Many people are familiar with Nicolas Cage’s name. After all, this Oscar winner has starred in a slew of great films throughout the years, including Con Air, Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, Leaving Las Vegas, Face/Off, Adaptation, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, to name a few.
However, in his new picture, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Cage will play himself, which is unlike everything he’s ever done previously. This satirical action comedy, directed by Tom Gormican, who also co-wrote the screenplay with regular collaborator Kevin Etten, contains an all-star supporting ensemble that includes Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, and Neil Patrick Harris, Ike Barinholtz, and Demi Moore.
When Will “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” Be Screened?
Filming for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent took place mostly in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and lasted only fifteen days, from October 5 to October 20 of the same year. Tom Gormican discussed the challenges of sending all the essential props to Croatia in the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak in an SXSW interview with Heather Wixson of Daily Dead.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent had its world debut on March 12 at the 2022 South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, where it received rave reviews.
The general public, on the other hand, will be able to view the film a little over a month later, on April 22. The Bad Guys, a Dreamworks Animation talking animal caper, and Robert Egger’s Viking vengeance epic The Northman will premiere on an already packed Friday at the blockbusters.
Trailer of “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”
What is the story behind “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”?
The Massive Weight of Unbearable Talent appears to address the existential misery of a performer as prolific as Cage via the prism of a darkly humorous, balls-to-the-wall action film, based on the trailers and promotion. Although films about down-on-their-luck celebrities forced to confront their own legacies aren’t exactly novel, the fact that this one stars Nicolas Cage as himself is what makes it so intriguing.
Tom Gormican’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a romp aimed at cultists who have sought out the Crazy Cage performances and forgiven the misfires in between, inventing a fictionalized version of the actor who struggles to live a human life while being goaded toward greatness by the ghost of his wild-at-heart younger self.
It’s ideal for people who love a difficult-to-untangle knot of realness, fakeness, vanity, creativity, self-commentary, and sheer hilarity, however, it’s not only for superfans. Despite its idea, Eggersian title, and Charlie Kaufman-seasoned icon-star, it is less adventurous than one might expect given its conceit, Eggersian title, and Charlie Kaufman-seasoned icon-star. Those who realize that it will never be as unexpected as the guy himself, however, should have a lot of fun.
Cage’s “Nicolas Cage” quickly displays his flaws, despite entering the picture with a very in-character whoo-ah of excitement. He failed as a spouse to Olivia (Sharon Horgan), and his genuine attempts to engage with his daughter Addy (Lily Sheen) usually end as being about him rather than her. He’s desperate for a comeback (“not that I went anywhere!”) after a run of critical and commercial disasters, so he stands at a valet station and gives an unsolicited audition to a terrified-looking David Gordon Green. He isn’t cast in the part.
As the film progresses, it loses part of its wild-card flavor: It’s clever to cram the screenplay with self-referential dialogue about the concessions filmmakers must make in order to reach an audience, but it’s not enough to make the next action-movie scenes feel less formulaic. With vehicle chases, highly armed standoffs, and macho speeches, “Nicolas Cage” is compelled to live out a narrative we’d anticipate from a Nicolas Cage film. Though he may be concerned that the stakes are now real (and this time, it’s personal), he plainly enjoys it. Most of his admirers, including Javi, will agree.
Cast and crew of “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”
Nic Cage is a cultural icon meme, but he’s also a talented actor who has been in both good and bad films that are at least interestingly bad. Massive Talent, directed by Tom Gormican, does not fall under either of these categories. With a largely fabricated version of Cage, the picture is ostensibly a self-aware parody of fans, Hollywood, and Cage’s own legendary reputation. In actuality, it’s a mostly enjoyable but unfocused action-comedy that diagnoses rather than corrects its own narrative flaws.
It includes excerpts from numerous of Nic Cage’s previous films, as well as a Nic Cage souvenir area with a Nic Cage statue and that sequin cushion with Nic Cage’s face on it. At SXSW, Nic Cage attended the film’s premiere. At least one person holding a paper cutout of Nic Cage’s face felt the same way.
Nicolas Cage, Sharon Horgan, Pedro Pascal, Alessandra Mastronardi, Ike Barinholtz, Jacob Scipio, Lily Sheen, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tiffany Haddish are among the cast members of the forthcoming film produced by Saturn Films.
Tom Gormican, who also co-wrote the screenplay along with Kevin Etten, is the film’s director.
Full Cast of “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”
Nicolas Cage, Demi Moore, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Jacob Scipio, Ike Barinholtz, Neil Patrick Harris, Sharon Horgan, Joanna Bobin, Lily Mo Sheen, Alessandra Mastronardi, Eli Jane, Anna MacDonald, Andras Korcsmaron, Paco Leon, Rebecca Finch, Katrin Vankova, Nick Wittman, Kristian Flores, Harry Taurasi, Mario Perez, Bjorn Freiberg, Christine Grace Szarko, Jaime Ordonez, Ricard Balada and Caroline Boulton
Director of “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”
Tom Gormican
Producers of “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”
Kristin Burr, Nicolas Cage, Kevin Etten, Samson Mucke, Michael Nilon, Jason Roberts, Kevin Turen and Bryan Yaconelli
