The movie Nicolas Cage refused to talk about: “I’m not a great fan of that film”
Nicolas Cage has made more than his fair share of stinkers in his wacky and wonderful career. For every Face/Off, there is a Pay the Ghost; for every Leaving Las Vegas, there is a Wicker Man; and for every Pig, there is a Jiu Jitsu. However, to his credit, Cage isn’t a guy who shies away from his duds or the reasons why he made them. In fact, he’ll go to bat for some of these bizarre, mostly forgotten movies. This is why it’s especially strange that the only film he ever refused to talk about was well-received critically, with the iconic Roger Ebert awarding it three and a half stars out of four. What gives?
In 1984, Cage was a 22-year-old actor with three movies under his belt trying to make his way in Hollywood under his own steam. Despite being the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, who made arguably the greatest motion picture ever with 1972’s The Godfather, Cage didn’t want to be accused of being a nepo baby. So, after being credited as ‘Nicolas Coppola’ for his movie debut in 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, he took the name “Cage” from the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage and the avant-garde composer John Cage. Thus, ‘Nicolas Cage’ starred in his next two films, Valley Girl and Rumble Fish.
Cage’s fourth movie would reunite him with a Fast Times co-star: the similarly up-and-coming Sean Penn. The two young stars played young men in Mendocino County, California, preparing to ship off to World War II in 1943. They have six weeks until they depart to defend their country, but matters are complicated when Penn’s Henry falls in love with Elizabeth McGovern’s Caddie. The film was called Racing with the Moon, and it was directed by Richard Benjamin, a former actor who would later helm The Money Pit and My Stepmother is an Alien.
While the movie wasn’t a huge hit at the box office, it did make its money back, and it was generally well-liked by critics, especially Ebert. In his review, he wrote that the film avoided collapsing into nostalgic mawkishness thanks to the strong performances of its three stars. “It’s a pleasure to watch them work,” he wrote, praising Penn for showing a different side of himself from Fast Times, McGovern for being so fun to watch, and Cage for being “reckless and self-destructive and dreamy.”
Despite this good feeling around the movie, its release was distinguished by something odd. Both Cage and Penn refused to promote it, giving no interviews to the press leading up to its release. Fox’s head of production, Sherry Lansing, told the Los Angeles Times that she felt their absence could potentially lower the movie’s prospective box office by as much as 30%.
Lansing also revealed that the young actors felt their obligations to a film were fulfilled as soon as they left the set on the last day of shooting. She, naturally, disagreed with this position and lamented, “It’s terribly frustrating, and it puts me in a very uncomfortable position as far as creating an awareness of the film.”
Ultimately, Lansing and producing partner Stanley Jaffe conducted the lion’s share of public relations duties for the film, although McGovern did make herself available for a handful of interviews. The Hollywood Reporter was even forced to issue an apology to McGovern after it lumped her in with Cage and Penn’s disappearing act.
In the end, the whole truth behind Cage and Penn’s reluctance to talk about a movie that, by most accounts, turned out well has never been revealed. The closest Cage ever came to explaining himself was during a Los Angeles Times interview seven months after the film’s release. “The truth is I’m not a great fan of that film,” Cage admitted. “It wasn’t as cohesive as it should have been. I’m not really sure publicity would have helped it.”
