Nicolas Cage says his Butcher's Crossing character is Michael Jordan meets Marlon Brando

The horror! The horror!

Though, frankly, Nicolas Cage going full Apocalypse Now-era Marlon Brando in his new film, Butcher's Crossing, is more tantalizing than horrific.

Butcher's Crossing, which had its world premiere Friday night at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows Cage's Miller, a frontiersman obsessed with bringing in the biggest Buffalo kill in history. When Miller finds the financing to complete his mission with starry-eyed Easterner Will (Fred Hechinger), their trip into the wilderness leads Miller into a descent into madness as his ambition and the elements collide.

It's not hard to see the parallels between Brando's Kurtz and Miller there. But it turns out another GOAT was the inspiration for buffalo hunter Miller's shaved head and all-consuming need to win — NBA legend Michael Jordan.

"[Director] Gabe Polsky wanted me to shave the head because he was thinking about Michael Jordan," Cage revealed while attending the premiere. "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."

Still, Cage said he definitely saw the similarities to Brando and his memorable performance as Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (which, as it happens, was directed by Cage's uncle, Francis Ford Coppola).

"There is a kind of Joseph Conrad, Kurtz view by way of Coppola's Apocalypse Now appearance to the shaved head," Cage added. "It sort of works. It coalesces. It could be both. It could be Michael Jordan meets Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now."

Courtesy of TIFF Nicolas Cage in Butcher's Crossing.

Even so, Cage was worried that one acting choice he made in the film might be just too derivative of Brando.

"When I first saw one of the cuts, I was like, 'You know, Gabe, the thing where I'm rubbing my head and go like this with my fist, that's a direct steal. You know that, right?'" Cage recounted. "'We could call it homage, but maybe you want to take that out.' He was like, 'Well, it's one of my favorite things you do in the movie.'"

Cage and Polsky faced a Shakespearean query: "The question is, to Brando or not to Brando?" Cage quipped. "And then he chose 'to Brando,' so it's in the movie."

But Cage had nothing but love for Polsky and the role of Miller, which he referred to as his chance to finally live his dream of playing a character like Moby Dick's Captain Ahab.

The night was also full of Cage doing some of his signature impressions, including Richard Harris, Brando, and Jack Nicholson by way of Paul Lynde (you had to be there).

So, the only question that remains is whether Cage's turn in Butcher's Crossing could make him a contender (in the awards race, that is).

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