Don’t Call Nicolas Cage An Actor, He’s A Thespian!

On Wikipedia, Nicolas Cage is called an “American actor,” but they better fix it really quickly, because he’s not a simple, plain actor. Nicolas Cage is a THESPIAN, thankyouverymuch. While talking to Variety‘s Award Circuit podcast about his career and the “Oscar buzz” he’s getting for his role in Pig, Nicolas said that calling someone a “great actor” sounds like you’re calling someone a “great liar,” and his art goes way beyond that so he prefers to be called a “thespian.” That’ll do, Nic, that’ll do.

Here’s what Nicolas Cage has to say about being called an actor:

“For me it always implies, “Oh, he’s a great actor, therefore he’s a great liar.” So with the risk of sounding like a pretentious asshole, I like the word “thespian” because thespian means you’re going into your heart, or you’re going into your imagination, or your memories or your dreams, and you’re bringing something back to communicate with the audience.”

We all know Nicolas as being demure and low-key, so I was shocked when Award Circuit asked how he feels about the term “over the top” when describing his acting choices. Nic wants to know where the top is and he’ll tell you whether he’s over it or not. That sounds like something out of a chat on Grindr.

“Well, when they say that to me, I say, “You tell me where the top is and I’ll tell you whether or not I’m over it.”” Cage notes that his choices have been by design – trying to break form with what audiences have been used to seeing. “It was my aunt Talia Shire who first said to me, “Naturalism is a style,”” he says. “And I was also a big believer in arts synchronicity, and that what you could do with one art form you could do and another meaning. You know, in painting, for example, you can get abstract, you can get photorealistic, you can get impressionistic, why not try that with film performance?”

Cage continues: “Stanislavski said the worst thing an actor can do is imitate. Being a bit of a rebel, I wanted to break that rule. So I tried with Wild at Heart, a Warhol-like approach to the Sailor Ripley character. In movies, like Prisoners of the Ghost Land or even Face/Off or Vampire’s Kiss, I was experimenting with what I would like to call Western Kabuki or more Baroque or operatic style of film performance. Break free from the naturalism, so to speak, and express a larger way of performance.”

What was he serving us in National Treasure: Book of Secrets? (Arguably his deepest meditation on acting.) But even though he seems to heartily believe in his own acting talents (someone’s got to), Nicolas is pretty humble about his work despite constantly working. He explained why he calls the director of Pig, Michael Sarnoski, “Archangel Michael.”

“I knew after a couple of flops that I had been marginalized in the studio system; and I wasn’t going to get invited by them,” he says. “I always knew that it would take a young filmmaker who would come back or remember some movies I had made and know that I might be right for his script and rediscover me. And that’s why he’s not just Michael, he’s Archangel Michael. This wouldn’t be happening if he didn’t have the open mind to say, “Come with me.””

So if Nicolas does get a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Pig, I fully expect him to turn it down. I mean, the award is for Best Actor, not Best Thespian!

Pic: MEGA/WENN