Nicolas Cage has made another Jerry Bruckheimer movie. It may be hard to remember that the first time he did a big action movie, people thought, “Why is the weird indie guy doing an action movie?” Now it’s second nature. For his fourth at bat with Bruckheimer, Cage plays a treasure hunter in National Treasure searching for clues on historical artifacts, beginning with the Declaration of Independence. This PG-rated edutainment feature is a far cry from the hardcore R-rated liked of The Rock and Con Air, but still features the Cage/Bruckheimer touch.
“I think over the years we’ve cultivated a shorthand,” said Cage. “We’ve discovered what each of us bring to the table. He’s a producer who very much encourages his actors to come up with ideas and then he goes through a selection process to see what he feels will work or not work within the context of keeping the train moving. Jerry has a vision which is an honest one. He’s a terrific movie fan. He loves going to the movies and he likes films that I think are very entertaining to himself and to many other people. So it’s a vision that a lot of people share. But what’s unique about Jerry is that he really does look in interesting places for his actors, and even writers. He’s always looking for someone who might come up with an unexpected choice, something a little bit outside the box which you can see in Con Air. He used a lot of the independent film actors in that, [and] with Johnny in Pirates. And then he has a sense of nostalgia for veteran actors like Duvall or Jon Voight or Hackman. He does have a terrific amount of taste for talent.”
National Treasure may have the most far fetched premise of any Bruckheimer movie to date. Cage’s character actually steals the Declaration of Independence. “I think that the very thing that made me trepidatious was the same thing that intrigued me,” Cage continued, “which is the idea of a man going in and stealing the Declaration of Independence. I thought, ‘This doesn’t seem very plausible, and how can this actually be pulled off?’ I met with [director] Jon Turteltaub and he said, ‘But that’s what’s interesting. He’s audacious. He’s bold.’ And Jerry Bruckheimer always brings in a great group of technical advisers who do the research and try to figure out exactly how to make it within the context of the film seem as believable as possible. And I got to do it in a tuxedo, so that was interesting to me as well.”
At the end of the day, Cage felt playing a treasure hunter was like being a kid again. “It’s impossible at certain times not to, on the set, take a look at yourself, oneself. I look at where I’m standing and I go I’m still here. I’m still in the back yard playing like I’m - you know a treasure hunter. It’s still very much the spirit of playfulness that children have and it’s a great way not to have to grow up.”
As a child himself, Cage was not an American history buff, though he did pay attention in school. “I was more into Roman Empire ancient history. I was fascinated by the Civil War though. That was interesting to me. And it really wasn’t until much later, and even on this movie, that I got to go to these very hallowed ground landmarks like Independence Hall and start to cultivate the enthusiasm that even the character has. Because, even though it’s not a historically loaded movie, I wanted to make it fascinating on some level to people.”
Audiences have gotten to know Cage as the everyman action hero, but before 1996, he was a niche market player. With challenging roles in obscure art house movies like Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas and Raising Arizona (before the Coen brothers were mainstream), some of his early fans were taken aback when he started going after broad comedies and action movies, let alone succeeding in them. For Cage, they are just two different worlds, both of which he loves.
“I have eclectic taste. I wouldn’t want to be on one steady diet of any type of movie and so I think that informs my choices as well. I have eclectic tastes in the movies I want to do. I think it’s dangerous when you get trapped in an identity that is one way. I mean, it can work because then the audience knows what they’re going to get, and they can rely on that person to do that type of movie every time. But that would be very boring for me and I would be calcified by that. I love keeping myself guessing and keeping you guessing. I don’t want to just do independent movies and I don’t want to just do adventure films. I enjoy both, and I think both are cogent. I always have. My memories at least of going to Clint Eastwood movies or Charles Bronson or James Bond. Bruce Lee, he was a huge inspiration for me and when I was a kid, I was Bruce Lee in my mind. And what I like about it is it makes me happy and I think it makes a lot of people happy to go to the movies and to not think about the problems of the day or the problems of tomorrow or the yesterday and just go on for the ride and have the fun of losing oneself in a fantasy.”
Playing an action hero only requires a slight modification in technique for Cage. “I guess the approach is just that I have to get the character across in a much more compressed amount of time [in an action movie] because it’s like a freight train that’s moving extremely quickly to deliver a lot of suspense and thrills. So you have to be very succinct in your choices as to what you’re trying to say about the character.” |
