Nicolas Cage Making Sequel To His Best Movie?
Nicolas Cage has revealed he would love to work with Brian De Palma on Snake Eyes 2.
Nicolas Cage is probably one of the best-known actors out there today, both for his amazing movies and for his over-the-top flops. From acting as a face-swapped criminal in a dying alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas, or a conspiracy-loving treasure hunter in National Treasure, Cage has earned adoration from millions of fans — the same fans that have ridiculed him for his roles in Left Behind, The Wicker Man, and Ghost Rider. Cage’s stylish, energetic 1998 conspiracy thriller Snake Eyes is often overlooked by his fans, however, Nicolas Cage has recently told Slash Film that he would love to team up with director Brian De Palma to make Snake Eyes 2.
“You know something? I’ve been trying to work with Brian ever since I made that movie,” Nicolas Cage said. “We had a great script about Howard Hughes that David Koepp wrote. I’d like to revisit that. But I just found out that it’s the 23rd anniversary of ‘Snake Eyes.’ I don’t watch my old movies, but I’m compelled to watch that one again because I had a great time working with Brian, because of his guts and his ability to do these huge takes.”
Nicolas Cage starred in the original Snake Eyes as a police detective who is investigating the assassination of a boxer in the middle of a match in a crowded arena. It’s a slickly-made film, making full use of tricks like long tracking shots and split-screen to stylishly portray the action and suspense. Some considered the film to be a step down from De Palmer’s previous film, Mission: Impossible, but Cage’s performance was widely praised alongside the movie’s visual flair. If Nicolas Cage does do Snake Eyes 2, we’re likely to see more of the same.
Nicolas Cage was at the top of his game when he appeared in Snake Eyes, having just come off a string of massive hits. His previous six movies included his Academy Award-winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas, his thrilling performance alongside Sean Connery in the smash hit action thriller The Rock, his iconic role in the airborne action film Con Air, his critically acclaimed performance in Face/Off, and his formulaic but well-played role in City of Angels.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage has taken to appearing in dozens of little-known roles in the past five years — a more active career, to be sure, but a far cry from the string of successes he achieved when he appeared in Snake Eyes. Brian De Palma, meanwhile, has hardly been active at all. The 2019 direct-to-video crime thriller Domino is the only movie that De Palma has directed in the past decade, his career has mostly gone off the rails since Snake Eyes was released.
His follow-up film, Mission to Mars, was a critical disaster and a box office flop, with a 24% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a $110 million worldwide gross off a budget of $100 million. He has only directed five films since then, none of which made back more money than their budget. There’s no doubt that teaming up with Nicolas Cage to create Snake Eyes 2 would be more successful than the 2012 film Passion, which made only $1.3 million in box office receipts off a $25 million budget.
Whether Brian De Palma would like to work with Nicolas Cage again for Snake Eyes 2 remains to be seen. However, there’s no doubt that fans of Cage and lovers of De Palma’s old films would turn out to see the two big names working together again.
