Nicolas Cage Defends the Films in His VOD Era, Calling Them Some of the Best Work of His Life

Nicolas Cage has had a long, extensive career full of a mixture of movies that range from hilarious to dramatic, intense to lighthearted, big box office smashes to small indie movies. He definitely isn’t a one trick pony, but it has been said in some circles that he may have been phoning in some of the performances in recent years. The intense actor has had plenty of hits, but some critics say he has made a few flops too many in a phase of his career in which he was doing many straight to VOD films.

In response to the criticism, Cage told Rolling Stone:

“People thought I didn’t care. I did. I was caring. I think that I did some of the best work of my life in that so-called ‘direct to video’ period. ‘Massive Talent’ was in that group. ‘Mandy’ was in that group. ‘Pig,’ ‘Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans,’ ‘Joe,’ ‘Mom and Dad,’ ‘Color Out of Space’ — they were all in that group. ‘The Runner’ I thought was terrific. I’ll put any of those movies up [against] the first 30 years. If there is a misconception, it’s perhaps overlooking that there was a genuine commitment to performance.”

Cage went on to call acting in VOD movies “the best workshop, the best acting class I could have,” adding:

“I think it really was practice. I felt it made it so much easier for me to access my emotional content or my imagination. It was at my fingertips because of the training and the constant work.”

He went on to address people assuming he didn’t care about his VOD movies, saying:

“To answer your question, I think that would be a misconception in my view. But then again, all art is subjective. People are open to their opinions and their interpretations. Whatever they want to take from it, they’re not wrong.”

The media got to talking about Cage when he started popping up in these films, alleging that the actor was taking on the roles to get out of tax debt. Cage told GQ magazine last month that he did take on so many VOD movies in order to get get out of debt, but he maintained that he still cared about every single role. He explained:

“When I was doing four movies a year, back to back to back, I still had to find something in them to be able to give it my all. They didn’t work, all of them. Some of them were terrific, like ‘Mandy,’ but some of them didn’t work. But I never phoned it in. So if there was a misconception, it was that. That I was just doing it and not caring. I was caring.”

GQ reported that Cage had officially “finished paying off all his debts” a year and a half ago after signing on to star in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, his new buddy comedy opposite Pedro Pascal, in which he stars as a sort-of fictionalized version of himself. This movie looks like it’s going to be so much fun! I love Cage, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is set to hit theatres on April 22nd.