The Bottom Line: Cage’s ‘World’ Turned by ‘Wicker Man’

Just how fair was Sean Penn’s very public putdown of old friend Nicolas Cage? 

Penn was dead on money in 1998 when he unrepentantly slammed Cage as a “performer” in The New York Times magazine. At the time, Cage had shamelessly cashed in on his Leaving Las Vegas Best Actor Oscar win by becoming producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s newest go-to action man.

“Nic Cage is not an actor. He could be again,” lamented Penn, Cage‘s costar in 1984’s Racing With the Moon.

Since Penn made his stinging remarks, Cage’s reminded us a few times that he’s the same actor—yes, actor—who mesmerized us with his delightfully idiosyncratic turns in Moonstruck, Raising Arizona and Wild at Heart. He deservedly earned an Oscar nomination—his second—for Adaptation. But audiences ignored Lord of War, Matchstick Men and The Weather Man, suggesting that they now prefer Cage’s heroic endeavors—2004’s National Treasure is his only blockbuster since 2000’s Gone In 60 Seconds—to his examination of weightier matters.

And the jury’s still out on whether World Trade Center will recoup Paramount’s $63 million investment. Oliver Stone’s apolitical 9/11 drama’s earned $45.1 million through Aug. 20.

World Trade Center, though, represents Cage‘s last serious-minded effort until, possibly, 2008’s proposed The Dance, a fact-based prison boxing drama that would pair him with rapper 50 Cent. The Wicker Man (Sept. 1), which won’t screen in time for opening-day print reviews, is the first of at least five popcorn offerings that may just feature Cage the performer.

How well The Wicker Man does depends on whether hardcore horror fans can stomach a PG-13 remake of the classic 1972 British chiller. Or accept director Neil LaBute’s decision to apparently refashion the Cage-produced Wicker Man—about a policeman whose investigation takes him to an isolated island populated by neo-pagans—as one of his battle of the sexes a la In the Company of Men.

And will word of mouth kill The Wicker Man if it retains the original’s decidedly downbeat ending?

Cage follows The Wicker Man with Ghost Rider, which was bumped from this summer to Feb. 16 due to incomplete special effects. Cage loves comic books; he even named his new son Kal-el. So it’s no surprise that the man who once wanted to be Superman would eventually take on the role of a comic-book character, even one as relatively obscure as this supernatural antihero.

He’s also wrapped the futuristic Next (Sept. 28, 2007) and is now shooting Time to Kill, a remake of the Thai thriller Bangkok Dangerous. But it’s probably National Treasure 2—due to start production in early 2007—that most likely restore Cage‘s box office luster.

Cage certainly has a tendency to do things in waves. Before he won his Oscar, he was stuck making one aggressively mainstream comedy after another. Then he went off and flexed muscles. Now, after four years of failing to score a significant hit with a handful of character studies, he’s back in action.

This, more than anything, creates the perception that Cage is content to toil as a performer for a big payday. If he mixed things up a bit more, Cage probably wouldn’t have to worry about someone like Penn giving him a tongue lashing.

The Bottom Line
“He does movies to test some new aspects of himself,” Oliver Stone tells The Bottom Line of Cage. “So he experiments far more than most actors.” Hey, Cage ate a live cockroach during Vampire’s Kiss. That’s dedication. Now, after the likes of Lord of War and World Trade Center, he wants to take a break from suffering for his art. Fine. At least he’s proven Penn half wrong these past four years.