Nicolas Cage: "If acting is acting like Sean Penn, I'm not an actor"<

From high-end auteur film (Woo, Lynch Scorsese, De Palma, Coppola) to mass-produced B series, the astonishing journey of a disproportionate and feverish histrion.

In his latest film, Hell Driver, Nicolas Cage plays a man who has returned from everything (even from hell) to avenge his daughter, brutally murdered by the guru of a millenarian sect. Pure series B of very good level, such as it connects some at a frenetic rate for half a dozen years, it is also its first film in 3D. And suddenly, something obvious: this technology, which we now know has the ability to abstract reality, to make human flesh plastic and to reduce bodies to the state of toys, seems to have been invented for him.

Never has the actor seemed so there and elsewhere, human and monstrous, invincible and tortured – an enigma. Oscar winner in 1995 for Leaving Las Vegas, Nicolas Cage seemed, towards the end of the 90s, to easily find his way to the Hollywood firmament, alternating prestigious auteur films (De Palma, Scorsese, Woo, Jonze) and more commercial films. But in recent years, the proportion has largely swung to the advantage of the latter, and some are worried about his credibility, even his mental health. Whether they are reassured – or continue to worry – Nicolas Cage is in great shape, fully assumes his choices, and obviously does not intend to change anytime soon.

NB He is very chic: black suit, white shirt and thin tie. Medium length hair, clean shaven. Its delivery is relatively slow, very articulated. Before the interview begins, and although it is not filmed, he goes to open the window and asks me to change places with him, so that the light is more to his advantage.

Hell Driver is your first 3D movie. Does it change anything for you, as an actor? Can this change the cinematographic language?

Nicolas Cage – From a business point of view, insofar as 3D encourages viewers to go to theaters rather than staying at home, yes that's a good thing. Will it radically change the experience of cinema? No, I do not think so. People still love 2D cinema, and I think the two will co-exist for a while, before some really innovative technology, like maybe holograms or virtual reality, completely changes that. Does it change my way of playing? Not really. At the beginning, I wanted to have fun with the camera, project my arm or my tongue towards the public… And after a week of filming, I realized that it was enough to let me direct. Patrick knew exactly where to put the camera and it was he who adapted to my movements, not the other way around. I never felt coerced.

Most of your recent films are set in fantastic universes or inspired by comic books. What do you like so much in these universes?

I am devoted body and soul to the imagination. It took me from childhood, reading comic books, Jules Verne books, watching horror movies or The Fourth Dimension. I make the films that I like to see. I have a passion for the avant-garde and abstraction, you see, and genre cinema, whether fantasy, SF or horror, remains in my eyes the best way to achieve it without losing the attention of the public.

[inrockstv 62144]

Besides, I don't like gratuitous violence… Yes, it may surprise you, but I don't like violence being directed against people I might pass on the street. But in fantasy films, violence seems to me more acceptable from an ethical point of view: I have no problem slaughtering zombie monks.

Your pseudonym, "Cage", refers to Luke Cage, a comic book character, right?

Yes. Luke Cage was the first African-American superhero to have his own comic book at Marvel (in 1972, in the midst of the blaxplotation wave, editor's note). I didn't read it at the time, but when I discovered it, I liked the sound of the name. This pseudonym, Cage, thus appeared to me like that, a little by chance. Later, I discovered John Cage, the avant-garde composer. Looking back, I tell myself that my life has always been a mixture of Marvel Comics and avant-garde (laughs).

When you chose this nickname at the very beginning of your career, you could not imagine that it would stick to your skin so well: the body as a cage, the split between body and mind, is a theme present in the most of your films, exemplarily in Volte/Face. It's still quite a coincidence, isn't it?

There's another word for "coincidence," isn't there? (he stops for a few seconds, staring) “Destiny”… In my opinion, we are all vessels, carriers of different spirits. And that's where I'm going to draw my characters. I let myself be overwhelmed with emotion, as in the past one could be possessed by an angel or a demon. As an actor, I consider myself a modern-day shaman. In primitive societies, it was quite common for a shaman to go into a trance and let a spirit speak in his own body, to give a message to the villagers. Today, these beliefs have been replaced by a science, psychology, but it is more or less the same thing.

A Canadian band called Arcade Fire wrote a song that sounds like it was written for you: “My body is a Cage”. You know her ?

I don't know this song, no, but Arcade Fire is a great name for a band… Arcade fire… (he repeats it for himself, articulating to the extreme, editor's note).

You are famous for your excessive, hyper-expressive playing. However, for some time now, you have been using more underplay. Your characters seem more tired, less talkative. How do you explain this change in style?

Everything aspires to become music, and to play is in a way to make music. If the role sounds like a wild, electronic, strident sound, I'll play it that way, like in Bad Lieutenant or in Ghost Rider 2, which I just shot with two great young guys, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor – believe me it or not, but I think it's going to be one of my best movies. If I have to interpret a Teutonic knight or a ghost who returns from hell, it would be inappropriate to play this strident music. On the contrary, I will try to be more mysterious, more silent.

In Bad Lieutenant, you collaborated with a European author, Werner Herzog, who has a universe and a strong vision, known to love – like you – extremes. Wasn't that too restrictive?

Werner is a master. I wanted to work with him because I knew he was capable of pulling extraordinary things out of his actors; and of course I'm a fan of Klaus Kinski. My collaboration with him was (silence)… everything happened quite quickly. The character was a constantly perched drug addict, a rather “impressionistic” role, for which I had to draw on my past, reconnect with feelings 20 years old. The first few days, Werner was a little taken aback, he didn't know to what extent I was really on drugs. I reassured him by explaining to him that I had to let my own ghosts speak to find the character. He understood immediately. I know he had a very conflicted relationship with Klaus Kinski, but between us it went wonderfully. He is very open to experimentation, and at the same time he knows precisely what he wants. He never did more than two takes. I have rarely seen this.

Have you seen Tetro (Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle)?

No.

@SameEeshDiffDay lol you learned how to make scrambled eggs, not eggs benedict. http://t.co/RjeR4wOJ5P

— steph 💕 Wed May 14 22:29:12 +0000 2014

And Somewhere?

No.

I imagine you're not interested in… (interrupting me)

No.

You are one of the most active actors in Hollywood. You make two, three, sometimes four films a year, when most actors only make one or two, maximum. Why do you work so much?

First, I need to work. Necessity is the mother of industry (a euphemism to say that it has serious problems with the FISC, editor's note). Secondly, I'm afraid of getting rusty if I let too much time pass between each film. The more I play, the better I am. It's a matter of training. My life is just a series of characters.

This brings you closer to the actors of the days of the big studios, who were under contract and had to chain roles at full speed, than to your contemporaries, more concerned with managing their image...

I do indeed feel close to this tradition of the 1930s and 1940s, these stars capable of making 150 films in a career. My heroes are called Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney. Later, the actors became more exclusive, seeking to generate anticipation between each film. People like Warren Beatty or Dustin Hoffman, for example. I like them, they are good actors but hey… Cagney and Bogart: they are really, really good. I mean: really good. And that, you only get by working. All the time.

Did the Actor's Studio method influence you?

I am not influenced by any method, of any kind. I admire Nicholson, Brando, and Dean, but I don't subscribe to the “method”. My technique is totally personal and I would be unable to describe it other than by what I told you earlier: primitive shamanism. A few years ago, Sean Penn said, "Nicolas Cage is no longer an actor." At the time, I took it badly, then I thought about it and I said to myself “he's right, if being an actor means acting like Sean Penn, then I'm not an actor” (laughs).

Does your personality matter more than the role you have to play?

(He closes his eyes, and puts his hands in the air, as if he was about to summon a demon, while speaking very calmly). In kabuki theater, you know, the actors play the same character all the time and that character becomes a kind of spirit that lives in their body, and helps them navigate the rough waters of their lives...

You directed a film that has remained unseen in France, Sonny. Did you enjoy this experience? Would you do it again?

Yes, gladly. Directing actors gave me a taste of acting again, at a time when I was seriously beginning to get tired of it (Sonny had a small US outing in 2002, editor's note) Above all, I was able to direct James Franco, whom I considered the best actor of his generation.

Of all your roles, which one are you most proud of?

I would say The Last of the Templars. It's a film that I absolutely wanted to make, in the spirit of certain films by Roger Corman with Vincent Price, like The mask of the red death… (He stops, listens, editor's note) Champagne! You hear, someone is fiddling with a champagne bucket in the next room...

This is a surprising answer! You have worked with the greatest, Coppola, Scorsese, De Palma, Lynch, Woo, and you quote me a film, certainly charming, but as far removed as possible from the idea of ​​prestige…

I am a futurist. I look to the future. Tim Burton and James Cameron: great wizards. If you are lucky enough to be invited to their home, you will be transported to a magical universe, and they will do 90% of the work to get you there. Unfortunately, they never invited me. So it's up to me to look for new talent who will have the courage to take me where I want to go. I want to work with people who are not afraid to go towards abstraction, towards the avant-garde, without denying the part of entertainment. Dominik Sena, Patrick Lussier, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are of this caliber.

Your best memory on a shoot?

When I sing Love me tender in Sailor and Lula.

Interview by Jacky Goldberg