Nicolas Cage is hunting buffalo and losing his mind in “Butcher's Crossing” trailer

Oscar winner Nicolas Cage is baldly stating his ambition to kill as many buffalo as he can (as well as being just plain bald) in the trailer for Butcher's Crossing, which EW can exclusively reveal.

Director Gabe Polsky's film, having had its world premiere at last year's Toronto Film Festival, stars the Renfield and National Treasure actor as an obsessive hunter named Miller. Knowing of a remote valley in the Colorado Rockies teeming with thousands of buffalo, Miller convinces a young Harvard dropout named Will Andrews, played by Fred Hechinger, to finance what proves to be an extremely hazardous trip.

"This film has been many years in the making, and after an epically challenging shoot and a world premiere at TIFF, I'm so excited that now is the time for the world to see it," Polsky says in an exclusive statement provided to EW. "Audiences are in for a harrowing journey and an enigmatic Nicolas Cage performance that explores the nature of ambition — the powerful and destructive energy that has shaped America and our planet."

Saban Films Nicolas Cage as Miller in 'Butcher's Crossing'

While attending the film's TIFF premiere in 2022, Cage revealed that his performance was partly inspired by a certain NBA megastar. "Gabe Polsky wanted me to shave the head because he was thinking about Michael Jordan," the actor told EW at the time. "Michael Jordan on the court, and that need to win. Isn't that in Miller? The need to score, to win. I started thinking about it."

Cage admitted his look might also owe a little to Marlon Brando's Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. "There is a kind of Joseph Conrad, Kurtz view by way of Coppola's Apocalypse Now appearance to the shaved head," Cage said. "It sort of works. It coalesces. It could be both. It could be Michael Jordan meets Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now."

The cast of Butcher's Crossing also includes Rachel Keller, Xander Berkeley, Jeremy Bobb, and Paul Raci. The movie will be released in theaters through Saban Films nationwide this Oct. 20.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• Nicolas Cage reacts to viral 'Nicolas Cage Loses His S---' video montage: 'Nothing I could do to stop it'

• Nicolas Cage talks up nutritional value of bugs but won't eat one again: 'I've learned to move on from that'

• Renfield stars Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, and Ben Schwartz had a fang-tastic time making Dracula horror-comedy