The iconic fantasy role Nicolas Cage turned down
It’s easy to forget that the American actor Nicolas Cage was once considered a celebrated star of Hollywood, with the baggage of his multiple flops and meme persona still to come later in his career. Winning an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1995 for the movie Leaving Las Vegas, Cage’s early career was packed with consistent hits and collaboration with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, the Coen brothers, David Lynch, Michael Bay and Martin Scorsese before the 21st century had even begun.
Dubbed “the jazz musician of actors” by master filmmaker David Lynch during an interview with the Washington Post, Cage’s experimental approach is much-discussed on modern internet message boards but originated back in the 1988 film Vampire’s Kiss. Here, Cage engaged with a new operatic form of performance involving stylised body movements and accentuated facial expressions, using the film as a sandbox of research and development.
Considering Cage was a bonafide star back in the 1990s, hot off his 1995 Oscar win, it’s no wonder Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema considered him for the role of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Speaking to the producers of the movies shortly before the release of the first movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, in 2001, Cage ultimately decided to turn down the opportunity, with the role eventually being awarded to Viggo Mortensen.
Though the role would’ve represented a major acquisition for Cage, he doesn’t regret turning it down, telling Newsweek, “There were different things going on in my life at the time that precluded me from being able to travel and be away from home for three years”. Whilst Mortensen eventually got the part, he had to battle the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis, Stuart Townsend, Russell Crowe and even Vin Diesel in order to get it.
Cage also turned down the role of Neo in the Wachowski sister’s Matrix trilogy at the end of the 1990s, but doesn’t look back in anger after turning that one down either. “But the thing is about those movies, I can watch them,” he further explained to the publication, adding, “I can enjoy them as an audience member. I don’t really watch my own movies. And so I genuinely do have the joy of watching these — especially with Lord of the Rings”.
Decades after the release of both The Matrix and Lord of the Rings, Cage’s career looks a little different, with the cult of the actor having taken hold online. Indeed, the cult of Cage remains strong, with the actor still being the figurehead of internet surrealism and the subject of memes aplenty. Still, despite occasionally profiting off of this identity, like with the disappointing Tom Gormican movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Cage is still capable of greatness; just look at 2018s Mandy and 2021s Pig.
Take a look at the trailer for Cage’s greatest modern movie, Mandy, directed by the Italian-Canadian filmmaker Panos Cosmatos, below.
