There’s probably no actor around who can slip so effortlessly between radically opposite roles like Nic Cage. But in the comic fantasy action thriller Kick-Ass, Cage manages strangely to pull off a little bit of both, as nurturing parent to Chloë Grace Moretz’s diminutive Hit Girl, while ruthlessly whipping her into shape as the dreaded neighborhood assassin. During this somewhat surreal interview, Cage gave expression to another part of his enigmatic personality, as a more introspective and subdued dad at home who delights in stealing his son’s innovative body language for a movie, and a mystically inclined guy who’s fond of discovering magic even in jewelry.
Q: What turns you on about doing a comic book fantasy like Kick-Ass?
NICOLAS CAGE: For me superhero movies are a genre unto themselves. And I’m open to doing it again, I would never say I’m done.
Q: Were you into fantasy as a kid?
NC: Probably yeah. I mean, I don’t really think I ever stopped! But the goal is to stay like a child. That’s the key, especially in the arts. You can’t lose the awe and the wonder of the child’s eye.
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Q: Has anything strange ever happened in your life that led you in that direction?
NC: Probably. But nothing that I could share with you! I really can’t talk about any of that, can I…
Q: Well, how are you with getting knocked around in a movie?
NC: I mean, now that I’m 46, do I make sounds when I stand up and sit down? Yes! You could say that I’m starting to be aware of it. But, I still get around pretty good. I’m not slowing down yet!
Q: What about the digital effects, and acting with green screens?
NC: It’s no different than being a child in your backyard, pretending that you’re sitting in the cockpit of a spaceship or in a submarine. Or pretending you’re in battle with Excalibur in your hand. I just imagine it, and that’s what acting is, it’s just imagination. But when I hear other actors complain that you don’t have the actual person to listen to or the source to listen to, I do understand what they mean by that. And there is truth in that. But at the same time I also believe that if you can get yourself into an imaginary state in such a way that it’s visceral enough, you will have no problem making it come to life for you.
Q: Would you say that in your journey as an actor, you’ve discovered who you are?
NC: I think that’s always, well that is the great work. And that’s always a work in process isn’t it. You know, to try to get to not only your truest but your best potential. And that is never going to stop. I mean, there is always going to be experiences and elements that surprise us, and get us a little bit kicked off of the ladder. But the idea is to keep trying to learn from it
Q: Which of your characters would you say is the best kick-ass of all?
NC: Oh, that’s a hard one. Because well, Johnny Blaze as the Ghost Rider has independence there. That’s pretty hard to beat. You have to be really strong to beat that. So I don’t know. That’s a question I’ll have to debate over and over again.
Q: How about that Bad Lieutenant, what was the upside of doing him?
NC: What was the upside doing Bad Lieutenant? Well, you get to facilitate the other dreams. You know, the ones that are more edgy and punk rock, if you will. Or dark. And those are age-appropriate for the midnight audience. I like them, too!
