Almost everyone who has witnessed Nicolas Cage’s magnificent performances on the big screen has inevitably become a fan of the terrific actor (which includes basically everyone, because who doesn’t know Nic Cage?), and there’s no doubt about it. And in that list of his admirers, Joel Kinnaman’s name has been added as well.
While the actor, renowned for his striking performance in The Killing, was already all praise for the National Treasure star, his first otherworldly encounter with Cage when he was cast to star alongside him in Sympathy for the Devil further increased his respect in Kinnaman’s eyes, all the while etching that memorable encounter onto Joel Kinnaman’s retina permanently.
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Joel Kinnaman Can Never Forget His First Encounter With Nicolas Cage
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As unsurprising as it may be, Joel Kinnaman was actually “hunting” to do a movie with Nicolas Cage, for whom he has “this professional fascination with the courage that he has in how he plays his characters.”
So when he did land Sympathy for the Devil, he was nothing short of greatly anticipating his rehearsal with the actor. During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kinnaman explained his experience of the same, saying:
“Our first day of rehearsal in Vegas, I knocked on his door, and when he opened it, he had pink hair. (Kinnaman began a solid Cage impression.) He first said, “Hey!” And then he said, “F—!” And I was like, “What!?” And he was like, “My wildcat f—ing ran away for the third time.” (Laughs) So it just carried on from there.”
But the true amazement was yet to dawn on the Robocop star as, after taking a complete tour of Cage’s house, he earned the honor of witnessing the Ghost Rider alum’s true skills.
“Then we went down to the basement to rehearse for the first time, and he was completely off-book on the entire script. He’d already spent countless hours working on the script to get to a point where he knew it by heart on the first day of rehearsal. So he’s a singular artist, and that’s why I pinched myself when I got to spend a month in a car with him, just soaking up his genius and lunacy.”
Well, for what it’s worth, Nicolas Cage has increased the numbers of his fan list even more with this!
Joel Kinnaman Just Can’t Stop Gushing On And On About Nic Cage
While there are many celebrities besides Joel Kinnaman who heap praise on Nicolas Cage for his outstanding skills, not everyone can gush on and on in his commendations like his Sympathy for the Devil co-star. As the actor went on to explain why he is such a massive fan of Cage:
“In conversation with Nic, he’s not really interested in naturalism and subtlety, which is what everyone goes for. He goes for big choices and insanity, and it’s just so cool to see someone dare to do something different over and over again.”
Continuing, he explained how his and Cage’s work differs on the big screen by explaining each of their different and respective approaches toward their roles.
“When you watch a reel of all of his work, nobody has a reel like that. Nobody. As I said earlier, I’ve gone the opposite way. I’m always going for the more subtle choice. I try to find some way to make a character meld with me and do just enough to tell the story. Sure, I change body language and cadence for characters, but I’m always looking for subtlety. And Nic is not.”
Concluding, Joel Kinnaman pointed out how this directly proves that Nicolas Cage indeed brings about some of the most legendary “genius” characters of all time, whose legacies go down in history as some of the most remarkable ones ever–something that only someone like Nic Cage can pull off.
