Longlegs adds another iconic character to Nicolas Cage’s impressive acting credits. Despite receiving critical acclaim for his performance, the actor asserted that Longlegs was the last serial killer character he would ever play.

Nicolas Cage dashed fan expectations he would play serial killer roles in future films. The actor is riding the wave of critical acclaim for his haunting performance in Longlegs, the suspense-thriller many have compared to the iconic Silence of the Lambs.

Cage’s character barely appeared in the promotional trailers, which proved to be genius marketing in retrospect. Audiences agree Cage’s character reveal was worth the suspense; many confirm that even his trademark quirks accented his performance.

In an interview with The New Yorker, the actor acknowledged the role opened the doors for similar offers. He asserted that Longlegs is the first and last serial killer character he’ll ever play, though.

“I know that the phone’s going to be ringing off the hook to play serial killers after Longlegs. And that’s not really what I like to do,” he said. “I don’t like violence. I don’t want to play people who are hurting people.”

The statement seems odd considering Cage’s resume of violent characters like Red Miller from Mandy or Castor Troy from Face/Off, but Longlegs is the first time the actor has ever played evil personified. His performance was so gripping that his co-star Maika Monroe dreaded seeing him in character, something director Osgood Perkins leveraged while filming Longlegs‘ culminating scene.

Nicolas Cage Describes The “Slippery Slope” Of Longlegs’ Shocking Reveal

Cage said his character’s impact in Longlegs would have been diminished with more screen time. The teasers offered a glimpse of Longlegs’ grotesque appearance, which was achieved with heavy makeup and prosthetics; Cage was hardly recognizable underneath the role if not for his signature mannerisms.

“It would have been a slippery slope,” he asserted. “I think it could have lapsed into something almost too ridiculous. You don’t want to see that the shark is made of rubber, you know? You want the shark to be terrifying and keep it under the water for a lot of it.”

Weirdly enough, Cage ranked Longlegs among his most authentic performances. He revealed Pig was still his all-time favorite. “That I’m happy with, because I’d never done anything like that before, where I felt like I got close to putting a meditation on camera, or a haiku,” he explained. “…It’s something that I think people can get something out of, because tragedy is going to hit all of us at some point.

It’s just a matter of when. It’s also a movie that to me is like a folk song.” Pig has been compared to the first John Wick for their shared premise, although Cage’s film offered redemption by accepting loss and rejecting violence.

Longlegs is now showing in theaters.