The one traumatising scene Nicolas Cage will always regret: “I’ll never do that again.”
As eccentric personalities in Hollywood go, not many actors come to mind that could outdo Nicolas Cage. Considering the sheer breadth of talent in the quintessentially strange category, it is quite a feat.
Despite holding a ‘Best Actor’ Academy Award for his work on 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas and collaborating with incredibly talented auteur filmmakers like the Coen brothers, Spike Jonze and Brian De Palma, Cage’s reputation for being a little crazy can often overshadow the fact that the man is a legitimately talented actor.
Cage doesn’t help that, however. From his self-professed practice of adorning himself with voodoo trinkets and animal bones to prepare for the role of Ghost Rider in the titular Marvel comic book movies to his deranged behaviour on numerous talk show appearances, the actor has built up for himself quite the reputation as a loveable lunatic.
His recent movie appearances, such as the meta-commentary The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, have capitalised on this off-screen presence more and more. It’s an indulgence that has allowed Cage to carve out a niche for himself in the industry. Unbothered by the perception of his outlandish personality, Cage is now widely adored for his ludicrous off-screen behaviour.
Throughout his entire film career, consisting of over 100 credits spanning over 50 years, the actor has lent his distinct talents and singular persona to film projects that fall into every category and genre. From the modern-day Indiana Jones in the family-friendly National Treasure series to the weapon-forging, grief-crazed vigilante in Mandy, Cage has graced practically every corner of cinema imaginable. On his journey, however, he encountered one thing that he has since come to regret.
For the 1998 cult comedy Vampire’s Kiss, Cage ate live cockroaches on camera – something he’d later tell Yahoo Entertainment: “I’ll never do that again.” Directed by Robert Bierman, the movie follows Cage as high-flying literary agent Peter Loew, who leads a vacuous, drug-fuelled life of partying and one-night stands. After he brings back a girl named Rachel from a club, he’s bitten on the neck and slowly begins to believe that he’s turning into a vampire.
To showcase the character’s growing insatiable hunger, presumably for human flesh/blood, the script featured a scene in which Loew eats a raw egg whole. Cage, however, demanded that the ante be upped somewhat, changing the egg to a live cockroach. On the DVD commentary, the actor said, “I saw it as a business decision because when people see the cockroach go in my mouth… [they] really react.”
The decision to make such a bold move on screen is indicative of Cage’s dedication to expressing himself fully to enhance the roles he has been given. Famously giving the UK one of its most infamous on-screen interviews with Terry Wogan, Cage has never backed down from a challenge to his powerhouse personality. Seeing this damaging scene, he didn’t just think of how it might help the story, but committed to how the scene would emblazon his memory upon the audience who witnessed it.
He’s not wrong – the scene certainly has an impact. Later, however, the actor would realise that it might not have been his best decision, even admitting that it was “traumatising”. Speaking to Mediacorp, Cage said, “I think the one experience I had in Vampire’s Kiss was enough,” he said. “Every time I think about it, I’m sometimes traumatised by it, and I don’t ever want to do it again or anything like it again.”
As fate would have it, a film over two decades later would put Cage back into contact with the bug-eating world: Renfield. Luckily, his co-star Nicholas Hoult, rather than himself, was supposed to eat them – and they were “vinegar-flavoured or barbecue smoky-flavoured” crickets that were “actually quite yummy.”
