The King’s Speech_ is never going to be shown here. And I think I’ve used up six months’ worth of my italics ration. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/58 "2011-01-07T17:28:17Z")
He was in one of my favorite movies of 2010, Kick-Ass. Those of you who won’t see a movie because Nick Cage is in it missed out. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/59 "2011-01-07T17:53:24Z")
I like Nick Cage. I think most of the movies he’s in that were terrible would have sucked no matter who was playing his part. Not even Daniel Day Lewis could have made The Wicker Man a good movie as it was written. The only real problem I have with Cage is that he accepts roles in too many shitty movies, but if I was getting paid what he’s getting paid I’d sell out too. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343/60 "2011-01-07T17:58:32Z")
Well and don’t forget he’s having money problems now, right? He may not be “selling out” so much as “desperate to raise some cash.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-nicolas-cage/490343.md?page=4)