The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent star Nicolas Cage recently revealed his most challenging role to play throughout his long career. Nephew of famed director Francis Ford Coppola, the actor began his career in the early 80s with the comedy classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He followed up with prominent roles in Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, and Honeymoon in Vegas, eventually becoming known for his eccentric and unconventional performances. Cage earned both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his role as Ben Sanderson, a suicidal alcoholic in the romance-drama Leaving Las Vegas.

With his career at an all-time high in the mid-2000s, the actor found himself in significant financial trouble, owing the IRS over $14 million in back taxes. As a way to get back on his feet, Cage took on numerous roles in arguably forgettable films, many of which were direct-to-video. But through it all, the venerable actor has maintained a loyal fan-base and has delivered iconic performances, such as the borderline psychotic police officer in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, and as Red Miller in the critically-acclaimed psychedelic action-horror Mandy. Cage's upcoming film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, is already a hit with critics. The film's story centers on a hyper-fictionalized version of Cage that plays into the quirky performances of the actor's past while paying homage to his illustrious career.

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Ahead of the release of Massive Talent, Cage participated in a Reddit AMA where he revealed the most difficult role of his career. Reddit user u/DeathCatforKudi asked Cage about what he thought was the most challenging role he has ever played. The actor responded with his upcoming performance as himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent citing the difficulty of balancing the director's cinematic version of the fictionalized Cage while trying to protect his own persona. Read what the actor said below.

"I would say that Nick Cage in Massive Talent was the most challenging role I had to get into character for because I had the added component of trying to protect a person named Nick Cage and also facilitated the director’s absurdist vision of so-called Nick Cage and it was a highwire act everyday."

Nicolas Cage as Nic Cage and Pedro Pascal as Javi in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

In the upcoming film, Cage plays a down-on-his-luck version of himself who is hard-up for money. His agent Richard Fink (Neil Patrick Harris) convinces the actor to take a $1 million payday to travel to Spain and attend the birthday party of Javi Gutierrez (Pedro Pascal), a billionaire drug kingpin and Nick Cage super-fan. The film has the actor revisit his past roles and honor his long career while trying to save his family from danger.

Having an actor play a version of themselves, let alone a completely outrageous version, must be an incredibly difficult task. Cage has to be able to provide an entertaining performance while also not going so far overboard that he tarnishes his image. However, multiple actors have set a precedence for doing it well. Cage's co-star Neil Patrick Harris played a drug and sex addicted psychotic version of himself in the Harold & Kumar trilogy to much praise by fans. Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, and nearly the entire cast of This Is the End portrayed themselves in the world-ending apocalyptic comedy that scored big at the box office. If the buzz around The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is any indication of Cage's performance, the actor does not have anything to worry about.

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Source: Nicolas Cage

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