The Nicolas Cage performance inspired by Axl Rose: “By virtue of osmosis”
Watching a Nicolas Cage film is like taking care of a toddler. Minus the diaper stink, it’s a rewarding experience, but you look away for more than a second, and anything can and will happen.
It might seem like he’s just making things up on the spot, but in reality, Cage puts in the elbow grease to build his characters. The star takes inspiration from just about anyone and anything.
He was initially influenced by the acting he grew up watching, particularly James Dean and the western stars of the 1950s and 1960s. For his performance as the titular ‘Longlegs’ in Osgood Perkins’ 2024 hit, he was inspired by his own mother, which is an absolutely mad thing to admit to anyone, let alone the entire world.
Cage also isn’t adverse to borrowing from the world of music. This caught the attention of hard rock and metal magazine Metal Hammer, who interviewed the beloved madman in 2018. Sure enough, he was able to give them a fantastic example of a time two of rock’s most legendary frontmen ended up informing his onscreen behaviour.
“There’s one example in Mandy where I say, ‘Did you rip my shirt?’ I knew I was going to go there with the melody and vocalisation, and even though I’m a ‘film person’ and not a singer, I can still hear some of the dialogue as if I’m singing, almost like a metal singer,” he told the publication. “I think there is some influence there, from Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, or sometimes Axl Rose’s vocalisations come into the process by virtue of osmosis, by being around it.”
Mandy is pretty much as metal a movie can get. Cage plays Red Miller, a humble lumberjack whose life is turned upside down when his girlfriend, played by Andrea Riseborough, is murdered by a biker gang. With revenge on his mind, Red goes after the killers and their cult leader overlord, armed with crossbows, a homemade battle axe, and copious amounts of vodka. The action is big, bloody, and sometimes surreal, as Red accidentally ingests LSD during one scene. If all that wasn’t enough, the film also features a commercial for a fake brand of macaroni in which a ‘Cheddar Goblin’ vomits cheesy pasta over a little kid. A pretty normal day for Cage, then.
This wasn’t the first time he drew from a metal icon for a character. When preparing to play fiery guy Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider for Marvel’s eponymous film series, the studded-star picked Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor to reflect. He was particularly impressed by the way Reznor moved around in the band’s music videos, a style that Cage combined with the hypnotic swaying of cobras to create the ‘Ghost Rider’ swagger.
This may sound like the ravings of a complete lunatic, but is it not an actor’s job to channel what they see and hear into their work? If Cage can get a performance like the one in Mandy out of listening to a few Guns N’ Roses songs, then he truly is the genius many proclaim him to be. The Oscar-winning idol has made a career out of his unpredictability both on and off the screen, and long may his reign of absolute insanity continue.
