Nicolas Cage Gets It Half Right

Nicolas Cage recently did a webchat over at Empire Online. He takes fan questions and talks about his movies and approach toward acting. Too much fun. Moviefone picks up on it, too, under the headline, “Ridiculous Quotes From the Oscar-Winning Actor.” Dunno. That last one looks a little like link-bait to me.
First things first. There is no mention of “The Frozen Ground,” the movie based on the Robert Hansen story, which was first chronicled in “Butcher, Baker.” Or Cage’s role in that movie, as Glenn-Flothe-cum-Jack-Halcombe.
No surprise there. It’s still too early for promotional appearances for that film, which is currently in post-production. But there is one juicy quote, at least from my perspective, because it provides possible insight into the evolution of Cage’s Alaska State Trooper character in The Frozen Ground.
The Quote

The way I can realise my film acting dreams of abstract expression is by finding characters that are flawed in some way that will provide a context where that expression still works: for example, Ghost Rider is a demon, a fallen angel. Blaze feels the pain of the transformation.
That pain provides a context where I can be very abstract in my vocalisation and my movements. Bad Lieutenant, I play a cop who’s high on drugs. Those drugs are why he can be so extreme in the portrayal. These ideas are not always popular with critics, but there is a school of thought that says if you piss the critics off, you’re probably doing something right – and all of my heroes, whether it be in music or painting or cinema, have pissed the critics off.

Maybe that explains why Cage ditched the real-life Sgt. Glenn Flothe character. I know Glenn Flothe and, while he’s flawed, I don’t think he’s flawed enough to serve as a model for Nicolas Cage. Flothe is relentlessly nice. Cage’s favorite characters, not so much.

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