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| Nicholas Cage at the 66th Venice Film Festival, Venice Italy, September 4, 2009. Photo by Nicholas Genin. |
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| Nicolas Cage |
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| Footprinting Ceremony held on Tuesday, August 14, 2001 |
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Born: Nicolas Kim Coppola, January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, California
Age at the time of the ceremony: 37
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Nicolas Cage has, since the mid 1980s, been one of the most unique leading men in the movies. Born in Long Beach California, to Francis Ford Coppola’s literature professor brother August, and his wife, dancer Joy Vogelsang, Nicolas Coppola attended Beverly Hills High School, and began acting while attending UCLA. Seeing the James Dean films East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause changed his life — “This is what I want to do.”
Not wanting to be known around Hollywood as Francis Coppola’s nephew, he changed his last name to Cage — inspired by the comic book character Luke Cage. Despite this, Francis Coppola cast him in Rumble Fish (released in October 1983, The Cotton Club (released in December 1984), and Peggy Sue Got Married (released in October 1986).
Cage did not unleash his persona on the world immediately, but by degrees. Once graduating to leads in ensemble films such as the odd comedy Raising Arizona, (released in April 1987), and in director Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck (released in December 1987), director David Lynch cast him in the decidedly strange Wild at Heart (released in August 1990, where Cage’s laconic, sleepy-eyed taste for the bizarre was placed center stage.
Other directors suddenly wanted what Cage could bring to their films, as both men and women seemed to appreciate Cage’s looks and attitudes. Cage began to be among the first performers to straddle the worlds of “indie” films and Hollywood blockbusters. He played semi-romantic leads in Guarding Tess with Shirley MacLaine (released in March 1994) and the lottery-winning fantasy It Should Happen to You opposite Bridget Fonda (released in July 1994).
Cage accepted the role of an alcoholic writer wasting away in Mike Figgis’ low-budget downer Leaving Las Vegas, (released in December 1995). By the time he won Best Actor for the film at the 1996 Academy Award Ceremony in March of 1996, he had already switched over into Michael Bay-Land, headlining with Sean Connery in the action/prison movie The Rock (released in June 1996). Followed by Con Air (released in June 1997.
Cage’s track record as an action star might be considered sketchy by some, but the actor’s choice of roles more reflects the types of films being offered to him: Action, Rom-Rom, or Space Oddity.
How else can you explain his being in City of Angels (released in April 1998), or the surypy America remake of the German film Wings of Desire (released in May 1987), and then go and get cast as the lead in director Martin Scorsese's oddly comic and hard-hitting film about New York City Paramedics, Bringing Out the Dead (which played the Chinese in October 1999) ?
The whipsawing between big, dumb films and smaller, more nuanced films continues: Gone in 60 Seconds (released in June 2000), vs. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (released in August 2001 (the film being promoted when Cage had his Forecourt ceremony at the Chinese on August 14, 2001). His dual role in Adaptation (released in February 2002 and the lead in the first National Treasure film (released in November, 2004).
Cage seems to find the changes of tone in the films to be an inspiration, as he plays a heroic police officer in Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center (released in August in 2006), to playing an odd father to a child super-hero in Kick-Ass (released in April 2010).
After playing, you know, the Sorcerer in The Sorcerer's Apprentice (released in July 2010) with Jay Baruchel, Disney took his hall pass away, and Cage tumbled down into indieland. Cage has headlined in a lot of "cop / CIA op / drug dealer looking to take out the bad guys" movies — too many to list here. Some notable films include:
For director Paul Schrader, Cage starred in yet another action / revenge picture Dying of the Light (released in December 2014) with Anton Yelchin, and again with Dog Eat Dog (released in November 2016) with Willem Dafoe.
For director Oliver Stone, he played CIA wonk Hank Forrester in Snowden (released in September 2016) with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the title role. Cage has been very busy lately, starring in such fare as The Humanity Bureau with Sarah Lind (released in April 2018), Color Out of Space with Joley Richardson (released in February 2020), Prisoners of the Ghostland with Sofia Boutella (released in January 2021), Willy's Wonderland with Emily Tosta (released in February 2021) and was bitten several times by his co-star in Pig (released in July 2021). In self-refferential / metaland, Cage starred as himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (released in March 2022).
Cage finally does his Dracula impression in Renfield with Nicholas Hoult in the title role (released in April 2023).
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| Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Nicholas Cage Forecourt block. Executed August 14, 2001. 50 x 43 inches. |
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| Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Nicholas Cage Forecourt ceremony, August 14, 2001. |
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