Nicolas Cage's most exciting upcoming movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent could potentially ignore his best-ever movie role. Starring alongside Pedro Pascal of Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian, Cage plays a fictional version of himself who attends the birthday party of Pascal's Javi, a Spanish billionaire obsessed with the actor. The movie will pay homage to Cage's career, from his role as Castor Troy in Face/Off to Cameron Poe in Con Air. Upon arriving at Javi's estate, the two form a friendship until things take a turn, forcing him to recreate his legendary roles to save his wife and daughter from Javi's clutches.
Nicolas Cage is known for his prolific career and distinct acting style. He is the subject of countless internet memes and has several well-known works on his resume, including Moonstruck, Adaptation, and the National Treasure franchise for which he was so integral that a reboot without Cage wouldn't work. Arguably the best role of Cage's career is in 1995's Leaving Las Vegas as alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson. Cage earned his only Academy Award ever for the role, beating legendary actors Anthony Hopkins and Richard Dreyfuss. Leaving Las Vegas is based on John O'Brien's semi-autobiographical 1990 novel of the same name, and follows Cage's Sanderson to Las Vegas on a mission to "drink [himself] to death" after he loses his job. In Vegas, he meets the prostitute Sera (Elizabeth Shue), and the two fall in love over their mutual acceptance of each other's destructive lifestyle.
Unbearable Weight intends to explore notable Nicolas Cage movies, yet Cage mentions in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that a sequence referencing several Nic Cage works - including Leaving Las Vegas - in the German expressionist style of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari was removed from the movie's final cut. Nicolas Cage's method acting style is called "Nouveau Shamanic," which is entirely unique to Cage and is strongly influenced by German expressionism. Therefore, it would have been incredibly appropriate to utilize the style in Unbearable Weight. However, according to Cage, the studio considered the sequence too esoteric for audiences.
The removed sequence doesn't necessarily mean that Leaving Las Vegas won't be referenced. In fact, in a teaser trailer released on March 9, 2022, there's a recreation of Cage's famous Leaving Las Vegas scene of him drinking a beer at the bottom of a pool with Elizabeth Shue swimming up to him. While trailers have inserted unused footage or dialogue before as a marketing tactic, it would be bizarre to exclude a reference so iconic to Nicolas Cage's career from Unbearable Weight.
The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent is one of the most anticipated movies of 2022, in large part due to its uniquely entertaining concept. Nicolas Cage's unusual preparation for his Leaving Las Vegas role, from keeping an alcoholic actor in his trailer under the suggestion of his cousin Roman Coppola to actually being drunk on set, created nuances in his performance that elevated the character. Leaving Las Vegas is considered by many to be Nicolas Cage's best role to this day. For The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent to ignore it would be an incredibly wasted opportunity, unlikely as that possibility is.
