How Longlegs Made Box Office History By Hiding Nicolas Cage
Longlegs, released on July 12, 2024, debuted at number two at the weekend Box office, doubling its pre-release projections. A large part of Longlegs success is attributed to the production’s unusual marketing strategy of hiding their main star, the A-lister Nicolas Cage. In advertisements, the public was never made quite sure of how much influence Cage would have in the film, and the curiosity had many flocking to the theaters.
Nicolas Cage Stayed Away From The Film
In the trailer for Longlegs, the audience receives only a split second of Nicolas Cage’s character on the screen. He also remained absent for most of the publicity tour for the highly anticipated serial killer horror film and was marked as not available for any interviews in the film’s international press junket.
One of Nicolas Cage’s co-stars, Alicia Witt, explained in an interview with Metro.co.uk that she “had no idea how scary it (Cage) was going to be. I mean, it was so scary that you need a new word to describe what he looks like!”. It’s also stated that the rest of the cast was kept shielded from what Nicolas Cage’s character, Longlegs, looked like.
Guerilla Marketing
The film revolves around a newly recruited FBI agent named Lee Harker, played by Maika Monroe, and her hunt for an occultist serial killer named Longlegs. Neon, an American independent film production company, released the film. While Nicolas Cage wasn’t involved in the advertisement of Longlegs, Neon’s guerilla marketing tactics still drew a lot of attention. Many compared the strategy to the OG independent cult-classic horror film, The Blair Witch Project, and audiences loved the callback.
Terrified His Co-Stars
The character design of Nicolas Cage’s character Longlegs drew inspiration from Gary Oldman’s Mason Verger in Hannibal. The goal was to make him as unsettling as possible, and according to Maika Monroe, who shares the screen with Cage the most, filming beside him was “ a dramatic and gruesome questioning” that haunted her.
Cage Pushes His Own Boundaries
Nicolas Cage has proven time and time again that he pushes the boundaries in his performances, as seen in his titles like Red Rock West, Pig, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Blair Underwood, who plays Agent Carter, references this by explaining that the unsettling feeling the film brings is all because of Nicolas Cage’s impressive devotion to his horrifying character, Longlegs. His co-stars have frequently said that they were grateful that Cage did not take a method-acting route and dropped the horrifying persona in between takes.
Coming to Hulu Eventually
Longlegs, directed by horror veteran Osgood “Oz” Perkins, is currently in theaters. If you are as interested as we are in Nicolas Cage’s performance as Longlegs, start checking the showtimes at your local theater. Once Longleg’s run is complete, it will be made available to stream on Hulu; however, the exact date has not been announced.
If you have already seen Longlegs and want more, check out the other horrifying titles Oz Perkins has directed, such as The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I am the Pretty Thing That Lives In The House, and The Girl in The Photographs.
