Nicolas Cage: his most batshit insane performances, including himself

In his most recent film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Nicolas Cage takes on his most bizarre role yet: Nicolas Cage. How does this role compare to other insane roles he’s done over the years?

Cage is definitely known for his intense over-acting in any film he’s in, from tearing off his shirt or eating a live cockroach on command. With his new movie coming out, we know that now he’s incredibly self-aware of how everyone sees him, which just makes him that much more powerful. We take a look at some of his most insane performances over the years.

Zandalee (1991)

Cage plays a tortured artist with wild hair who has a tendency to talk about himself when he discusses his own art: “I really captured the brutality of fact here,” he laments. “I feel good about it. I didn’t use drugs.” In a Nicolas Cage moment, when rejected he shreds his canvases and sathers his body in paint, screaming  as he does so.

Deadfall (1993)

In this pretty amateurish display of filmmaking by Cage’s brother, Christopher Coppola (yes, the brothers are nephews of legendary filmmaker Francis Coppola), Cage enters 17 minutes in, wearing an awful moustache and a shitty toupee. He snorts poppers and karate kicks people at random, yelling “Hi-fuckin’-ya!” before his very memorable exit.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

In his most fourth-wall-breaking role yet, Cage plays a not quite himself Nicolas Cage who agrees to make a personal appearanceon a private island. He calls upon a younger version of himself that only he and the audience can see, who psychs modern-day Cage up whenever needed. Cage also bizarrely makes out with himself in this film, after which younger Cage exclaims “Nic Cage smooches good!”

Vampire’s Kiss (1988)

In his most meme-able form, Cage plays a New Yorker who gets freaked out by a bat in his apartment and convinces himself that he’s becoming a vampire. Cage channels exagerrated movement and pantomime style taken from silent film actors and inspired by the theatre style Commedia Dell’arte. “‘Over the top’ is one of those things that doesn’t work with me, because I don’t believe in such a thing,” Cage revealed on the film’s commentary track.

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