Pedro Pascal has become a household name, thanks to his Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian. Despite his success with the Disney property, Pascal has not been above changing sides over to Warner Bros. To prepare for his role in the doomed feature, Pascal drew inspiration from an interesting (albeit oddly connected) place.
Pascal has starred in several hot properties over the years, such as Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, The Mandalorian, and Narcos. Despite his successes in the world of streaming and films, the misfire that was Wonder Woman 1984 had the Chilean actor playing Maxwell Lord, a power-hungry businessman nemesis to Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman.
Pedro Pascal took inspiration from a would-be Superman actor
Nicolas Cage is known for his unique and quirky take on the characters he plays in films. One such character was the high-flying and delusional literary agent Peter Loew from his hit 1989 black comedy horror film Vampire’s Kiss.
In the role, Cage showed his quirkier side, letting loose, and altering the script to eat a live cockroach. This portrayal of the character had a huge impact on Pascal, who tried to channel it in Maxwell Lord. The Book of Boba Fett alum said:
“And I remembered Nicolas Cage — before I ever met him, before the thought of ever making Massive Talent existed — I remembered him jumping on the desk in Vampire’s Kiss, kind of torturing María Conchita Alonso [who portrays a secretary at the company where Cage’s character works]. I remembered that scene and his energy, and obviously not deciding to do that, but just wanting a fraction of that kind of chaotic energy to make the scene that we were shooting that day work.”
Pascal used the phrase “Cage rage” to describe the vibe of the character, which fits the attitude of the character in the film. Power hungry and at the head of a failing venture, the character of Max Lord called for a dangerous and unsettling kind of quirkiness, which Pascal captured perfectly in referencing Cage’s character from the 1989 horror film.
This isn’t Nicolas Cage’s only connection with DC films
Fans of the DCEU who have watched The Flash, starring Ezra Miller and Michael Keaton, might have remembered a sequence showcasing the wider DC multiverse. Out of all of them, there was one cameo by a CGI double of Cage, wearing a Superman costume.
Before he was the inspiration for the antagonist in the Wonder Woman sequel, Nicolas Cage was set to play the Big Blue Boy Scout, in a film titled Superman Lives, written by Kevin Smith and directed by Tim Burton. The plot of the film would have had the Kryptonian fighting Brainiac. Lex Luthor and Doomsday, all at once. This could have possibly been the strongest iteration of the character that fans have seen on screen, taking on 3 heavy hitters from Superman’s rogues gallery all at once.
