Nicolas Cage has narrowed down his entire filmography spanning over 4 many years to his 5 favorite movies.
Appearance on “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” On Thursday, the Oscar winner took a trip back in time with the host to advertise his latest film Renfield.
While Cage, whose real name is Nicolas Coppola, has some impressive hits to his name – including “National Treasure”, “Moonstruck” and “The Rock” – the 59-year-old’s top five consists of his lesser-known works.
“I’ll start with The Pig, my favorite movie I’ve ever made,” Cage told Colbert. “I really like Mandy, the movie where Panos [Cosmatos] directed. I really like Bringing Out The Dead, directed by Martin Scorsese. I loved “Bad Lieutenant” [by] Werner Herzog. I loved the movie Joe, directed by David Gordon Green.
“I’ve got Face/Off,” Colbert chimed in, prompting Cage to simply accept the film alternative.
“You recognize what’s interesting about Face/Off, and I could have mentioned Vampire Kiss because Vampire Kiss was a little movie I made where I could explore my more abstract dreams with film.
“Unfortunately, I used to be playing a character who was losing his mind, but he was beginning to think that. A vampire from the unique Nosferatu movie. And if you play a character who loses his mind, he might imagine he’s Nosferatu,” he explained.
“So I got to act like a German expressionist silent movie star, and that was cool, just like the facial expressions and stuff. But Face/Off was a big movie, a big studio movie that I made at Paramount, and I used to be in a position to take what I learned from that little movie Vampire’s Kiss and put it into this big movie. And it worked. I believed people really prefer it. So I used to be very happy with the outcomes.”
Cage clarified his previous comments about identifying as an actor fairly than an actor.
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“I’m wondering why being pretentious is attractive to you?” Colbert was joking.
“What I meant was that of course you may call me an actor,” Cage explained. “And by the way in which, I never said, ‘don’t call me an actor.’ Call me an actor. That is what the clickbait universe was doing and releasing it on the market, and in some way it got picked up by CNN. I’m unsure the way it was received by CNN. I’m sure they’ve more vital things to say.
“I see acting as storytelling and what it’s like attempting to get to the reality about a character,” added the actor.
Cage added that the primary ever actor in Europe was named Thespis, who earned his honors by vowing to inform stories truthfully fairly than sticking to the narratives popular on the time.
“The word actor in Greek means hypocrite,” he said. “Well, I don’t need to be considered a hypocrite. Sorry if that sounds pretentious.