The only time Nicolas Cage was given full creative control: “It was frustrating for the other actors”
Few things in Hollywood will make actors happier and more engaged than promising them complete creative control over their character. Moviemaking is an act of creation, and most actors think of themselves as artists adding brushstrokes to a director’s canvas. Many of these passionate, creative souls hate feeling like they can’t bring their own ideas to the table, though, so being given carte blanche with their part of the project is exhilarating. Sometimes, it results in performances that would never have been as alive and invigorating if the actor had been forced to conform to someone else’s whims. In other cases, though, an actor can go too far out on a limb and wind up pissing off everyone around them – and this is exactly what Nicolas Cage did in one of his lesser-known early career efforts.
In 2023, Cage participated in a Reddit AMA in which he was asked to recommend a performance from his extensive career that his fans may not have seen. In truth, asking such a question to someone like Cage is like opening Pandora’s Box, as the eccentric icon has starred in countless weird, off-the-beaten-track films over the years. After all, he’s always been someone who is perfectly happy to accept lead roles in independent movies, as well as supporting parts or even cameos in bizarre pictures that other A-listers would avoid like the plague.
To answer this particular question, though, Cage dug deep into his back catalogue and emerged with his truly outlandish cameo in 1989’s Never on Tuesday. This micro-budget straight-to-video comedy was directed by Detroit Rock City’s Adam Rifkin and starred American Primeval’s Peter Berg in one of the lead roles. However, it also featured a host of hot, young Hollywood stars in uncredited cameos, including Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Cary Elwes, Judd Nelson – and Cage, who agreed with Rifkin and the movie’s financier to do the part for free, as long as he could do whatever he wanted.
Interestingly, though, Cage wasn’t the first choice for the role. Producer Cassian Elwes – brother of Cary, who also cameoed – wanted Rob Lowe to take part, but he dropped out of the film 48 hours before the scene was due to shoot. A friend of Elwes’ suggested they ask Cage, who had recently hit paydirt with Moonstruck, and this pal soon called back to say the star was interested – on one condition. Elwes claimed the friend said, “Yeah, he’ll do it, but he wants to wear this nose in the movie,” to which a desperate Elwes replied, “Tell him to come, bring the nose, no problem.”
To everyone’s bemusement, Cage did exactly what he said he’d do. He showed up to set with a long prosthetic nose, a high-pitched voice, and a sports car that he drove much too fast in. Why, you may ask? Well, why not? “It was a complete avant-garde experiment,” Cage admitted. “I had this whole concept of this guy who had a very long nose and was having trouble meeting girls, so his father bought him a Ferrari Testarossa to help him with that.”
What did Cage’s co-stars think of his unique interpretation of a character due to appear on-screen for less than a minute, though? Well, Cage confessed, “Of course, it was very frustrating for all the other actors. They like it now, apparently, but at the time, it was like, ‘You can’t really fire me because that was the agreement.'”
As for the Ferrari Cage spent so much time peeling around in, the star admitted that it wasn’t his car—and “they took it away from me because I was driving it too fast.”
Overall, Cage noted that the wacky cameo was his favourite lesser-known performance, although he conceded, “I don’t recommend the entire film.”
