How Woody Woodpecker inspired one iconic Nicolas Cage role: “An outlaw version”
Getting into character is a standard practice adopted by the majority of actors before they play any role, and there are a variety of different means, methods, and techniques of going about it. However, there’s nobody who does it quite like Nicolas Cage, who immerses himself like no other.
Whether it’s the Kabuki style of Japanese theatre, German expressionism, his self-curated ‘Nouveau Shamanism’, cartoon sidekicks, or a myriad of real-world figures who have absolutely nothing to do with the parts he’s playing, Cage constructed his signature style by refusing to be limited by what could serve as his inspirations.
When it came to the Coen brothers’ second feature, Raising Arizona, Cage was left with no option but to dip into his bag of tricks to come up with his own bespoke touchstones for Herbert McDunnough, the bumbling criminal who becomes so desperate to start a family with his new wife that he decides kidnapping a quintuplet from a rich family is the best way to go about solving their infertility issues.
It’s one of the best comedies of the 1980s but arguably wouldn’t have succeeded anywhere near as much as it did if anybody other than Cage played McDunnough and imbued it with such wild-eyed mania, boundless energy, natural charisma, and genuine pathos to which cinephiles everywhere have an animated bird to thank.
Although it was far from plain sailing on set after Cage’s freewheeling style became increasingly opposed to Joel and Ethan Coen’s ironclad desire to execute their initial vision, any doubts the star had over what he called the sibling duo’s “autocratic nature” were soon dispelled when Raising Arizona released to such widespread acclaim.
He’d been on board since the beginning after reading the script and instantly feeling “connected to it,” but his main source of inspiration still came out of left field. “I felt I knew where the humour was and what beats, musically, to hit,” Cage told Yahoo. “But I also saw the character as a kind of Woody Woodpecker come to life. An outlaw version of Woody Woodpecker.”
The anthropomorphic mascot of Universal Studios’ global theme parks may not jump out immediately, but for Cage, it was integral. “I remembered all those Thrush muffler stickers, where you had a woodpecker with the red feathers blowing in the wind and a cigar dangling out of his mouth,” he continued. “So I had that drawn onto H.I. McDunnough’s arm, really kind of as a homage, or a hint, suggesting that this was really Woody Woodpecker come to life.”
Understandably, the leading man conceded that “perhaps there was confusion about where I was going, but the Coen brothers went along” with his shtick to the point that “they didn’t mind that I was channelling Woody Woodpecker.” Based on how Raising Arizona turned out, it’s easy to see why they let Cage go for it.
