You Don't Have to Help Make Nicolas Cage Look Crazy

There is a new documentary about the Tim Burton Superman movie that never was. As you almost certainly know, Nicolas Cage was going to play Superman, which would have been awesome and probably Advanced, since the Advanced like to associate themselves with superheroes (and Super Bowls). But since it never happened, we've all been left to imagine what it would have been like, and of course the film we imagine is almost certainly better than the movie Burton would have made because we make all the creative choices. Cage says this:

The only thing I’ll say about that — because that is such a lighting rod hot topic and if I say anything at all it just seems to snowball — but I will say that I had great belief in that movie and in what Tim Burton’s vision was going to be for that movie. I would’ve loved to have seen it, but I feel that in many ways, it was sort of a win/win because of the power of the imagination. I think people can actually see the movie in their minds now and imagine it and in many ways that might resonate more deeply than the finished project.

Pretty reasonable, I'd say. But the writer who was reporting on this prefaced that comment with:

">[Cage] didn’t have time to be part of the film during production—but he’s now offered up some suitably nostalgic (and slightly crazy) comments on the project.

I guess it's not big deal, but Cage does actually slightly crazy stuff, so why do people feel the need to shoehorn everything he does into the Crazy Nic Cage narrative? He and Billy Corgan should hang out at Disneyland sometime to commiserate, and maybe collaborate on a song called "What the Fuck Do You Want from Me?"

About Nicolas Cage

The NY Times has a nice article about Nicolas Cage. Basically the writer is groping for an explanation for his career. Of course we know you can explain everything with one word: Advancement. Here's a snip:

THERE are any number of characteristic Nicolas Cage scenes in Werner Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” interludes you watch with a now-familiar mixture of genuine appreciation and more than a touch of bewilderment. In one Mr. Cage, as the drug-addled cop of the film’s title, enters a room to join a stakeout. The cops are watching a house. And, crammed in the foreground of the shot, two iguanas are watching Mr. Herzog’s low-lying camera, their bodies stretched across the image. “What,” demands the looming Mr. Cage, waving an arm toward the creatures, are these “iguanas doing on my coffee table?” He looks affronted. There aren’t any iguanas, another cop replies, too busy to wonder at the question. Mr. Cage gives the iguanas a small, appreciative smile, eyeballing the animals who continue to eyeball the camera as the image begins to jump and shake. It’s the look of a man who sees something no one else does: he’s in on his own joke. But it’s also the smile of self-recognition.

Read the whole thing.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Trailer

One other thing: Val Kilmer is in it. This might be the most Advanced movie in a long time.

Thanks Roger.

Nicolas Cage in "Bad Lieutenant": Don't Call It a Remake

Completely awesome on a million levels:

Actor Nicolas Cage plays a deranged, drug-addicted detective in "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," re-visiting the corrupt cop role made famous by Harvey Keitel 17 years ago.

Despite the similarity in title to Abel Ferrara's 1992 cult classic "Bad Lieutenant," and Ferrara's obvious displeasure at the idea of a remake, Cage and German director Werner Herzog say their movie is not connected.

"It would be unfair to compare the two movies," Cage told Reuters in an interview in Venice, where the picture is in competition at the annual film festival.

"Harvey's trajectory is really dealing with guilt and all of that, and perhaps fits more into that (Judeo-Christian) program, so to me it's a completely different story and a different cop," added the 45-year-old, who won a >best actor Oscar for playing an alcoholic in "Leaving Las Vegas."

"This is a New Orleans cop, it takes place in New Orleans, it's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, it's not Bad Lieutenant."

Ferrara has criticized the idea of a remake, and was quoted in the media as saying: "I wish these people die in hell."

"It's not 'CSI' it's 'CSI New Orleans.'"

Hats off to Herzog on creating a totally original version of being an Advanced Irritant. Also this is a perfect illustration of something that is not the opposite of what is expected from an artists, which is at the heart of Advancement. What gave Cage/Herzog the idea that this project would inspire anything but rage? Fans of the original will be mad, non-fans won't see it, so why would they do it? And who's paying for it? Whoever it is may be the most truly Advanced player in this whole project.

By the way, if you've never seen the original, he really is a bad lieutenant. Very, very bad.

Super Nic Cage Karate Monkey

JW asks, "When are you going to address this nick cage quote (about ghost rider)":

Q: What was something you really wanted in this character, considering how involved you were in the production?

Nicolas Cage: “It’s a deeply personal character and I was trying to find a new way of presenting how he would keep dark spirits at bay. I didn’t want him being a heavy drinker or a chain smoker. I wanted him eating jellybeans so he wouldn’t invite the devils in. I wanted him listening to Karen Carpenter to help him relax so he wouldn’t allow the devil with satanic Goth rock or something. Or, he’s watching chimpanzees do karate instead of The Exorcist. And, all three of those things I was doing in my own life. I was eating jellybeans out of a martini glass and listening to Karen Carpenter and on the Internet watching chimps do karate. And I thought, ‘Well this is funny, let’s put it in the movie.’ But it’s also true.”

I'd like to address this, but I'm not sure how to, other than to say Val Kilmer better watch his back.