The filmmaker talks Raising Arizona, The Rock, Adaptation, and more.
“He’s so joyful and enthusiastic,” says McKay.
“He’s a cinephile.
Nicolas Cage in ‘Renfield’.Universal Pictures
He loves horror movies.
He loves Dracula movies.
So there was a lot of touchpoints that we had to talk about.
I found him very inspirational, because he was so playful, and he was having so much fun.
I truly treasure people who approach [making films] in almost a childlike, playful way.
I get a lot of inspiration from him.
I have my entire life.
But which of Cage’s movies does McKay love the most?
The director makes his choices below.
I was just really fascinated with him as an actor.
THE ROCK (1996)
“That’s got to be Michael Bay’s best movie.
He can make angernotrepellent.
He’s got incredible comic timing.
He can make the slightest things really funny.
I love his relationship withSean Connery.
He’s got a puppy dog look to his face, particularly in that movie.
It’s just such a wonderful performance.”
I’m so tickled watching him play off himself in that movie.
He does such a good job and he’s so pitch-perfect.
I love that movie so much.”
Talk about an unhinged performance as Castor Troy.
I don’t entirely know where the John Woo of some of that leaves off and the Cage starts.
I’ve got to imagine that there was a lot of improv going on with those guys.
So he’s Castor Troy, and he’s just this insane nightmare villain, pure evil but fun.
And the action’s great.
He was really game."
That’s a tricky thing to do, that stuff can go wrong really fast.
He makes you lean in, he makes you curious, he makes you fall in love with him.
It’s a combination of this uniqueness and vulnerability that just makes you care about this guy.
It’s outside of the world of theMandys, andGhost Riders, and everything else that he does."
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