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Post Info TOPIC: Nicolas Cage Talks About "The Weather Man"


Nicalicious

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Posts: 6722
Date: 3:22 PM, 06/22/11
Nicolas Cage Talks About "The Weather Man"
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I think I have read this awhile ago but it is an interesting piece, I really enjoy this interview and I don't believe it is here yet. Hope not anyway.  I love the Weather Man, another one of my top Nic movies.

http://movies.about.com/od/theweatherman/a/weather101505.htm

“The Weather Man” – The Story: Nicolas Cage stars as a Chicago weatherman who has a shot at being a part of a major network news team in "The Weather Man," directed by Gore Verbinski. The problem: the job would require him to leave his kids (who live with his ex-wife) behind and move to the big city. And the more he tries to do the right thing, the more things fall apart…

Nicolas Cage on Family, Fatherhood, and “The Weather Man:” “I think that no matter what walk of life or who we are, we all have that connection with our father because we are small and they are big and there’s this awesome regard for dad. And, on top of that, my dad is a professor of comparative literature and he’s very, very smart so I was always trying to figure out how can I be inspired by him and be him; listen to classical music, read classic novels. There was this intimidating aura growing up with a university professor."

Nicolas Cage on His Attraction to “The Weather Man:” “I will say that I’ve really wanted to make a family drama. That’s a genre that I think will do the most good for people because we can relate. We can go to the theater and grow in some way or learn something. But it’s also the hardest kind of movie to make because it can lapse into saccharine and really be kind of [like a] Hallmark Card or episodic TV show.

…My goal [of making] a family drama, and also my artistic aspirations of doing things which are a bit edgy, I’ve gotten a really happy marriage in ‘The Weather Man.’ Gore [Verbinski] went outside the box and did something personal and artistic but, at the same time, it hits all the right notes in terms of children that may be going through a divorce or a husband and wife and dealing with it in a way that’s not Pollyanna or saccharine or B.S. I feel like I haven’t made that many movies like it, at least in that genre. I know I’ve never made a movie as individual as ‘The Weather Man’ in dealing with family issues."

Nicolas Cage on Working with the Chroma Key Screen in “The Weather Man:” Since he plays a weatherman, naturally Cage had to film scenes in which his character was working in front of a map of the country pointing out the weather. Cage said, “I’ve done a movie where I’ve had to act with a twin brother that wasn’t there, with an earwig in my ear and a tennis ball, so that was like a precursor to being a weatherman and doing everything backwards - because it’s all backwards. They put up these…they’re called ‘put-ons’ and you do it. You can’t look at it and you do your dialogue.

Those days were daunting for me. I would go there very nervous about dealing with the dialogue and getting all the moves down. I worked with Tom Skilling in Chicago and I had people to guide me on the set, actual weather people who could show me how to do it and that was helpful.”

Nicolas Cage Confirms the Obvious - Michael Caine is One of the Best Actors Around: “It’s always fascinating to work with the best in the field and Michael Caine, to me, has always been among the best in film acting. So, I was exhilarated. It was a wonderful opportunity to study him, to look at his very seasoned approach to film acting. That whole thing he did where he’s talking about looking at the right eye and the left eye, I was watching him. There were moments when he actually would do that. I’m like, ‘Wow, Michael Caine just did that thing that I saw him teach about on that video!’

I was ecstatic to work with him. He also was friendly, which was an added bonus.”

Nicolas Cage Dissects His Character’s Relationship with His Ex-Wife: “It’s the battle of the sexes. Don’t you have trouble dealing with men? There are times when we have difficulty - on both sides - comprehending what exactly is it that we’re thinking. I think Dave is on the receiving end of that because he’s not thinking all the time. He’s forgetting he’s got to get the tartar sauce. I’m sure it’s enormously frustrating that, for her, something as mundane as tartar sauce tipped the apple cart. But we know it’s more than that, don’t we? It’s everything. It’s all building up to that final straw.”

On Being Beaned by Director Gore Verbinski: Rumor has it that it was the “The Weather Man” director himself who threw fast food at Cage during filming. Cage confirmed that yes indeed it was Gore who had that particular honor. “There are some photographs of him throwing the Chicken McNuggets at my head. He’s really got this follow-through with his arm. He’s got a good arm. He’s a good pitcher but, yeah, he was doing it. I think he did enjoy it. He made sure, every time, it was him.”

Nicolas Cage’s Next Career Could be in Archery: “There aren’t too many things that I will come out and say I’m a natural at, and there’s only one thing that I knew I was. When I started doing archery, that was the first time I really found something besides acting that I thought, ‘Maybe I can do this.’

The archery in that movie was mine. I did all that. I’m happy to say that. I really enjoyed it. I’d like to continue doing it when I get some time. There was one shot where Gore goes, ‘Get the arrow a little closer to the camera.’ There was this scene in the snow where I’m drawing down on my nemesis and we had to get the arrow really close to the camera, and the arrow went right through the matte box and Gore kept it. I’m very happy about that.”

Chicago as the Setting for “The Weather Man:” “It’s a very important location to ‘The Weather Man.’ We have to make the distinction between weathermen. A Chicago weatherman is not the same animal as an L.A. weatherman. Let’s face it. We have perfect weather most of the time. In Chicago, people really rely on their weatherman. It can make the difference between making it home alive sometimes or not. It’s that cold.

As you know, in Chicago, it’s an event. People, very often, stay at home. It also reflects itself in the culture. [Steve] Conrad, who wrote the script, would talk about very often people would just come over to each other’s homes and have coffee and talk because of the weather. So, Chicago, that location was intrinsic and instrumental to the whole movie. It is a character in the movie; Chicago and the weather. “

Nicolas Cage on Starring in “Ghost Rider:” “Well, it’s very simple and it may sound strange but I am Ghost Rider. It wasn’t that challenging. I had all the honest ways of expressing that character and I’m very curious to see how people will respond to it.”

Cage went on to elaborate on exactly why he feels he is Ghost Rider. “ Well, he was a man who is just trying to take a negative and turn it into a positive, like we all do. We’ve been talking about that here today with ‘The Weather Man.’ I try to take movies and do something positive with any negative feelings I’ve had.

Johnny Blaze is a superhero who had a very horrible thing happen to him and he’s taking that negative and he’s going to make something positive out of it no matter what. In that way, I guess, I am Ghost Rider.”

Nicolas Cage on Oliver Stone’s 9/11 Project: Cage is getting ready to star in Oliver Stone’s as-yet-untitled September 11th film based on the true story of two Port Authority police officers who were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center.

“I’ve met with John McLoughlin and his family, spent some time with him, talked through things. Spent some time with the Port Authority and met all the other surviving members of the tragedy that were there.

I’ve just sort of talked through it with Oliver. I get the feeling from Oliver, and the work that they’ve done on the screenplay, that they want to make it pretty cinema verite so it’ll be like real time unfolding with a lot of technical jargon you might not understand, but it’s going to smack of reality. They’re going to try to get it as real as they can.

I’m happy to say that Oliver and I have been trying to work together for many years and it hasn’t happened. I’m happy to say that we waited for this one because this one is so positive about the human condition. The buildings themselves aren’t exploited. I don’t think you can see the skyline. It’s more about what happened among this handful of men when the buildings came down; where they went to survive and how they coped.”

Nicolas Cage on Why He Still Works So Hard: “The reality is I haven’t been on deck since ‘National Treasure’ and that’s a year, so I do about two movies a year. It works out that way. I have two movies coming out each year. To me, that’s not too much but, on top of that, yeah, I like to work. It’s part of my spiritual beliefs. I like to do something with my time that is productive. I want to serve, and I feel I’m serving myself and I’m serving you by working. I’m not going to just sit around by the pool and luxuriate myself with a margarita. That, to me, is not where I want to be. So, yeah, work is part of my principles.”



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Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

Status: Offline
Posts: 8403
Date: 7:04 PM, 06/23/11
RE: Nicolas Cage Talks About "The Weather Man"
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Thanks for posting Meg, great to read this again and it is quite broad ranging across several of Nics' movies! This one has some priceless Nic quotes  too! starry



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