When you wake up in the morning wondering things about Nicolas Cage, it’s probably about time to start questioning (at least some of) your life decisions.

I started this WATC(H) series a little over two months ago now, and since I’m 20 movies in I’m reminded how quickly my experiments can become obsessions. With both my kids away at college and my wife dedicating much of her free time to competitive rowing (much like Ned Hanlan), I find myself often alone on weekends and thinking through / strategizing on the next Cage movie I’m going to watch or review. That’s just how my mind works. When I start a sequence of events I’ve got to “complete the series” no matter how many pages, movies, shows or collectibles I need to consume to do so.

For this project, the planning and execution process works something like this:

1. Check to see what’s next on the Nicolas Cage movie list.
2. Check the Just Watch app to see if that movie is streamable on a service I have.
   • If available, decide when I’m going to watch it and do so! Go to step 5.
   • If not, go to step 3.
3. Check to see if a DVD version is available at one of the local libraries.
   • If available, reserve a copy. Pick it up. Go to step 5.
   • It not, go to step 4.
4. Check to see if Scarecrow Video has the next movie available for rent (usually they do, godblessem’).
   • If available, pick DVD up on a Wednesday with a second Cage movie (2 for 1 deal). Go to step 5.
5. Watch the movie(s) while taking copious notes.
6. When the time allows for it, write the blog post review. Publish, then return to step 1.

I made the mistake early on of watching three or four movies before writing the corresponding blog posts and that can really bog you down, having to write many reviews as you forget what the experience of watching the movie was like (or what your notes even mean.) Now I’ve become a bit more systematic about it and fallen into a rhythm, but I still feel that OCD internal pressure to move to the next one, and the next one, and the next one (as quickly and as often as possible.)

So that’s the process…but sometimes I pause and reflect.

AND, to return to my original statement: I did wake up recently thinking of Cage.

I wondered: Is Nicolas Cage a satirical actor?

Specifically, I started thinking about him in relation to Andy Kaufman (and Jim Carrey‘s over-the-top portrayal of Andy Kaufman) and this kayfabe sort-of fascination with an obviously fabricated sort of showmanship. Are these characters that Cage brings to the screen obviously absurd, and in executing them as such, is he some kind of mad genius who is flying his freak flag in the face of the directorial intent.

Bottom line: it made me wonder if I’ve been reading him WRONG all along.

When Nicolas Cage is doing things that seem objectively bizarre, eccentric, and disconnected from the context of the character / film, is he doing so with intent and artistic purpose in an effort to subtly mock the film, the movie industry, and/or the more superficial sensibilities of the audience even.

For example, we’ve talked about the violent (often silly) tantrums in many of his films, the unbridled f-bombs, the creepy uber-masculinity, and the character decisions he’s pushed for like false teeth / nasal fry, spastic laughter, and a prosthetic nose, but it wasn’t until watching the movie Deadfall (1993) that I really began to piece these things together and wonder: is he pulling our leg here?

Is Nicolas Cage taking on this Andy Kaufman form of method acting that effectively debunks itself of any deeper meaning? Or am I giving him too much credit for just being weird?

Perhaps, it’s both.

But before we unpack the The World According to Cage in Deadfall, let’s explore a bit of my rationale by looking behind the scenes.

The Making of Deadfall

There’s a short feature on the Deadfall DVD that contains behind-the-scenes interviews with the actors / director. The feature itself has the stilted feel of the early days of film commentary. Since the movie was made in 1993, the actors / director didn’t appear too savvy knowing how to discuss the “making of” moments. They talked really off-the-hip and tried to be really serious about a movie that’s just not. Nowadays, these interviews are old-hat; pre-packaged at the end of every episode of any popular streaming series, but in 1993 I am sure it felt pretty novel to be talking about how “the sausage got made” in such a frank and documentary way.

Deadfall was written and directed by Christopher Coppola, Nic Cage’s brother (which in itself is interesting since Nicolas Cage tried to distance himself from nepotism claims by changing his name) and so we get some of his take on the making of the film. It’s a film where “family matters are fatal” it seems.

But what perked my curiosity even more than the Coppola family connection was Nicolas Cage’s comments about Deadfall. For his character, Eddie, in Deadfall, Cage said, “I am not trying to play my character from a logical standpoint. I am just trying to paint, and do whatever comes out of me without thinking about it, without editing myself.”

Is he being for real here?

He’s *not* applying logic to his role or doing what makes sense, but is rather doing “whatever comes out?”

Now, if you watch Deadfall, and some of the things that “come out” of Eddie, you’ll really start to believe what Cage is claiming (to some degree). But, then again, just look at what he is wearing when he makes this statement. How in the world can any reasonable person take him seriously given, 1) the character we see on film and 2) the character we see delivering this interview?

High-octane indeed. This interview scene almost seems ready-made for an episode of Arrested Development and that’s why I am starting to question everything I think I know about Nicolas Cage as an actor.

Plot summary [with some SPOILERS]

Deadfall is a mess of a movie. It’s not like Zandalee, where you just want the thing to be over, Deadfall hits on bad differently. It’s the kind of movie mess that sans expectations you can really sit back and enjoy. It’s soooo bad, it’s actually entertaining in its own right.

For example, Deadfall provides some good-ole fashioned intrigue, some spectacularly creative failures, some beautifully miscast characters, and some Andy Kaufman-style Cage improvisation that causes you to question the true nature of what you are watching (or your grasp upon it).

Imagine if you will: Michael Biehn from The Terminator (with his six pack abs) playing an over-narrating con man, Joey, who is working with his con man father, Mike (played by James Colburn) to fleece a mark out of a case full of cash.The deal goes sour when the (in-on-it) cops show up to spook the mark into leaving his money behind during a firefight in which Joey stage-shoots Mike (who is pretending to be the goods dealer). When the mark flees, the con men (Joey, and the fake police) laugh and celebrate their success only to realize that Mike is not stirring from his prostrate position. He’s been actually shot–with real bullets, instead of of the planned-for blanks. Shot by his bewildered son!

With his dying words, Mike tells Joey, that it’s his twin brother who “took the cake” from him which sets the entire plot of the film into motion. Wracked with guilt over his mistake, Joey heads to California to unravel the mystery of the stolen cake and to be reunited with his uncle, Lou (also played by James Colburn), who is a fellow con man, grifter, loyalty man. It’s here that Joey meets the erratic Eddie (played by Cage) who is supposed to be Joey’s muscle I guess, but who seems stylistically inspired by Sonny Bono. Joey gets caught up in the seedy underworld of Eddie and his girl, Diane (played by Sarah Trigger) and slowly begins to understand the meaning behind “the cake” that was stolen. Eddie exits the movie in spectacular fashion (we’ll get to it) and Joey gets into bed with Lou.

The details of the movie are not as important as the end game. A con within a con. Through a series of events, Lou convinces Joey to help him bring in a new mark who has $2 million at his disposal and a taste for diamonds. In this “possum” play, Joey is supposed to shoot Lou when the “deal goes bad” (much like the same con at the beginning of the movie). In the shootout melee that follows Joey is meant to get the cash and separate it from the mark.

But things go sideways again, Lou gets shot by one of the mark’s henchmen (and not Joey’s blanks) and, plot twist, we discover that this con was actually done to Lou, to steal the $2 million dollars from him.

Mike, Joey’s father is alive! (Dun-dun-dun!)

He has somehow masterminded this whole con, by using his own death and not-really-failed con to con his son into working Lou’s con in order to con Lou. If that seems like too many cons, where the cons are conning the con to con the con, then you are following this very exactly as it was portrayed.

One must simply ask the question: wouldn’t it have been much easier for Mike to just explain to Joey his plan to con his brother, Lou? Occam’s razor makes things simpler.

Instead, he sacrificed a con, pretended to be killed, and trusted that the story of his “stolen cake” (a wedding ring box meant for Joey’s mother) would be enough to motivate his grieving son to go to California and be persuaded to help Lou with his con. There’s a lot of hypotheticals here if you’re following along.

And if you are thinking to yourself, at this point, Joey is probably going to actually shoot his father on a carousel at the end of this movie…well you’d be prophetically right be right about that too. Good detective work!

Ridiculous and sublime to the very end.

Another summary

The real beauty of this movie of course is Cage’s portrayal of Eddie. It inspired a hardcore song, Deadfall, by a nu metal band called Snot. I encourage you to read the lyrics as they summarize the entire movie and Cage’s best lines. Or, if you’re really brave, you could listen to the song right here. Turn it UP!

You may be wondering how I might have made this connection between a band called Snot and this Bee-est of B-movies ever, Deadfall.

Well, at one point in the movie, Eddie yells “Viva la fucking France, man!” and I knew I’d heard that somewhere in a song sample. At first I thought it was Ministry or NIN but then I remembered it was a lesser-known band (to me), but a regular play on my “workout hardcore” playlist. Google searches ensued.

The World According to Eddie

Eddie is the best and weirdest part of this movie. With his mustache, his big olive suit, and his sunglasses, he looks like a drug informant for Crockett and Tubbs on an episode of Miami Vice. If you take him seriously (which as I mentioned before, I’m not convinced we should be) you have to wonder what’s going on with his weird accent. In half of Eddie’s lines, he speaks as if he’s pressing his jaws/teeth together and not moving his lips like he’s a ventriloquist. At times this makes him sound slurred, mumbly, but at other times he almost sounds like his affecting an accent of some kind. Then, all of a sudden, he breaks out into a violent stream of expletives. (Watch em all on Youtube.)

Based on Cage’s own admission, he’s not editing himself or approaching his role logically. And that actually rings true with the performance. But much like the posture, a reasonable viewer takes when watching professional wrestling, it’s pretty hard to take the over-the-top theatrics seriously.

It’s unclear to me who Eddie is or what his role actually is in Lou’s organization. When Joey arrives and meets Lou, Lou encourages Joey to hang out with Eddie. Eddie and Diane are a couple and they take Joey to strip clubs, seedy motels, and dive bars. Eddie seems out to get Joey from the outset even though he pretends to be friendly and welcoming, “What do you say, we have some fun time family fun?”

Joey agrees to collect debts that are owed to Lou, he even helps Eddie and Diane con a bartender (Adrian from the Rocky movies!) out of some of her cash. But ultimately, Joey distrusts double-crosses Eddie and starts sleeping with Diane.

Meanwhile, there’s some guy with a fake beard, who is out to kill Eddie. I’m not sure if he was sent by Mike or Lou, but the assassin fails to kill Eddie. Eddie, suspecting that Diane and Joey are cheating on him, goes after Lou and Joey in a bought of rage. This doesn’t end well for him.

In a violent tussle between Joey and Eddie, we learn Eddie’s been wearing a wig all along, and we watch him gruesomely get killed in a deep fryer. Ewww.

Non-Eddie related weirdness

I mentioned early in this post, that the mis-casting in this movie is part of what made it bad. But that’s not really accurate. It’s the casting of good people into strange roles and bad lines that makes it terribly entertaining. I don’t think Michael Biehn is much of an actor, but it’s really hard to tell with such a cheesy script and film noir style narration. When you have to say things like, “every mark you fleece takes away a piece of your soul,” or “he was the best loyalty man he had ever seen,” there’s not really a lot of meat on the bone to begin with.

Then we have Charlie Sheen playing the pool shark, Morgan Gripp aka “Fats” in a brief scene where he takes Joey for $24,000 in a game of French (or carom) billiards. Of note, his Mephistophelean haircut, smoking jacket, and black three fingered glove outshines the dialogue.

The movie also contains, bizarrely, a James Bond type villain, in the mark, Dr. Lyme (played by Phantasm-famed actor Angus Scrim). If this were a Bond movie, he’d probably go by the name Dr. Scissorhand (no -s) since one of his arms was a pair of scissors. No explanation was given. (Note: I’d had a few drinks and magic mushrooms prior to and during the watching of this film, and I had to go back the next day just to make sure I hadn’t imagined this character.) Confirmed, I had not had a hallucination.

Best lines from Cage as Eddie (in requiem)

“Viva la fucking France, man!”

“Ok, baby girl. Who sent ya? Who sent ya?” Eddie to his assassin. Assassin’s reply: “Sam FUCKIN’ Peckinpah!” which is parroting back of what Eddie had said earlier in the strip club.

Spazzing out on the bed after the the failed murder attempt, “Somebody tryin’ to kill me, man! What am I? A fucking’ retard, man? Am I fucking retard?”

“It’s a crazy fuckin’ world we live in, Captain Jack!”

“Hal-le-fuckin’-lujah, man, the Joker’s wild!” Eddie after performing his “pick a card” routine. (The deck was full of jokers BTW.)

“I’ll show you a fuckin’ hot head, man! A-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah. ASSHOLE!” Threatening Lou with the deep fryer that his own head would, unfortunately, end up in.

Firsts for a Cage character as Eddie

• First time visiting a strip club
• First time looking like a Sonny Bono impersonator
• Death by deep fryer
• Being bald
• Popping pills
• Talking on a pay phone
• Having a woman point a gun in his face
• Wearing a cumber bun and a bow tie

Recurrences

• Killing a guy in a gruesome manner (see Wild at Heart)
• Throwing a hissy-fit tantrum (Multiple)
• Doing a card trick (see Zandalee)
• Buying his girl flowers (see Peggy Sue Got Married)

If I learned one thing from watching Deadfall, it’s that I need to rethink how I am interpreting Nicolas Cage and his movie characters moving forward. Maybe he’s running the long con on all of us and as his career unfolds, maybe we’ll realize that we misunderstood him from the very beginning. If you haven’t seen Deadfall you should definitely check it out sometime.

And what better way to end this post, then to share a little wisdom about Deadfall from the band known affectionately as Snot:

Someone tryin’ to kill me man?
(They’re trying to kill you Eddie)
The fuckin’ hangers!

Someone tryin’ to kill me man?
(They’re trying to kill you Eddie)
The fuckin’ hangers!
Guess they may be friends
(All fuckin’ summer long sugar)

Who sent you?
Sam fuckin’ Peckinpah
Yeah who sent you?

Who sent you baby girl?
Sam fuckin’ Peckinpah
Yeah who sent you?

You shape the con or It’ll shape you
You shape the con
You shape the con or It’ll shape you
You shape the con

Praise fucking God!