Get Tickets THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT opens April 22
Throughout his 40-plus-year career, Nicolas Cage has won an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe® and dozens of other accolades for a number of his outstanding performances. But the talented and prolific actor has also given cinema some of the most intense, bizarre and iconic moments that few, if any, could pull off as well or as effortlessly.
At this point, there are a ton of Nicolas Cage movies that people watch just so they can see how off-the-rails the actor gets as he loses himself to various characters. And, while they’re not always the best movies, there is no denying the entertainment factor. So, with THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT opening April 22 in AMC Theatres nationwide, we’ve put together a list of just a few of those iconic moments.
The Bunny In Con Air
There might be some people out there who dismiss CON AIR as nothing more than an over-the-top action flick about a group of prisoners hijacking a plane, but in actuality, the 1997 star-studded thriller is one of the best Nicolas Cage movies, and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on. The movie follows Cage’s character, Cameron Poe, as he tries to get back home and meet his daughter for the first time after being paroled, but the flight home doesn’t go according to plan.
There are just so many great moments in this movie, most of which involve Poe in one way or another. The top of that lis is the fight the former Army Ranger has with William “Billy Bedlam” Beford in the cargo hold, where the convicted murderer goes through Poe’s things and discovers the bunny he was saving for his daughter. What follows is a short and brutal fight that ends with perhaps the most ridiculous line of the movie: “Why couldn’t you put the bunny back in the box?” It’s absolutely perfect, just like Poe’s hair in CON AIR.
The Bees In The Wicker Man
The 2006 remake of the cult horror classic, THE WICKER MAN, is a movie that is best remembered for one scene and one scene only — the infamous bee scene. The movie centers on Nicolas Cage’s character, Edward Malus, a police officer who goes to a remote island off the Washington coast to investigate a pagan cult. When the inquisitive officer arrives on the island, he learns that something very strange is going on and not just the recent declining honey production
The great Nicolas Cage moment comes in the movie’s final act, when the cult captures Malus, breaks his legs and tortures him with, you guessed it, a swarm of angry bees. With a mesh mask on his head and cult members holding him down, the subdued hero yells out: “No, not the bees!” in what can best be described as comedic agony. But that isn’t all, as Malus is placed in a giant wicker man and burnt alive as a sacrifice to the gods.
Snap Out Of It In Moonstruck
Before Nicolas Cage was leading ‘90s action films like THE ROCK, CON AIR, and GONE IN 60 SECONDS, he established himself as one of the most promising actors in young Hollywood with a string of critically-acclaimed dramas like the 1988 Oscar winner, MOONSTRUCK. He didn’t win any major awards for his portrayal of hopeless romantic Ronny Cammareri, but Cage is on the receiving end of one of most memorable lines, and slaps, in cinematic history.
I’m talking about the iconic “Snap out of it!” line from Cher’s Loretta Castorini after Cammareri professes his love for her. And sure, this is more of a great Cher moment than anything, but since the line is so iconic and is one that just about everyone knows, it is more than deserving of a spot on this list.
The Alphabet In Vampire’s Kiss
As far as unhinged Nicolas Cage movies go, there are few that match the 1988 horror comedy, VAMPIRE’S KISS. The movie sees Cage take on the role of Peter Loew, a New York literary critic whose already deteriorating mental state is pushed over the edge when he convinces himself that he has been bitten by a vampire, and things quickly go from bad to worse.
In a movie that is filled with iconic and chaotic scenes, one of the most ridiculous examples takes place in a scene where Loew tries to explain his filing system before going off on a tirade where he yells out ”What could be easier; it’s all alphabetical. You just put it in the right file according to alphabetical order!” before reciting the entire alphabet.
This is early on in Cage’s career, and you can see the actor he would become a few years down the road throughout VAMPIRE’S KISS, but this moment is the best example of the way in which he can go from mild-mannered to completely crazed in a matter of seconds.
Airport Scene in Honeymoon In Vegas
The 1992 romantic comedy, HONEYMOON IN LAS VEGAS, sees Nicolas Cage play a private eye named Jack Singer whose plan to marry his girlfriend, Betsy Nolan, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, in Las Vegas is thrown for a spin when his bride-to-be catches the eye of a crooked gambler named Tommy Korman, portrayed by James Caan, who thinks she looks like his deceased wife.
What starts off as a quick trip to Las Vegas turns into anything but when Korman takes Singer’s girlfriend around the country, with the private eye not far behind. This leads to one of the most hilarious scenes in the movie where a character played by Ben Stein holds up the line to ask questions about a flight that doesn’t take off for another two weeks. After getting antsy in the line and interrupting the monotone man, Singer is told to settle down by the attendant to whom he replies, “Then what? I’ll be arrested, put in airport jail?” The madness in his eyes at this moment is something else.
Hallelujah in Face/Off
Released in 1997, John Woo’s FACE/OFF follows FBI Special Agent Sean Archer, played by John Travolta, who attempts to track down a bomb hidden by Nicolas Cage’s Castor Troy by having their faces surgically replaced so that he can go undercover. This movie is absolutely bonkers, but in a good way, and is the kind of movie that keeps on giving.
One of the most iconic scenes comes during the opening credits is when Troy dresses up like a priest, arms and hides the bomb and then chastises a choir performing Handel’s “Messiah.” Known as the “Hallelujah” scene, Cage goes off the walls and then some, further establishing himself as one of the most exciting actors in Hollywood while building up his villain as a truly terrible person.
With THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT opening in AMC Theatres on April 22, there’s a good chance we'll soon have some other iconic Nicolas Cage moments.
Get Tickets THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT opens April 22
