Nicolas Cage is receiving rave reviews for his work on the independent film.e Pig, and confesses to have more in common with his character than you can imagine
Pig explores Rob’s (Nicolas Cage) connection to his pet pig and his tortured relationship with his past as a renowned chef. Cage, one of the top action stars of the late 1990s, was reflected in the character by Rob’s complicated feelings about fame and shared a desire to live off the grid.
“I feel that I have entered my own desert and that I have left the small town that is Hollywood”says Cage said in an interview with Variety. “I don’t know exactly why Rob left his stardom. It’s never fully explained, and I like that about the movie. But as for me, I don’t know if I would like to go back. I don’t know if I would like to go and do another Disney movie. It would be terrifying. It is a completely different climate. There is a lot of fear there.
Nicolas Cage is no longer the big box office star who starred in big blockbusters like The Rock, The Quest or Ghost rider. He has spent the last decade appearing in low-budget movies, some of them infumable. And others criminally underestimated, as was the case with his tender interpretation in Joe by David Gordon Green. But Cage says that even when he was at the top, he was sometimes irritated by the commercial limitations placed on his performances.
“When I was making Jerry Bruckheimer movies, that was just a high pressure game. There were a lot of funny moments, but at the same time, there was also ‘We wrote this line’. You have to say it this way. ‘”recalls Cage. “They put a camera on you, photographed you and ordered: ‘Now say the line of training wheels for skates.’ I’d say, ‘I’ll do it, but I’d also like to try it this way.’ In independent films, you have more freedom to experiment and be fluid. There is less pressure and more oxygen in the room. “
“I wanted to remind myself and also remind some people, maybe in the audience or in the media, that I could also apply myself to a much calmer and more measured acting style.”says Cage. “I had followed this tear, almost a mission, to break the form with the performance of the film and what was considered a good performance for being naturalistic or photorealistic or minimalist.”
For a movie like Prisoners of the Ghostland, Cage says that he choreographs each rhythm of his performance and applies an acting style that he calls “Western Kabuki theater”, which draws on off-beat vocalizations, German expressionism, and unbridled intensity to create a style all its own. Inspiring fellow professionals like Ethan Hawke who have said of him that it’s about “The only actor since Marlon Brando who has done something new with the art of acting.”
“It created a kind of culture of what has been labeled ‘Cage Fury'”says Cage. “I’m glad it landed. Glad to hear from you. I’m glad there was an ID there that I shared with other people from the cinema who were interested. “
“I just wanted to appear on set, walk into a room and bring whatever experience of my life, whatever my memories were, whatever my nightmares were from last night, and just tell the story.”says Cage. “I wanted to go back to haiku a lot more, for lack of a better word, acting style. When I say that I mean it literally. Haiku has five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables, and it is really the quiet spaces that lead you to contemplate that are inspired by the words and the syllables. This is how this movie is.
Pig it is not just a character study.
The film also examines the intense bonds that can develop between humans and animals. In Rob’s case, his truffle-hunting pig is his best friend and only source of unconditional love. For Cage, there is a similar bond with his cat, Merlin.
“I was always close to my animals”says Cage. “I think a lot of people in public view probably feel this too. There is a truth there. Sometimes when you meet someone who knows you from a movie, but doesn’t know you like you do, they want to undermine you in some way or see you as a competition. That does not happen with animals, so relationships with animals become closer to family. They become those who have nothing to hide and just want to share this moment with you. “
Pig is the directorial debut Michael Sarnoski, and opens today in the USA, in Spain the release date is not yet known.