The four directors Nicolas Cage wants to work with
Having hinted that retirement from the big screen could be nearer than anybody anticipated, Nicolas Cage might be running out of time to work with the four directors he named above all others as the ones he’d love nothing more than to collaborate with.
Revealing that he might only have “three or four” movies left in him before he explores the possibilities of episodic storytelling, the candidates named by Cage in a Reddit AMA aren’t exactly known for dabbling in the small screen, leaving it entirely up to them as to whether or not they’d be interested in recruiting the Academy Award-winning maverick for an upcoming project before he does or doesn’t decide to call it quits on the silver screen.
Christopher Nolan was listed first by Cage, and as somebody who knows their way around an intimate character-driven drama just as well as they do expensive effects-laden epics, it’s easy to see why the Face/Off, Con Air, Leaving Las Vegas, and Adaptation star would be so enamoured by the prospect.
As a filmmaker known for their meticulous preparations, exacting standards, and attention to detail, the mere thought of Cage and Nolan bringing their creative minds together in any genre is a mouthwatering prospect, one that would offer the latest reminder of why the former is held in such high regard by his peers as one of the best in the business.
Having segued from the supernatural terror of Hereditary to the folk horror of Midsommar before diving headlong into surrealism with Beau Is Afraid, Ari Aster was another director on Cage’s wishlist. Whether it was a descent into otherworldly madness along the lines of his first two features or an unshackled odyssey of neurotic idiosyncrasies found in the latter, Cage and Aster would be a match made in cinephile heaven regardless of genre.
With The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman, and the upcoming Nosferatu remake on his filmography, Robert Eggers has proven himself to be one of the most exciting rising talents in the industry. His first two movies encapsulate everything great about Cage’s finest work through their dedicated performances, weighty subtext, and complete commitment to the material, and it’s a fitting coincidence that Eggers is redoing one of the most iconic vampire stories ever told not long after Cage inhabited the single most famous bloodsucker of them all by playing Dracula in Renfield.
Of Cage’s quartet, Spike Lee is the only one to have directed episodes of television, which technically gives him the best shot of uniting with the self-proclaimed ‘Nouveau Shamanic’ thespian should he follow through on his threat to abandon cinema. Lee’s incendiary and socially conscious dramas have made him a defining voice in independent cinema for almost 40 years, and Cage’s recent turns in the acclaimed Pig and Dream Scenario blew away any misguided preconceptions that becoming a living, breathing meme has washed away any semblance of the term “understated” as being a weapon in his acting arsenal.
In an ideal world, Cage would get his wish and work with Nolan, Aster, Eggers, and Lee, but the stars would have to align in order for him to achieve a 100% success rate. That being said, there’s a distinct chance cinema would be the real winner when all was said and done.
The directors Nicolas Cage wants to work with:
- Christopher Nolan
- Ari Aster
- Robert Eggers
- Spike Lee
