How Nicolas Cage Parodies Himself in 'Massive Talent'

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Nicolas Cage gets his acting mojo back in this scene from the meta-action comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.”

Here, Cage, who plays the fictional version of himself named Nick Cage, spends time with a superfan, Javi (Pedro Pascal). Javi paid Nick to be his guest for his birthday. Nick has reached a low point in his career and has decided to retire from acting. But Javi doesn’t allow that and creates a performance drill with Nick that forces him to show his trade.

While discussing the order, Gormican said Pascal had a lot of weight on his shoulders. “He had to act like a bad actor as the character,” he said, “but not bad enough to rip you off the stage† For his part, Cage delved into his screen history to deliver double levels of self-parody, including an ironic line from “Con Air.”

At the end of the scene, the two characters jump off an 85-foot cliff, a moment Gormican achieved with two stunt performers making the jump twice while five cameras were rolling to capture it.

Read the review “Unbearable Weight of Tremendous Talent”.