Nicholas Cage is one of the A-listers of Hollywood with a massive fan following. The actor started his career with lover boy roles in movies like Valley Girl, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Moonstruck. However, the actor got his breakthrough moment with the movies like Con Air, Gone in 60 Seconds, and National Treasure films. The actor and producer has also won several accolades including Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe award, Screen Actors Guild award, etc. There was once a time when his co-actors disregarded him.
In the 80s era Cage played a small role in the popular teen film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, however, the experience was not likable for him.
Nicolas Cage Was Harassed On Sets of Fast Times at Ridgemont
Nicolas Cage started doing movies in his teen years, and the film Fast Times at Ridgemont was one of the earlier films of the actor. In his initial days, the actor used his surname Coppola, which was disliked by many for this reason.
For the uninitiated, the Coppola family is a prestigious name in the entertainment world. It is an Italian-American family comprising filmmakers and performing artists. They have numerous Academy Awards in their name.
In a conversation with EW about the movie, Cage said,
“I would watch [Sean Penn] and try to get ideas. I was pretty much the nerd to everybody — people would ask me to be removed from their eye line. I was the brunt of jokes because my name was still Coppola, so there’d be a congregation outside my trailer quoting lines from Apocalypse Now, like, ‘I love the smell of Nicolas in the morning.'”
The actor would get snarky comments about nepotism, however, Cage was unaffected and worked diligently on set. The actor had the benefit of the family name, but later he removed it and changed it to Nicolas Cage. It helped him get better and bigger roles later.
Also read-Nicolas Cage Sacrificed $63M Lead Role That Launched Tom Cruise, Earned Him Golden Globe Nomination
Nicolas Cage’s role in Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Long before Cage became a movie star, the actor had appeared in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He played a very small role in the teen film, which was quite a rage at the time.
Nicolas Cage did a few appearances in the movie as a fry cook at All American Burger. The actor had auditioned for a bigger role in the film but was not selected due to his age. The Renfield actor recalled,
“I must have auditioned for the Judge Reinhold part 10 or 11 times. I was underage, so I couldn’t get it because I couldn’t work as many hours.”
Cage was not able to get the role of Brad in the film, however, he got a chance to do a small cameo on screen in the classic.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is an 80s classic film about the life of teenagers of the time.
Source-The Things
