The New York Times just ran a *fantastic* interview with Nicolas Cage today, which would explain why Cage has been trending on Twitter all morning. In the lengthy, in-depth interview, Cage talks about everything from the line he added into Mandy to the time he purchased a dinosaur skull for $276,000. It’s pure Nicolas Cage, a wonderful trip inside his beautiful mind.
Cage reflects on several of his films in the interview, including the maligned 2006 remake of The Wicker Man. He touches upon his performance in that film, while also revealing the slightly modified ending that he pushed for. Oddly enough, Cage’s idea sounds very similar to the ending of Ari Aster’s Midsommar, a film heavily influenced by the original Wicker Man!
“Well, there are times when I’m intentionally being mischievous with a character. The Wicker Man is me playing with the situation because it’s so absurd,” Cage told the site. “I could have had a little more help with that film. Initially I wanted them to leave me in the bear suit to burn me. That would have made the whole farce of the film more disturbing. Because of what I was trying to do there.”
He continued, “Do you remember an old movie by Roger Corman called The Masque of the Red Death? Vincent Price and Patrick Magee. Patrick Magee gets tricked into wearing an ape suit, and a dwarf throws brandy on it and lights him on fire. What began as absurd and comical became horrifying because insult was added to injury. In The Wicker Man, I was trying to get this whole trajectory to go along with the absurdity by having them light me on fire in the bear suit. That really would have been horrific.”
Of course, Cage’s character memorably disguises himself in a bear suit in The Wicker Man, but the suit comes off before the infamous “bees” sequence and the final ceremony commence.
Hey, at least we got this…
