People say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but Nicolas Cage could be spilling beans about his time in Sin City. In 2022, Cage said he likely never got paid for his role as the suicidal alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson in the Mike Figgis-directed drama Leaving Las Vegas. The film was an Academy Awards powerhouse in 1996, earning top prizes for Best Actor (Nicolas Cage), Best Actress (Elizabeth Shue), Best Director (Mike Figgis), and Best Adapted Screenplay. The thought of Cage not getting paid for such a monumental role seems ridiculous, but it could be true.
While walking the red carpet at the SXSW Film & TV Festival on Monday, promoting his new film Arcadian, Cage spoke with Business Insider about his earnings confusion. While many of us would be livid about not getting paid for such a significant role, Cage says he remains unbothered by the circumstances.
“But I haven’t been thinking about it,...
While walking the red carpet at the SXSW Film & TV Festival on Monday, promoting his new film Arcadian, Cage spoke with Business Insider about his earnings confusion. While many of us would be livid about not getting paid for such a significant role, Cage says he remains unbothered by the circumstances.
“But I haven’t been thinking about it,...
- 3/15/2024
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
For the first time in more than 20 years, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has added a new category at the Oscars. Beginning with the 2026 ceremony, which will honor films released in 2025, the Academy Awards will include a category that honors the best achievement in casting, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The new category will be part of the 98th annual ceremony.
This is the first new category introduced to the Oscars since Best Animated Feature in 2002, which honored the films of 2001. That makes it a pretty big deal. The Casting Directors Branch of the organization was first formed in 2013. It currently has nearly 160 members. Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang had this to say about it in a joint statement:
"Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate.
This is the first new category introduced to the Oscars since Best Animated Feature in 2002, which honored the films of 2001. That makes it a pretty big deal. The Casting Directors Branch of the organization was first formed in 2013. It currently has nearly 160 members. Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang had this to say about it in a joint statement:
"Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate.
- 2/8/2024
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
Nicolas Cage is an actor who always performs his all, but arguably his biggest and most intense performance is the one he won an Academy Award for -- that of alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson in "Leaving Las Vegas." The movie follows Sanderson as he tries to drink himself to death in Las Vegas, Nevada, a task that doesn't seem too difficult to anyone who's been there. He ends up involved in a complicated romance with a sex worker named Sera (Elisabeth Shue), which makes his suicidal tendencies capable of causing collateral damage and means he has to try and decide whether or not he wants to fight for his life after all. It's a brutal, heart-wrenching film and performance by Cage, but one scene in particular really left its mark on the actor and everyone who watched him.
In an interview with Vanity Fair where Cage rewatched several scenes from his own films,...
In an interview with Vanity Fair where Cage rewatched several scenes from his own films,...
- 1/14/2024
- by Danielle Ryan
- Slash Film
Nicolas Cage, a name synonymous with cinematic unpredictability, is set to unleash his quirky charm and unparalleled acting prowess in the upcoming horror comedy flick, ‘Dream Scenario’. The movie revolves around a family man whose life takes an unexpected turn when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams.
Before you explore this surreal journey of dreams gone awry, let’s take a moment to appreciate some of the finest performances by the man himself. Here’s a handpicked list of 5 must-watch Nicolas Cage movies that will prepare you for the unpredictable roller coaster ride that is ‘Dream Scenario’.
Raising Arizona (1987)
Directed by the Coen Brothers, this screwball comedy showcases Cage’s comedic chops in a tale of an unlikely couple attempting to start a family through unconventional means. Cage plays H.I. McDunnough, a small-time crook who teams up with his police officer wife (Holly Hunter) to...
Before you explore this surreal journey of dreams gone awry, let’s take a moment to appreciate some of the finest performances by the man himself. Here’s a handpicked list of 5 must-watch Nicolas Cage movies that will prepare you for the unpredictable roller coaster ride that is ‘Dream Scenario’.
Raising Arizona (1987)
Directed by the Coen Brothers, this screwball comedy showcases Cage’s comedic chops in a tale of an unlikely couple attempting to start a family through unconventional means. Cage plays H.I. McDunnough, a small-time crook who teams up with his police officer wife (Holly Hunter) to...
- 1/3/2024
- by Editorial Desk
- GlamSham
Click here to read the full article.
Nicolas Cage may have won a priceless Oscar for his turn as a suicidal screenwriter with an alcohol addiction in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas — but that’s all he got. The actor was never paid the 100,000 he was promised to star in the film.
That surprising detail was revealed in a podcast interview with Mike Figgis, the writer-director of Leaving Las Vegas, who joined The Hollywood Reporter’s It Happened in Hollywood for that show’s third season premiere.
Figgis, too, was never paid the 100,000 budgeted for his directing fee.
“They said the film never went into profit,” Figgis says of Lumiere Pictures, which financed the 4 million film, which Figgis shot using handheld 16mm cameras on the streets of Las Vegas.
The film earned 32 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
Figgis seems not to mind the shortchanging.
“Whatever,” he says. “I mean,...
Nicolas Cage may have won a priceless Oscar for his turn as a suicidal screenwriter with an alcohol addiction in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas — but that’s all he got. The actor was never paid the 100,000 he was promised to star in the film.
That surprising detail was revealed in a podcast interview with Mike Figgis, the writer-director of Leaving Las Vegas, who joined The Hollywood Reporter’s It Happened in Hollywood for that show’s third season premiere.
Figgis, too, was never paid the 100,000 budgeted for his directing fee.
“They said the film never went into profit,” Figgis says of Lumiere Pictures, which financed the 4 million film, which Figgis shot using handheld 16mm cameras on the streets of Las Vegas.
The film earned 32 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
Figgis seems not to mind the shortchanging.
“Whatever,” he says. “I mean,...
- 10/4/2022
- by Seth Abramovitch
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nicolas Cage, Guillermo del Toro, Alice Brooks, and Saniyya Sidney will be honored at the 5th Annual Hca Film Awards, taking place on on January 8, 2022 at Avalon Hollywood! The event will be simultaneously live-streamed on the official Hca YouTube channel and we have all the details on the recipients of their Acting Achievement, Filmmaking Achievement, Artisan on the Rise, and Star on the Rise Awards:
"Los Angeles, CA -- -- The Hollywood Critics Association announced today the recipients of their Acting Achievement, Filmmaking Achievement, Artisan on the Rise, and Star on the Rise Awards. These honorary awards will be presented live during the 5th Annual Hca Film Awards, which will be held on Saturday, January 8, 2022, at Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles. The awards ceremony will be simultaneously live-streamed on the Hca’s official YouTube channel and will include a red carpet pre-show.
Nicolas Cage will be receiving this year’s Acting Achievement Award.
"Los Angeles, CA -- -- The Hollywood Critics Association announced today the recipients of their Acting Achievement, Filmmaking Achievement, Artisan on the Rise, and Star on the Rise Awards. These honorary awards will be presented live during the 5th Annual Hca Film Awards, which will be held on Saturday, January 8, 2022, at Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles. The awards ceremony will be simultaneously live-streamed on the Hca’s official YouTube channel and will include a red carpet pre-show.
Nicolas Cage will be receiving this year’s Acting Achievement Award.
- 12/17/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Nicolas Cage goes the extra mile for his characters. The Oscar winner has had plenty of unforgettable roles in the course of his multi-decade career and, thanks to a video for GQ, Cage has revealed some of the more unique ways he channeled those men for the silver screen. When it came time for his Oscar-winning performance as suicidal alcoholic Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas, the actor explained that he studied past alcohol performances by other actors and drew inspiration from those characters. However, upon a suggestion from his cousin Roman Coppola, he hired Tony Dingman, a poet who Cage said was "at that time very drunk," to be his "drinking coach." The...
- 10/4/2018
- E! Online
Las Vegas…the hotbed haven where dreams of high rollers are realized among the glitzy bright lights, the element of chance and luck and the adrenaline for instant fortune. But there is a deception to Sin City that is overlooked–the isolation of a gambler’s anxiety and desperation, the false sense of confidence at the craps table and the swinging doors of the psychological lows more so than the rewarding highs.
Still, Las Vegas has its excitable aura–both innocence and guilt–where one arrives to skillfully manufacture their financial profile or go bust. In some instances, the hedonistic expectations are defined in other fun, precarious ways. It is no wonder that Hollywood has come calling to put its distinctive spin on the capital city of adult entertainment. For decades, the movies have made Las Vegas its backdrop for wonderment, degradation, intrigue, comical curiosity and soul-searching revelations.
In All...
Still, Las Vegas has its excitable aura–both innocence and guilt–where one arrives to skillfully manufacture their financial profile or go bust. In some instances, the hedonistic expectations are defined in other fun, precarious ways. It is no wonder that Hollywood has come calling to put its distinctive spin on the capital city of adult entertainment. For decades, the movies have made Las Vegas its backdrop for wonderment, degradation, intrigue, comical curiosity and soul-searching revelations.
In All...
- 3/2/2015
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
Cult favourite Nicolas Cage has carved out an eclectic and brilliant career spanning the decades and across genres, with forays into action, drama and comic book adaptations to name but a few. To celebrate the release of his latest film, Dying of the Light, out on Blu-ray and DVD from the 2nd March 2015 courtesy of Signature Entertainment, we take a look back at some of his greatest roles.
Dying of the Light (2015)
This brilliant thriller, directed by Paul Schrader and executive produced by cinematic wunderkind Nicolas Winding Refn, stars Cage as Evan Lake, a desk-bound Langley CIA agent, forced into retirement by signs of early onset dementia. At the same time he discovers that his former nemesis, Jihadist Muhhamed Banir (Alexander Karim – Zero Dark Thirty, TV’s Tyrant), is not dead as has been assumed for the last two decades, but alive and receiving experimental medical treatment. Banir’s exact...
Dying of the Light (2015)
This brilliant thriller, directed by Paul Schrader and executive produced by cinematic wunderkind Nicolas Winding Refn, stars Cage as Evan Lake, a desk-bound Langley CIA agent, forced into retirement by signs of early onset dementia. At the same time he discovers that his former nemesis, Jihadist Muhhamed Banir (Alexander Karim – Zero Dark Thirty, TV’s Tyrant), is not dead as has been assumed for the last two decades, but alive and receiving experimental medical treatment. Banir’s exact...
- 2/26/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
20. Dead Man Walking
Directed by: Tim Robbins
Susan Sarandon earned herself an Oscar for her work in “Dead Man Walking,” a film directed by her then husband, Tim Robbins. She plays Sister Prejean, a nun who befriends a death row inmate named Matthew (Oscar nominated Sean Penn) as they confide in one another and build a convincing relationship as the days and hours tick down until his execution. Robbins intercuts the scenes with Sarandon and Penn with moments of the actual crime taking place, creating a storytelling rift that both supports and contradicts moments within the film, creating two very carefully drawn and developed characters. In addition to visiting him regularly, Prejean begins the crusade to find him a lawyer to make an appeal, doing all she can to delay his sentence being carried out. But, as she meets the families of the victims, she finds herself torn between right...
Directed by: Tim Robbins
Susan Sarandon earned herself an Oscar for her work in “Dead Man Walking,” a film directed by her then husband, Tim Robbins. She plays Sister Prejean, a nun who befriends a death row inmate named Matthew (Oscar nominated Sean Penn) as they confide in one another and build a convincing relationship as the days and hours tick down until his execution. Robbins intercuts the scenes with Sarandon and Penn with moments of the actual crime taking place, creating a storytelling rift that both supports and contradicts moments within the film, creating two very carefully drawn and developed characters. In addition to visiting him regularly, Prejean begins the crusade to find him a lawyer to make an appeal, doing all she can to delay his sentence being carried out. But, as she meets the families of the victims, she finds herself torn between right...
- 1/31/2015
- by Joshua Gaul
- SoundOnSight
Nicolas Cage is once again playing a hard-drinker in his latest film, Joe, premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival, but his approach to the role has evolved since his Oscar-winning performance inLeaving Las Vegas.
For the 1995 role of suicidal alcoholic Ben Sanderson, Cage said he was "exploring all ways of finding the honesty of the performance. And if that meant drinking, and videotaping myself drinking, and get ideas about that, I was going to do that."
But that was another time.
"I was completely not doing anything and hadn't done anything for a while" when he played a pain killer-addicted detective in Werner Herzog's 2009 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call- New Orleans, which premiered in Venice. "It was more a sensory recall of the past," he said, "and trying to find what those feelings might have been like. And I was happy with those results."
For the title role in Joe,...
For the 1995 role of suicidal alcoholic Ben Sanderson, Cage said he was "exploring all ways of finding the honesty of the performance. And if that meant drinking, and videotaping myself drinking, and get ideas about that, I was going to do that."
But that was another time.
"I was completely not doing anything and hadn't done anything for a while" when he played a pain killer-addicted detective in Werner Herzog's 2009 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call- New Orleans, which premiered in Venice. "It was more a sensory recall of the past," he said, "and trying to find what those feelings might have been like. And I was happy with those results."
For the title role in Joe,...
- 8/30/2013
- by Cineplex.com and contributors
- Cineplex
The Panic in Needle Park
Written by Joan Dion and John Gregory Dunne; based on the book by James Mills
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg
USA, 1971
Al Pacino gives a riveting performance as Bobby, an energetic street hustler and heroin addict who forms a bizarre, yet accepting relationship with a homeless woman, Helen, played by Kitty Winn. The Panic in Needle Park is a gut-wrenching expose into the drug culture in New York City. American films of the late sixties, such as Easy Rider, Performance and The Trip, portrayed the edgy glamour and counter-culture boom of the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll revolution, but after the release of The Panic in Needle Park, filmmakers forecast the downward spiral of addiction. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll transgressed into heroin, prostitution and jail. To this day, no other film has topped the realistic portrayal of the drug culture. Shot in a documentary-like fashion,...
Written by Joan Dion and John Gregory Dunne; based on the book by James Mills
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg
USA, 1971
Al Pacino gives a riveting performance as Bobby, an energetic street hustler and heroin addict who forms a bizarre, yet accepting relationship with a homeless woman, Helen, played by Kitty Winn. The Panic in Needle Park is a gut-wrenching expose into the drug culture in New York City. American films of the late sixties, such as Easy Rider, Performance and The Trip, portrayed the edgy glamour and counter-culture boom of the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll revolution, but after the release of The Panic in Needle Park, filmmakers forecast the downward spiral of addiction. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll transgressed into heroin, prostitution and jail. To this day, no other film has topped the realistic portrayal of the drug culture. Shot in a documentary-like fashion,...
- 6/23/2013
- by Yale Freedman
- SoundOnSight
Our pick of some of the actor's most memorable performances. What would you add to the list?
Love him or hate him, Nicolas Cage's career now spans over thirty years. Not all of his roles are as wholesome as in recent animation, The Croods (you can read our review by Peter Bradshaw here). The actor has racked up an admirable amount of parts in his time, many of which lean towards high-speed action and darker themes (there's even a handy vid covering most of the Cage Rage).
Here are some of the most memorable Cage roles, as recommended by several of our @guardianfilm Twitter followers - @WilliamConboy, @CurtMilner, @SteelsReels, @fidel_casserole and @hopedickle.
What would you add to the list?
Raising Arizona
A Coen brothers classic. Cage stars as a sensitive ex-con, married to an ex-cop (Holly Hunter) who steals a baby when the couple realise they can't have children.
Love him or hate him, Nicolas Cage's career now spans over thirty years. Not all of his roles are as wholesome as in recent animation, The Croods (you can read our review by Peter Bradshaw here). The actor has racked up an admirable amount of parts in his time, many of which lean towards high-speed action and darker themes (there's even a handy vid covering most of the Cage Rage).
Here are some of the most memorable Cage roles, as recommended by several of our @guardianfilm Twitter followers - @WilliamConboy, @CurtMilner, @SteelsReels, @fidel_casserole and @hopedickle.
What would you add to the list?
Raising Arizona
A Coen brothers classic. Cage stars as a sensitive ex-con, married to an ex-cop (Holly Hunter) who steals a baby when the couple realise they can't have children.
- 3/22/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
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