Even actors get left on read
Oscar Wilde once said that “To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development.” In an interview with The New York Times, it appears that Nicholas Cage carries that same ethos when discussing his long list of directors who won’t call him back for movies.
To promote the upcoming premiere of Spider-Noir and his portrayal of John Madden in the next David O. Russell film, Cage spilled the beans that he was surprised he ever got to work with David after a previous debacle.
“David O. Russell offered me a movie a million years ago…I said no, and he’s the only director that I ever said no to who actually came back and offered me another movie”
He went on to say that once you turn down a role from a director, they ‘get their feelings hurt’ and most likely won’t reach out to you ever again. He casually rattled off a bunch of directors he thinks he hurt, “It’s happened with Christopher Nolan, it’s happened with Woody Allen, it’s happened with Paul Thomas Anderson. They don’t call me back.”
It’s confirmed that the Nolan movie that he passed on was 2002’s Insomnia, but the Woody Allen and PTA rejections are still left up to the imagination of film buffs.
In an alternate dimension, we could have seen Nic Cage as a washed-up freedom fighter taking up the reins again, or an aspiring novelist who accidentally time-travels through multiple eras of Paris.
Regardless of what could have been, the Nouveau Shamanic actor has blessed all of us with a fruitful filmography of fearless unpredictability, countless memes, and a guide on how to steal the Declaration of Independence.
“Anyway, David did call me, and it showed a lot of class…I didn’t want to say no to him again because I have great respect for his talent. And it was a beautiful experience”
The next instalment in Nicholas Cage’s career, Spider-Noir, premieres globally on May 27. All eight episodes of the season will drop simultaneously on Amazon Prime.
