Nicolas Cage Has Three Films Out in the Next Two Weeks: "I Think They Are Diametrically Opposed and Polarizing Movies"

James Brown will forever be the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, but these days Nicolas Cage might be able to stake a claim on at least a share of that title. In the past three years, the Oscar-winning actor has appeared in a whopping 14 movies, three of which arrive this month. For starters, there’s the Nov. 4 theatrical and VOD release of Army of One, a comedy directed by Larry Charles (Borat) that casts Cage as Gary Faulkner, the American construction worker who embarked on a mission from God (or so he claimed) to hunt down Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

Opening in theaters that same day is the bloody crime drama Dog Eat Dog, Cage’s second collaboration with iconoclastic director, Paul Schrader (American Gigolo, the Taxi Driver screenplay). And on Nov. 11, he headlines the World War II film, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, a dramatization of the final hours of the ill-fated warship that transported essential parts of the atomic bomb to American forces stationed in the Pacific. Cage portrays commanding officer Captain Charles McVay III, who went down with his ship after it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and survived for five days at sea, even as the elements and hungry sharks decimated his crew.

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It’s an eclectic list of movies, but taken together, all three films highlight Cage’s range as a performer, as well as his personal interests. We spoke with him about playing wackos, channeling Humphrey Bogart for Dog Eat Dog, and how much he knows about his own meme.

The three movies we’re discussing are all very different in terms of their style and genre, but do you personally see some kind of unifying theme connecting them?
No, I don’t. [Laughs] I think they are diametrically opposed and polarizing movies, as well as characters, which is largely why I wanted to make them. I like to challenge myself and keep it diverse, and make myself uncomfortable. I still see myself as a student; I’m always looking for something that might push me in the direction of learning something. With Army of One, I played a rather exhausting character; Gary is just on all the time with this gonzo, manic energy. After riding donkeys in the deserts of Morocco wearing cargo pants and carrying a samurai sword, I found it refreshing to go right into Men of Courage and play Charles McVay. I was able to get the gray out of my hair, shave, and then get into the uniform of the captain of a battleship.

After that, it was exciting to roll into Dog Eat Dog and work with Paul Schrader again. Originally, he wanted me to play Mad Dog [the manic killer played by Willem Dafoe in the film], but I told him that I had just played a wacko in Army of One and didn’t have the energy to do that again. So I asked to play the role of Mad Dog’s friend and partner, Troy; it was my way to stay stimulated and challenged. And Paul is a maverick filmmaker; you know he’s going to give you a unique cinematic experience for sure.

Larry Charles has very unique working methods as well. What was it like collaborating with him for the first time?
Larry and I had a pretty clear concept going into Army of One that we were going to do quite a bit of improvisation, and he encouraged me to really have the character go balls out. I think he’s a great filmmaker and Army of One in particular shows that he has an understanding of cinema that transcends comedy; there’s some genuine pathos to this character and story. We’re dealing with someone who is misguided and has a relationship with his god that’s putting him in dangerous situations.

And Larry wanted the film to have some real heartbreak to it. He watches a lot of Russian films and before shooting, he sent me two movies to watch: Leviathan and Hard to Be a God. Those movies are pretty outstanding, particularly Leviathan. Larry’s a real cinema enthusiast and he gave me the chance to discover films with him.

‘Army of One’: Watch the trailer:

How did you hit upon the voice you use for Gary? It’s another addition to your collection of memorable voices.
I met Gary prior to filming, and spent about three hours with him. He just could not stop talking! It was a little disturbing, too, because I’ve played characters that are larger than life and kind of deluded, but not many that truly exist. While we were talking, his voice sometimes went into this nasal whine, and I thought, “Okay, here’s something we might be able to work with.” It became clear to me in our interview that he was a kind of Don Quixote type, and the jackass would be his power animal. In fact, at one point in the script, there was a dog that was supposed to be my guide when Gary arrives in Pakistan, but I said, “He should really be riding a donkey.” It was going outside the box, but I felt that it was right for the character.

Speaking of memorable voices, you get to show off a Humphrey Bogart impression in Dog Eat Dog.
That evolved during the filmmaking process. It wasn’t in the script, and I was trying to give Troy a little bit of pizzazz. I decided that I was going to make him into a movie buff: he’s going to dress well and want to be a golden age gangster. So I started peppering it into the movie, and then wrote Paul an e-mail saying that I’ve been trying to plant these seeds for Troy where he thinks he’s Humphrey Bogart, and I hope you’ll let them grow, so that at the end of the movie he actually becomes his hero. Paul was very nervous about it — a lot of people were. [Laughs] But [voices] are one of the brushes I paint with. I did it with Elvis in Wild at Heart and Adam West in Kick-Ass. So it’s to Paul’s credit that he allowed me to explore that dynamic here.

‘Dog Eat Dog’: Watch a trailer:

Both you and Paul Schrader disowned your previous collaboration, Dying of the Light, after it was re-edited without his involvement. Dog Eat Dog must have been a more satisfying experience by comparison.
Yeah, this was much better for Paul. With Dying of the Light, I cannot think of a more powerful, compelling character that I had read in a script before. Paul wrote a monster of a character, and we put everything we could into that. For the movie to be taken from Paul and recut and re-scored and kind of castrated — he was very upset. When we started Dog Eat Dog, he was thinking about swan songs. It was like, “I don’t think I’ll be doing this much longer, so let’s get one more out the way we want to.” Now that he’s getting some kudos, though, I think he’s going to keep making movies. He’s very proud of what he accomplished with this, and got some life back in his system.

Turning to Men of Courage, the story of the USS Indianapolis was memorably recounted by Robert Shaw in Jaws. Did the idea of dramatizing the story appeal to you?
The story always fascinated me, especially after the Robert Shaw scene you mentioned. He really put us with the water when he told that story. But I was also curious to explore it from the perspective of McVay, and how he became a scapegoat for the Navy, who blamed the whole thing on him. He was only exonerated not too long ago.

‘USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage’: Watch a trailer:

Another reason I made the movie is that, for me, when America dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I feel that’s when we lost moral ground. It’s always haunted me that it happened in our history. There’s a scene at the end of the movie where McVay tells the commander of the Japanese submarine that sank the Indianapolis that he finds no honor in what happened. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a moment like that before in a movie, where an American expresses regret for what happened. I know there’s a lot of different opinions about [Hiroshima], but I felt the need to express that sentiment.

You’re obviously very busy making movies, but are you aware of your second career as a meme-generating internet star?
I don’t look at too much stuff on the internet, but I’m aware of that phenomenon. I have no explanation for it or had any idea that it would happen. And I don’t think it’s happened to the extent with any other actor that it has with me. I’m going to go with viewing it as a positive thing; it keeps the work alive and people interested, and there’s something to be said for having in impact in a new kind of cultural world. So I’m sometimes scratching my head as to why it’s happened, but there it is — if you can’t beat ‘em, you join ‘em. [Laughs]

Army of One opens in limited theatrical release and Digital HD on November 4, and arrives on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray on November 15. Dog Eat Dog opens in New York and LA on November 4, and will be released in additional markets as well as on VOD and Digital HD on November 11. USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage is now available on VOD and will open in theaters on November 11.