Nicolas Cage, indisputably one of cinema’s most enduring talents and an all-around force of art who can’t help but consistently deliver inspiring reflections on the form, is eyeing a transition into prestige TV.
Speaking at length with Mike Ryan for Uproxx, the unparalleled thespian pointed to his latest film, Dream Scenario, as one that he would have preferred to have as his “high note” exit from cinema. However, Cage has “other contracts” preventing that, though he’s actively being “very astringent” when it comes to what he does next.
“I don’t want to get stuck in any genre or any performance style. I want to do it all,” Cage, whose 2023 also includes Renfield, said. “And I feel that I’ve, at this point – after 45 years of doing this; that in over 100 movies – I feel I’ve pretty much said what I’ve had to say with cinema. And I’d like to leave on a high note and say, 'Adios.' I think I have to do maybe three or four more movies before I can get there, and then hopefully switch formats and go into some other way of expressing my acting.”
In terms of the type of television Cage is interested in lending his talents to, he shouted out Bryan Cranston’s performance in Breaking Bad as an example of something that spoke to him on that level. Put another way, as a self-described “student” of cinema, Cage feels his next opportunity to “have something to learn” will come with an eventual move into television.
Dream Scenario, written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, is in theaters now. As longtime Cage fans should have expected based on the A24-backed film’s initial trailer, the beloved actor has again garnered critical acclaim for his turn as biology professor Paul Matthews, who finds himself in the throes of sudden fame after he starts popping up in strangers’ dreams.
Back in April, Cage gifted fans with the reveal of his personal favorites from his extensive filmography. At the time, per Cage's conversation with Stephen Colbert, he considered the 2021 truffle-hunter drama Pig as his best film. Mandy, Bringing Out the Dead, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and Joe also got shoutouts from Cage.
Among the projects next on Cage’s slate is the Oz Perkins-helmed thriller Longlegs, also starring Alicia Witt and Maika Monroe.
