CAGE MATCH: The Week in Nic Cage
Ok, you mugs. Welcome to another round of Cage Match, the internet’s all-nude column devoted entirely to Nicolas Kim Coppola. Oh, you didn’t know that is the original name of Nic Cage? Then you’re not reading Cage Match enough, idiot.
This week have news about Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Drive Angry, and Cage’s meeting with a diplomat. Also, Nic Cage pinball, the lowdown on Cage’s intense role research for Leaving Las Vegas, and a weak bit from Conan O’Brien. Let’s do this.
Baffling Turkish News Report on the Set of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Plot Synopsis Revealed
Harry from AintItCoolNews posted this really bizarre video from a Turkish news broadcast that contains some footage from the set of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. It’s a lot of Cage climbing on rocks and Zorro doing front flips. WUT? I couldn’t figure out how to embed it so you’ll have to click on the AintItCool link above to watch it. Whoops!
In more exciting and comprehensible news, the heads at ComicBookMovie found the sales synopsis for Ghost Rider. I don’t know nuthin about Ghost Rider’s mythos but it sounds awesome to me: Get pumped.
“It has been several years since making a deal with the Devil and Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), living in self-imposed isolation, finds himself as the only person who can help save 10-year-old Danny — and ultimately the world — thanks to his unwanted and uncontrollable power — his ability to transform into the hell-on-wheels monster known as The Ghost Rider”
Get pumped.
Conan Unveils New Cage-Themed Terror Alert Level
Last night on Conan, America’s favorite ginger unveiled a new terror alert system and jumped on the Cage bandwagon AT THE SAME TIME. Well played, Conan. The new system uses the films of Nic Cage to portray the current threat level – Con Air being the lowest level, Wicker Man being the highest. It’s surprisingly not funny and they could have chosen better films to represent “threats.” (via Huffington Post)
Turkish Prime Minister Is Graced By Cage’s Presence
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan met with Cage on January 30. Cage talked about his admiration for the country and his desire to visit Istanbul yaddayaddayadda. The real news here is that Cage is wearing a crazy jacket that appears to have green Skittles on it. The Prime Minister looks disgusted by this jacket. In fact, they both look repulsed by each other. Cage, come home.
Cage Offered Role in Treasure of Pompeii
Cage may be donning his treasure hunting pants one more time. Originally believed to be the third installment of the National Treasure series, the FanCarpet reports that Treasure of Pompeii is a family friendly adventure in the vein of Goonies. Italian director Michele Soavi (the genius behind Cemetery Man) is attached and filming begins in April with or without Cage. I hope Cage signs on – I would to see him work with Soavi.
Motion Poster for Drive Angry Is Awesome; Great Review at ShockTillYouDrop
I’m so excited for Drive Angry it’s not even funny, so stop laughing. FirstShowing posted the “motion poster” for the film, which is pretty awesome and features lots of car debris and other such badassery.
Ryan over at ShockTillYouDrop has posted his review of the film (which comes out on February 25). Seriously, this is the kind of stuff that gets me excited for a movie, not all that academic dribble:
Halfway through Patrick Lussier and writer Todd Farmer’s second collaboration together Drive Angry, it dawned on me: Hollywood usually doesn’t have the balls to make a movie like this these days.
Still, nit-picky business in a film that’s not afraid to pull a few punches and have a blast wrangling all of the elements I’ve ever loved about certain movies and jamming them into one film. Some people might call it a an overload, I call this a goddamn party.
A “goddamn party”? Oh hell yes. I’m taking some Wait Mate so I can sleep until the 25th.
Leaving Las Vegas Is on Netflix Watch Instantly
We all love Cage’s berserk performances and eccentric personality – no doubt. But as much as we love to joke about his “so bad it’s good” roles, we should never forget that homeboy won a Best Actor Oscar back in 1996 for Leaving Las Vegas. He beat out Richard Dreyfus, Anthony Hopkins, Sean Penn, and Massimo Troisi. It’s a powerful role and, personally, my favorite straight drama role in Cage’s oeuvre.
A great bit of trivia is how Cage “researched” his role as Ben, a man who commits suicide by drinking himself to death:
Nicolas Cage has revealed that the best research he’s ever done for a part involved getting very drunk in Ireland. Cage went to Dublin for a two-week drinking binge for his role in Leaving Las Vegas (1995). The actor who played a Irish alcoholic in the movie, drank a ‘ferocious’ amount of Guinness and got a pal to videotape him under the influence so he could study the footage later. The star who won an Oscar in 1996 for his part in the movie, admitted that it was being away from home that gave him his drinking freedom. He says, “That’s the beauty of staying in a hotel; you can drink and drink until you fall over, and no one need see you. I must admit, it was one of the most enjoyable pieces of research I’ve ever had to do for a part.”
National Treasure Pinball. Nuff Said.
If I still worked in a cubicle 40 hours a week, my productivity would be exceptionally low lately because I’ve discovered National Treasure Pinball online. Play it over at Games68 and see if you can top my current high score of 234250. You probably can.