Lionsgate is in negotiations to acquire the meta movie project The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, starring Nicolas Cage.
Lionsgate landed the script over HBO Max and Paramount, according to the Hollywood Reporter. If the deal closes, then Cage would star as one of the most iconic characters in Hollywood: himself.
In the film, his character is determined to land a role in a new Quentin Tarantino movie, while also handling a strained relationship with his teenage daughter.
“He also occasionally talks to an egotistical 1990s version of himself who rides him for making too many crappy movies and for not being a star anymore,” THR writes.
Struggling with a load of debt, Cage is forced to appear at a birthday party for a Mexican billionaire who also is a huge fan of Cage’s work and “secretly hopes to show him a script on which he’s been working,” per THR.
The outlet writes of the insane plot; “While he bonds with the man, Cage is informed by the CIA that the billionaire is actually a drug cartel kingpin who has kidnapped the daughter of a Mexican presidential nominee, and is recruited by the U.S. government to get intelligence. The situation spirals even more dramatically when the Mexican brings over Cage’s daughter and his ex-wife for a reconciliation, and when their lives are on the line, Cage takes on the role of a lifetime.”
The story references Cage’s previous movies like Leaving Las Vegas, Face-Off, and Gone in 60 Seconds, while Cage and the Mexican billionaire’s script begins to reflect events in the movie’s plot.
The meta movie project’s script is written by Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, with Gormican to direct and Cage to produce.
THR reports that Cage received the script with a letter from Gormican, who told the actor how the film is a love letter to him and not Gormican teasing the actor. The letter convinced Cage, who is now really interested in the film. Sources tell the outlet that Cage could end up with a payday in the same range as his hits Con Air and National Treasure.
