Nicolas Cage Based His Career On Advice From The Greatest Rock Star Ever
Nicolas Cage was told to not get comfortable in his career by David Bowie and he took it to heart.
Nicolas Cage recently revealed that he based his career philosophy of constant reinvention on advice from the late, legendary rock star David Bowie. In an interview with Screen Rant, the Ghost Rider actor said that he asked Bowie “How did you do it? How did you keep reinventing yourself?” to which the Labyrinth star replied that he “just never got comfortable with what [he] was doing.” This seems to be advice that Nicolas Cage took to heart, judging by his long track record of choosing very odd movies to star in.
Although Nicolas Cage and David Bowie never appeared in a movie together, it is kind of shocking that they did not. Both actors have frequently chosen oddball projects like Cage’s Chuck E. Cheese-satire horror film Willy’s Wonderland and Bowie’s family adventure drama Mr. Rice’s Secret, which no one could have predicted at the time. On the other hand, both actors were also frequently critically acclaimed for movies like Leaving Las Vegas (which netted Nicolas Cage an Academy Award) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (which is generally considered one of the greatest science-fiction films of the 1970s).
Of all people that one can imagine giving Nicolas Cage career advice, David Bowie actually makes quite a bit of sense. Cage has always been a noted fan of rock music, including references to Elvis Presley in many of his films and even briefly marrying the singer’s recently deceased daughter Lisa Marie Presley. While he has referenced David Bowie less over the course of his career, Nicolas Cage did recently reveal that the musician’s “Thin White Duke” persona from the 1970s was a primary influence on his upcoming portrayal of Dracula.
Nicolas Cage will portray the legendary Transylvanian vampire in the upcoming action-comedy-horror film Renfield, which also stars Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina, and Ben Schwartz. In this particular iteration of the oft-told story, the focus is on Dracula’s insect-eating familiar (portrayed by Hoult), now in the 21st century and tired of his “toxic” relationship with his undead master. The recently released trailer for Renfield culminated with a glimpse of a hovering, bejeweled, and chalk-skinned Nicolas Cage crashing a support group, so likely the full-length movie is going to be pretty fun and weird.
Nicolas Cage has had many ups (the aforementioned Oscar win) and downs (a solid decade of direct-to-DVD action films) in his long career, but seems to be on a hot streak of late. His meta-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was rapturously received as a return to form, with critics praising both his willingness to mock his own public image and his chemistry with co-star Pedro Pascal.
Even though Nicolas Cage is currently receiving some of the highest praise of his career from movies like The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Pig, he is not resting on those laurels, just as David Bowie advised. Cage has an impressive six movies in various stages of post-production, ranging in genre from Western to action-thriller to comedy. Classic Nicolas Cage.
