Why did Nicolas Cage's career go straight down the shitter?

He's a raging alcoholic, and and alcoholic rager.

He said yes to every script that paid him well.

He's just sort of gross. His personal life is very messy and very drenched in alcohol. He was married to Patricia Arquette for a minute, and Lisa Marie Presley for a few seconds. He fought constantly, openly and messily with his third wife, Alice Kim. Then he got married for a fourth time recently, to another Asian chick, for all of four days. He currently has another Asian girlfriend he's been galavanting around with. She looks like she's about 12 years old. These things age a person.

He also dies his beard these days, which is a horrible look.

he went "broke" (not real broke; rich-person broke) and had to pay the bills.

plus, i think he's jaded. all of these people need to go minimalist, buddhist or something and shed the weight of the lifestyles they have been leading.

he is still a good actor. he just can't seem to choose a role to save his life.

His movie posters used to have only his head shot that filled the whole poster. It was clear he was the selling point for his movies and only showing his face said that yes, he's a superstar but people got tired of him after a while. He did have a good run, though. He can only blame himself for losing all his money which forced him to start making more and more craptacular films.

I often forget he has an Oscar. He’s rarely at the awards, and he’s a Coppola to boot

I remember reading an interview with Cage in which he said he sometimes repeats the mantra, "I am sleek and self-contained."

He was a SEXY MF until about age 40. By the time he was 30 I think people forgot he was sexy at 20. He also had a natural fit strong body and all that hair. Not handsome, but sex on a stick.

Hot

I think he can come back, if he finds the right script/director. Christopher Walken went through a dry period and rebounded (and then started saying 'yes' to terrible movies again...Balls Of Fury anyone?).

Brat Packers, Matt Dillon, Chris Penn and Nick Cage in Rumble Fish

VPL

He had such a charming, eccentric quality that worked for Peggy Sue Got Married, Moonstruck, and Raising Arizona. He was excellent in Leaving Las Vegas. And I enjoyed him in It Could Happen to You and my guilty pleasures, the National Treasure movies.

I agree with r10 - he can come back.

He made some terrible choices. And while he can be great in the right role, he can be very hammy, too

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Being a closeted gay and going bald always ruin everyone's life, not to mention botched plastic surgery. And he won an Oscar, so there's nothing more for him to try.

^CROODS 2 AND IMDB

DAMN YOU AUTOCORRECT

He was great in Wild at Heart with Laura Dern

He may not be the best actor, but dag nabbit you can't deny he's a FUN actor.

His masterpiece is Vampire's Kiss. I rented it and hated it for the entire movie - then had to watch it again straight afterwards. Loved it.

Sorry but the Charlie Kaufman/Nic Cage vehicle "Adaptation" is a masterpiece. He's actually got great comic timing, and it really shines in this movie.

He's a former friend of a former friend. Heard he was a vile narcissist, addicted to drugs and hookers. So, typical Hollywood.

typical hollywood= trash, sprinkled with fame and drowning in dollars.

see? all of these guys need to get their minds right. sell the private islands and 3/4 of their dozen homes.

even if Brad Pitt is no actor, and gets up to the same stupid crap behind the scenes, his shit is not out there on display. for that i credit him.

That's too bad. If he could get sober, stop doing the shot films and try at challenging roles he might have a career comeback.

Hooker, blow and empty narcissism will do anyone in. Praying he sees the light like he did in that uplifting movie I'm which he played a lovable priest.

That head piece at OP is tragic

I'm curious about this one. I just don't want to pay anything to see it.

He's making trippy movies the last few years but most of them are fun. Color out of Space is excellent.

Don't be dull, Stacy. His masterpiece was [italic]Valley Girl[/italic]. Please, go to :54 of this clip.

[quote]—Make National Treasure 3

Your wish is my command.

He was stuck in that famousfamily catch22 wherein no matter how hard you work, assholes throw up the nepotism accusation.

I thought he fucked with the irs and had to liquidate.

I’m giving a pass to Cage and Kevin Bacon for all the crap movies. Work means money.

Wow, his face has gone Steven Segal.

i genuinely think he failed in Mandy. probably because i think the script failed.

i like Panos Cosmatos, but it felt like scenes were missing from that movie. or emotional elements of the characters got laid aside to make everything visually appealing and pull in all of those retro scoring points (Manson and biker gangs, and drugs and hippytrippy and Heavy Metal magazine, and and and and...) you don't feel the character's pain at all. just watch him go psycho. he does that well, but it should be balanced out on the other side so the viewer can really make the journey. and Cage has the ability to take the viewer on that journey, as he is a skilled actor. so it seems like they neglected it.

it did have the best chainsaw fight i've seen in film so far, though.

He threw away his money, his creditors and the IRS came after him, and he started taking any piece of shit film he was offered because he needed the money if he wanted to keep himself in hookers and blow. Once he settled into a life of doing shitty films for the paycheck, he stopped trying to act and became a ridiculous ham. I don't think he could pull out another good performance if he tried, and he hasn't tried in a long time.

Incidentally, fellow foolish spendthrift Johnny Depp paid off a lot of Cage's debts when he was being hounded by the IRS, apparently Cage helped Depp break into the movie business and Depp was either grateful or being blackmailed. Depp ran out of money himself a few years later, but either he's better off than Cage or he's just lazier. He isn't working like Cage has been.

Mandy was 100% atmosphere but not much of a story.

Cage is also part of the Coppola clan and they are messy as fuck.

OP, this isn’t some great mystery. First, he aged. Second, his looks faded, hard and fast, and he was never even a great looker to begin with. Third, he clearly has alcohol problems, personal problems, and a reputation for being difficult. No one ever says what a great guy he is or that they liked working with him, while stories about his bad behavior and attitude are rampant. It’s not a secret that he’s not well liked, and apparently for good reason, according to those who’ve worked with him.

For Nic Cage to have matured into a successful second act, he needed to stay sober, maintain his looks, and make nice with people, because coasting on family connections, youth and looks only gets you so far.

He was surprisingly good as the sarcastic bodyguard in Guarding Tess, with Shitley MacLaine

He worked too much. He became a joke. I assumed he was producing.

I love him. It makes me feel insane as he is a douche supreme.

I love him for Vampire’s Kiss, Adaptation, and Mandy.

I want the coke n hookers rumors to be UNTRUE !

He had to fly economy when he went broke and this frau sitting next to him made him take a selfie with her. I fucking love this shot!

NOT THE BEES!!!! AARGHHHHH!!!!

Aww, poor Nic Cage. He really is just human, isn't he?

I think it was the Wicker Man remake. That was his Mommie Dearest.

I actually liked the Wicker Man remake! All of his great stuff has been acknowledge on this thread - Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, Adaptation, etc. He does have excellent comic chops. If he'd clean himself up, he could make a huge comeback in a self-deprecating way -- much like Christopher Walken. He seems to be having a blast these days!

I remember watching Valley Girl on VHS over and over (and over and over) with my high school girlfriend. We were both in love with Randy.

He's a terrible hammy actor. He sucks and he's unattractive.

[quote]He had such a charming, eccentric quality that worked for Peggy Sue Got Married

LOL! You sound drunker that him.

Another thing: Even when he's trying to look sexy, he fails. . .

He can’t act? He’s where he is because he has family connections.

I wonder how much shit his family gave him for being poor.

Did family members fly in just to slap his face only to catch a direct flight home?

He was a legitimately good actor and a good star. Not great, but good. His best role was in Bringing Out the Dead--my choice for best post-Goodfellas Scorsese movie.

I just took a look at his filmography page and it looks like the past few years he has taken every single shit job that comes his way and somehow manages to get his face on the cheap-looking movie posters. The only successful recent movies he has been in are animated and he provides only his voice. It's amazing to me that he has managed his own personal brand into the toilet, since now it appears that any movie he stars in is doomed to lose money and suffer from poor reviews.

I just think it's amazing he's had as much of a career as he's had. I think he's repulsive and has pretty limited skills as an actor. But then I feel the same way about Brando. I think certain performers just rub certain sectors of the public the right way and become stars and that's showbiz.

Brando was mad sexy but I didn’t get why everyone make over his so called acting prowess. And don’t get me started on TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON.

He shined in Valley Girl. He played lovesick/heartbroken to perfection, and his performance felt authentic. His body and hairy chest were great, too

Cage was just way too entitled. He came in with lots of hubris and arrogance.

Wanna know why he imploded? Well, booze & other, assorted party favors, yes. But here’s another thing that isn’t necessarily observed by people who don’t actually live in “town”. Cage has become more and more of a loner, as he ages, but during his heyday, when he still had hair, and had a hot AF body, he hung out with trash. Famous? Yes, but they were famous trash, or on their way to becoming such.

If you’re a shitty person who treats other poorly, and become famous YOUNG, with family legacy in H-Town, chances that you will evolve & become a better person, are slim.

Mic hung out with all of the usual suspects, who are discussed regularly on this site, and not for their achievements in cinema:

Charlie Sheen,

Johnny Depp,

Andrew Dice Clay,

are three names that immediately pop up in my head. There are more, but I don’t recall their names, because they’re not “famous” show biz kids, yet grew up in the biz, with influential, HW families.

The three names I do recall, & whom we are all familiar with, are all major fuck ups. Back in the “day” all had work, and a future in the industry, pretty much guaranteed to them, aside from Clay. Depp was already in, and Sheen was getting GOOD work.

All three, not as spectacularly Clay, but especially Sheen, had public meltdowns of their careers and reputations. That whole Marilyn Manson, “too hip and dark” for HW crowd was a vortex of heroin, blow, and booze. Drama filled relationships, violence, and major misogyny also ensued. They were a bunch of assholes, and acted as such.

The only one that could have turned that ship around, or more aptly, jumped ship, in the friendliest of waters, and zero sharks, was Depp. And because he got the fuck outta dodge, was bankable, talented, and weird, but had solid friendships with certain people, he got the opportunity to comeback, make tons of dough, and had he sobered up as was highly suggested to him many, many years ago, would still be flying high today.

Sheen, who was already detested, and a total laughing stock, literally hit away with shooting his ex, beating the shit out of pretty much every woman he dated and/or married, rolling a Range Rover down a cliff from the top of Mulholland, literally threatening to have various people murdered via the services of hitmen, and ALL KINDS of other shit, that I’m just way too lazy to catalog here. But let’s put it this way, Charlie gave Chris Brown and Suge Knight, a motherfucking run for their money, & that is the stone cold truth. Any other fucker would have done hard time, but Sheen made it out with his Tiger Blood, forced HIV poz confession on NBC, in order to stop gap the extortion shit that he was subject to, and his poorly installed wiglet.

Cage and Depp are two peas in a pod regarding maturity and foresight. No impulse control, or delegation of finances to the sober adults in the room. There is ZERO reason, other than unexpected misfortune, a calculated yet bad investment, or market collapse, for these gentlemen to be broke. The one thing Sheen has going for him, is that he follows his old man’s footsteps, and actually LISTENS to the people that manage his money.

Fuck Nic Cage. He blew a fantastic career, and killed any talent he had running through his veins by way of his gene pool. And yes, others fuck up really bad, difference being, that they do whatever the fuck it takes, in order to get their shit together, in order to meet their responsibilities to their kids, and employees.

Hollywood is the best game in town if you manage to even play at the bare minimum. All these dudes came in with bonus points from the gate. Fuck ‘em.

Is it true that Lisa Marie divorced him because she caught him in bed with Paris Hilton?

Ewwww, he likes racist cooch...with a side order of the herp.

After a few hits his ego was out of control. Started spending money that he didn't have, ended up with dozens of homes during the housing bubble, had to take on even trashier roles...and here we are.

All I know is he didn't deserve the Oscar for his laughable performance in Leaving Las Vegas.

Although he was really good in Adaptation.

He went for any high-paying script. On the one hand, that may be a good idea financially. Roles start to dry up once you're in your late 40's and early 50's. He was doing a lot of big paycheck movies in his 40's - perhaps knowing full well that his career was on its inevitable decline.

Also, they're only willing to pay you a lot for a short period of time, then you will be replaced by people who will do the job much cheaper.

Now - from what I hear - he totally blew through all the money like Johnny Depp. He's going to have to reset and do small roles - or even TV.

Mandy was overdone atmosphere.

But I like Knowing. Intriguing premise. Good suspense. Great special effects. Not to mention a wild ending. And, it was a financial success.

Atypical for Cage.

Looking forward to Color out of Space. Lovecraft’s story is brilliant, regarded by many as his best. Just from the preview, I can see that all they took from the story is the premise, but it still looks like creepy fun.

This marks the fifth film adaptation of Lovecraft’s story, of which Die, Monster, Die! (1965) is probably the best known.

I remember public opinion swaying against him after he was seen in photos drunk in that car with Vince Neil in Vegas, fighting with that woman. Also, he had crappy movies everywhere. Wicker Man? Ghost Rider? We got sick of him.

His bride o' the month thing was annoying, too.

You know, it’s been said that Deniro made a string of crappy films because of his soon to be ex-wife’s ridiculous spending habits.

TV, or streaming services such Netflix, or cable, more precisely, would actually be a godsend to Cage, R59, if they actually wanted him. And it’s not impossible, because somewhere out there, is a script written just for Cage, and if it’s good, and gets picked up, and on to the conveyer belt of production, Cage could have a McBongo-esque type comeback.

It’s Hollywood. Fucking ANYTHING could happen.

How’s Nic supporting himself? Has he finally woken the fuck up, & downsides to a small, yet comfortable condo in Encino or Sherman Oaks? Hat’s off to him if he has. At least it shows that he has one toe stuck into the pond of reality. Well, that, and the likelihood of him having much other choice is tiny to nonexistent.

All of these fucks ups. And they can STILL get their careers back if they played their cards correctly. I for sure think that Mo’Nique has made some very poor choices, and some flat out imbecilic ones, but I understand the underlying sentiment she expresses underneath all of her non-sensical bullshit. She’s not wrong. Too bad she couldn’t just bitch about it to her hairdresser, like most people do, and collect the check from Netflix & friends.

Thanks for all your honest replies and opinions.

I Love DL.

OP/R64:

Are you Nic’s new agent? Or considering bring him on board? Are you gonna show him this thread?

Balls!

Crappy actor, even worse "director". See the movie, "Sonny" starring well-loved actor on DL, James Franco.

[quote] He can’t act? He’s where he is because he has family connections.

Family connections won't just magically make you a movie star. Cage had that little something something in himself that made him a star, obviously helped by his family connections for sure.

According to the-numbers.com Cage was credited as a lead actor in 77 movies which have the worldwide box office of $4.77 billion. Based on that he's apparently number 22 on the leading actor B.O. list. At one point he was probably in the top five of male movie stars internationally, and this is just my gut feeling.

I will always love Cage and Laura Dern for Wild at Heart. And I actually genuinely wish he'd get his act together and would make a triumphant return to the top. Then again if he's really like Depp and Sheen that might not be a good thing for him.

BTW, have you noticed people are demanding for Amber Heard to get fired from the DCEU role for admitting she hit Depp? The petition has close to 300k signatures. These are possibly the same people who'd love to see Cage come back.

R65 Hahaaa, No.

I'm genuinely mystified over the downfall of Nicolas Cage's career/life.

R68 = OP

I fucking love him too. He's alive. He's alive man!

Nic Cage's career: How'd it get burned? How'd it get burned?! HOW'D IT GET BURNED HOW'D IT GET BURNED HOW'D IT GET BURNED!!!!!!!

Nick Cage retrospective

I watched the video at R72 and I wish I could determine the time when Cage had work done on his face. In his younger days, he had a lean, quirky look. His nose had distinct bumps and his teeth were not capped. Of course over time his face filled out, but I sense that at some point he got a nose job to smooth out those bumps, and he got his teeth capped. There were times when he was very attractive and still natural looking.

Wtf why is his hair so troubled?

Rumored to be interested in snuff films.

R75 Seriously? He starred in a movie about snuff films.

Maybe that’s what triggered the interest...

R75 Ewww

He needs to let go of the idea he’s a leading man. Those days are not only gone - they were a fluke to begin with.

He can go the narcissistic way of Burt Reynolds, or lose the wig, stop the fillers and do really interesting character work.

If he embraces that, the demons of his self loathing might diminish and he’d have a decent shot at being human again.

Assuming, of course, he ever thought of himself as human.

[quote]He made some terrible choices. And while he can be great in the right role, he can be very hammy, too

Well, it happens.

He doesn't take acting seriously. Well, maybe he did in the beginning - but he became such a toxic narcissist that it obliterated whatever access to empathy he had, which is key to being a great actor. This happens a lot - but it happened on a demented level with him given how thoroughly he let his eccentricities become the substance of his being.

I mean - look at some of the movies he did. They are so terrible and HE is so terrible in them that it becomes quite evident rather quickly that he is simply showing up to make fun of the whole concept of acting and collect a paycheck. He is the ultimate condescending hipster. Detached and too cool to be real or vulnerable. Which is totally fucking boring and bourgeoisie.

Maybe he'll just stop trying. That would actually be nice.

He's actually decent in the new movie Color Out of Space. It's a Nick Cage performance but it fits the genre.

At least he's better than Kirk Cameron.

Almost everyone's missed the main reason he went from A- to Z-, and why he takes on any role offered these days.

After his string of several hits from the mid 90's to early 2000's, he thought he was infallible. He foolishly bought mansions and ISLANDS, and more mansions -- at the height of the housing bubble -- among many other things. He then tried to sue his manager, claiming he mismanaged his finances.

Well, that wasn't too smart. His manager Sam Levin counter-sued. From wiki:

"Levin's filing states that "instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Cage (Coppola) spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences." Levin's complaint continued: "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."

In his filing, Levin says that in 2007, Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces); 12 purchases of expensive jewelry; and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items." One of those items was a dinosaur skull of a Tarbosaurus; after discovering that it was stolen, he has since returned it to the Mongolian authorities.

He owes the IRS, among others, tens of millions -- even after selling most of his properties -- and even a comic book he ended up selling at auction for $2 MILLION.

And THAT'S why he's taking any and every role offered him, as he's deep, deep in debt.

Cage has always been a fugly freak. I recently bought the Criterion collection Moonstruck. Looks incredible but Cage ruins the movie. His acting, if you can call it that, is just strange. I could never buy him as a leading man or enough of a lover to change Cher's life and make her wanna marry him. Who wants to get fisted by a wooden hand? Gross.

In defense of Nic Cage, I loved him in one of his first movies: Valley Girl. I thought he was cute in that. His acting wasn't terrible yet. He played well enough to get Deborah Foreskin's pussy wet. Her career went nowhere but they were a cute couple. As a kid I always thought Deborah Foreskin's father was hot as the pot smoking hippie. I wanted to bounce on his knee. Cage should have taken black-faced Robert Downey's advice to never go "full on retard". Cage always has and that's why he sucks.

I always feel he’s doing an impersonation of a man. In all the films of his that I’ve seen, he’s just too much. He’s just not convincing as a normal human being

He’s funny lookin’.

That's interesting that there's an actual connection between Depp & Cage because they seem very much alike; guys with huge addiction issues that Hollywood kept around because they brought in $$, but once that dried up, they cut them loose. That said, by all accounts Depp is a nice guy (unless you're Amber Heard) while Cage is awful.

R89 why is Cage awful? What have you heard? Spill the tea, bish.

At his peak there was none better than Nicolas Cage....

I like Cage better than Depp. Acting, looks, eccentric style.

He is not in the toilet. He is still popular, still makes good movies in between bad movies. And he is a meme.

He is not as fucked up as Johnny and Charlie. He functions in his busy career.

However it does seem that his personal life is a shambles.

I’ve thought he was gay ever since he married LMP.

I loved Peggy Sue Got Married and he ticked me off doing that weird voice in it. That's when he lost me.

Basically this...

Ah, maybe it’s because he was a shit actor.