Actor, wild man, and comedian e-book nerd Nicolas Cage was on the Miami Film Festival this week to just accept Variety’s Legend & Groundbreaker Award. And EW stories that the actor opened up in regards to the present state of superhero films. In brief, Cage doesn’t have to be within the MCU, and he nonetheless regrets he didn’t get to make “Superman Lives” with Tim Burton.
“I’ve gotta be nice about Marvel movies, because I named myself after a Stan Lee character named Luke Cage” Cage mentioned on the competition. “What am I going to do, put Marvel movies down? Stan Lee is my surrealistic father. He named me.” As Cage continued, he mentioned he understood the “frustration” some moviegoers have with superhero films however acknowledges that “there’s plenty of room for everybody.” As for whether or not, he’ll ever be in an MCU film, the actor responded, “I don’t need to be in the MCU, I’m Nic Cage.” Indeed you might be, sir, and by no means change.
Cage has brushed shoulders with Marvel fare earlier than, with 2007’s “Ghost Rider” and its 2011 sequel, “Spirit Of Vengeance.” But that was earlier than the MCU turned the trade juggernaut it presently is. And after Keanu Reeves not too long ago spoke about his curiosity in taking on the Johnny Blaze/Ghost Ride function in a future MCU undertaking (which Kevin Feige sounds sport on), don’t count on Cage to reprise as a substitute. Besides, Cage pines for an additional superhero function anyway: his “emo Superman” from Tim Burton’s unmade “Superman Lives.”
Cage opened up in regards to the doomed undertaking on the competition and claims that he initially introduced Burton onto the movie. The studio wished journeyman director Renny Harlin to helm the characteristic, however Cage had Burton in thoughts as a substitute. “I said, this has to be Tim Burton. I called Tim and said, ‘Would you do this?’ Tim didn’t cast me, I cast Tim, and Tim said yes,” Cage mentioned. “I loved what he did with Michael [Keaton] and “Batman,” and I used to be a giant fan.”
But Warner Bros. was cagey (no pun meant) about bringing Burton on board after the monetary catastrophe of 1996’s “Mars Attacks!“. And that’s not the only reason Cage said Warner Bros. got “cold feet” about “Superman Lives”: Cage’s imaginative and prescient for the movie was decidedly non-traditional. “It was more of a 1980s Superman with like, the samurai black long hair” Cage mentioned about his tackle Clark Kent. “I thought it was gonna be a really different, sort of emo Superman, but we never got there.” Check out the video beneath for a glimpse at Cage’s Superman costume.
Ultimately, Warner Bros. canned the undertaking. “They’d spent a lot of money already building the sets and the costume and what have you. But you never know,” Cage defined. I don’t imply to be cryptic Cage, however you by no means know!” But Cage has talked about “Superman Lives” earlier than, and from the sounds of issues, Warner Bros. by no means actually had a transparent imaginative and prescient for the film. In a 1999 interview with Howard Stern, Burton mentioned, “We were looking at the suit and the studio and the producer were afraid of the red underwear. They wanted to have him in like Michael Jordan shorts.” Burton added that Warner Bros. wished to place the Man of Steel in corduroy, a really puzzling desire.
It’s a disgrace that “Superman Lives” by no means obtained made, however let’s face it: Nic Cage isn’t an actor that matches the mould of a superhero film, particularly those being made now. The Cageian presence burns too shiny for that type of fare, and that’s why followers love the actor a lot.