"The most Nicolas Cage movie ever"
Nicolas Cage plays himself in meta comedy ‘Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’
Nicolas Cage is set for his most interesting role to date, playing himself in the new meta comedy Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
The National Treasure and Con Air star is playing a fictionalized version of himself in the new meta comedy from Lionsgate set for a theatrical release in April 2022.
The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, directed by Tom Gormican, stars Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Lily Sheen, with Neil Patrick Harris, and Tiffany Haddish.
The most Nicolas Cage movie ever. pic.twitter.com/u7Ifq6AKog
— The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (@NickCageMovie) December 14, 2021
In the first trailer released Wednesday (Dec. 15), a down-on-his-luck Cage, 57, begrudgingly accepts a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a Mexican billionaire super fan.
The trailer starts off with Cage soaking in a sauna with his agent, played by Neil Patrick Harris, who tells him that all his acting work has dried up, a premise that's not hard to imagine. Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, Cage reluctantly accepts the invitation for the cash.
However, things take a wild turn in the movie when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones from the superfan who is a notorious drug lord.
Pedro Pascal plays Javi, the Mexican billionaire and Cage's dangerous super fan who sends him $1 million to appear at his birthday.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly about the film, Cage said that the role he plays is an “invented version of himself”
'['Nick Cage'] is an invented version of Nic Cage. The character is feeling unfulfilled and contending with the rejection that can happen so often in the small town that is Hollywood. It's not me. I'm feeling pretty good about things,' said Cage.
The actor also told Collider earlier this year that he has no plans of watching the movie himself.
'I'm told it's a good movie,' he said 'My manager Mike Nilon, who is also a producer on it, looked at it. He was very happy. I'm told the audience loved the movie. But it's just too much of a whacked-out trip for me to go to a movie theater and watch me play Tom Gormican's highly-neurotic, anxiety-ridden version of me.'
Since making his Hollywood debut in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cage has racked up over 100 film credits in blockbuster action and drama films which gained him a cult following such as 1997’s Con Air and Face/Off, 2004’s National Treasure, and 2007’s Ghost Rider, to name a few.
Aside from blockbuster hits, the eccentric actor is known for his wide variety of genre-spanning roles from Oscar-winning performances, to wildly over the top characters, as well as indie roles.
His most recent film, Pig which follows a truffle forager whose beloved truffle-finding pig is stolen, received acclaim from critics, who praised Cage's performance.
Check out the bizarre trailer for what's being dubbed as "the most Nicolas Cage movie ever" below.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is set to premiere in US theaters on April 22, 2022.