Legendary actor Nicolas Cage says he “didn’t get into movies to become a meme,” despite the years-long memeification of his acting choices.

Nicolas Cage screaming in The Wicker Man

SUMMARY

 Nicolas Cage didn’t intend to become a meme through his acting career and had no control over it. He hoped it would encourage people to appreciate his movies.
 Cage is aware of how much he is spoofed and has embraced his meme status, as seen in his role in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
 Despite being known for his meme-like roles, Cage is a versatile actor with notable serious works and has balanced action films with indie projects in recent years.

Actor Nicolas Cage reacts to the plethora of memes that have come out of his decades-long acting career. Known for a combination of renowned films such as Leaving Las Vegas and Raising Arizona and lesser-renowned works such as Con Air, Renfield, and the 2006 remake of The Wicker Man, Cage has had a varied acting career.

This year, Cage stars in Dream Scenario, a trippy comedy about a man who suddenly appears in millions of strangers’ dreams.

After years of meme-heavy online reactions to his roles, Cage responds. Speaking with The Guardian, Cage said that he “didn’t get into movies to become a meme.” Of the meme culture that has followed his work, Cage said that he “had no control over it.” Check out the full quote from Cage below:

I got into acting because I was moved by film performance more than any other art form. I didn’t get into movies to become a meme. That was new. I made friends with it but it was an adjustment. I thought maybe they would compel someone to go back and look at the movies. But I had no control over it. The same thing happens with Paul in ‘Dream Scenario’: he has no control over this inexplicable phenomenon.

Nicolas Cage’s Career Strikes A Unique Line Between Meme and Masterwork

Nicolas Cage in Pig with scruffy long gray hair and beard, face covered in blood, looking distressed

In this interview, Cage speaks with a level of self-awareness that has become more apparent in recent years within his career. Last year, Cage starred in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, an extravagantly fictionalized tale about his own career.

As in the quote above, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent showed Cage’s cognizance of how oft-spoofed he is. So, he played into that by spoofing himself.

More interesting than the Cage memes themselves, however, is the balance between his meme-like roles and his more serious work. Cage is over-the-top in films like Renfield, wherein he frenetically impersonates previous renditions of Dracula.

At the same time, however, Cage is an Oscar-winning actor (for Leaving Las Vegas) who has had a number of incredibly-acted works including in 2003’s Adaptation and in 1987’s Moonstruck.

Cage’s career has particularly exemplified his meme-to-masterwork dichotomy in recent years. He has simultaneously delved back into the world of action films (e.g. 2019’s Primal or 2023’s The Old Way) and ventured into more understated indie work.

In the latter category, Cage has delivered some career-best performances. In Pig, he shows his ability to work intimately with a highly driven yet troubled character; in the upcoming Dream Scenario, he is an Everyman befuddled by his “inexplicable” claim to fame.