The commentary on the MOONSTRUCK dvd is unfortunately sans Nic, but there are some wonderful insights into the movie and Nic as an actor, from Director Norman Jewison, writer John Patrick Shanley, and Cher.
As always, if you prefer to have a pure and behind the scenes free experience and memory of the movie, then read no further. I particularly feel with this commentary, and perhaps with this particular movie because it is so seamlessly magical, once you see the man behind the curtain a certain spell is potentially broken!
Having said all that and if you are still reading...here are some excerpts from the commentary relating to Nic that I hope you enjoy!
Norman: Nicolas cage has the most difficult part in the piece...A poetic baker who is consumed by opera and he is so tormented. He's got the tough stuff and i knew this, I knew this was the most difficult part in the whole piece. So I had a long chat with Cher about it. Because i believe the chemistry has to be right between two people.
Cher: Norman came back with 'the studio won't accept him, we don't think it's a good idea, he's gawky, but we've got this other guy that we think is really right'. But I said 'yeah but I really want Nicky' so they came back and said would you do the screen test with both of them and I said yes I would.
Norman: They screen tested another guy who I thought might be good, and I saw the two screen tests and in one, the guy was just blown off the frame by Cher. It was Cher and a guy.
Cher: but when Nicky and I did it, it was just so right and then they saw the test and they came back and said the studio won't accept him. And I remember I went home and I kept thinking about it, I kept thinking you know, I just want Nicky, I know I'm being inflexible but I want Nicky, and I called and I said I'm not going to do the film unless I get Nicky. And so we were at a stalemate for a couple of..maybe a week.
..I always thought it would be Nicky when I read the script I saw Nicky doing those words. So finally, they said to me are you serious about not doing this unless you have him, and i said yeah, so then I got him.
[Nic's first scene]
Shanley: oh he really got it. Nic really just got this character. And it's not an easy part to play. I've written some roles like this and you quickly find out that most people can't do it. He was up for the style of the film as soon as he read it I knew he was going to be great.
Norman: From the beginning I thought that at that stage of his life Nicolas cage was the most tormented soul. I don't know why, I just felt he was a tormented person and I told Cher that and she agreed with me.
Cher: and when I first meet Nicky (in character in the scene where they first meet) and he shows me his hand and he's talking about his hand, I remember I really wanted that hand. I don't know if I got it or not, but it was one thing I really wanted from the movie. There was two of them and I just really wanted one.
Norman: Nic was totally secure in his acting. And I loved that.
Shanley: I've always noticed that these things are true. That when you read fairytales to me they read like true stories. When you see operas, they play to me like true stories. There's nothing in this film that I haven't seen, that I haven't done. I've seen this kind of behaviour, I've had this kind of behaviour I've known other people who've had this kind of behaviour, and in fact I knew I guy with a wooden hand that's why there's a wooden hand in this movie, and in his case what he did was, because he had a wooden hand, he felt that people disrespected him and so he was always trying to pick fights with people, and nobody wanted to fight him because he had a wooden hand and then once in a while somebody would go, "oh I'll respect this guy" and like beat him up.
[on the kiss)
Shanley: In the screenplay when they kiss for the first time, Ronnie and Loretta, there's blood on Loretta's lips and they didn't do that, I'm not sure if it was Cher or Norman, but they might have felt it was just a little too shocking or too raw for the audience, that it would interfere with the tone of the film.
[on the scene by the window in the full moon]
Cher: I really hated doing this, actually I hated the thought of doing it, I had to be like just in a body suit standing there with a little thing wrapped around me and there's 40 guys with big bellies staring at you, and it's not romantic at all and it's really difficult you know so, I liked it when it was funny, like when he picked me up and we went in there and he threw me on the bed and I don't remember what I said but it was something like, "fill me up, go ahead" and that was funny. And Nicky was great to work with on this because he knew how I felt and he was very sensitive to that, and Norman was pretty sensitive too
Cher: when I'm in the closet and he's talking to me and I'm trying to put my clothes on, I was really trying to put my clothes on because Norman made me do that, and he kept saying, "Cher do it faster, you're not doing it fast enough" I said, "I'm in a dark closet, with all these clothes!"
[on the movie as an opera]
Norman: I wanted the film to feel like an opera. Opera pervades this whole style, in this film. I said it's probably a little over the top, so I said, Cher is the lyric soprano and Nicolas Cage is the tenor. Danny Aiello is the baritone, and cosmo the father, Vinnie Gardenia, is the bass. The Uncle and the Grandfather are the Greek chorus, and the Mother, Olivia Dukakis is the contralto, and you each have your own Arias, but at the end of the film we will bring you altogether, be on the stage at the same time, and we will create this incredible crescendo at the end of the film and it will be a giant crescendo that will just grab everybody.
[on the "snap out of it" scene]
Norman: This is one of the best moments in the picture, the snap out of it, when she gives him two slaps, people were doing that in living rooms, it's the best comedic moment in the picture because of the way it's built. Not that everybody should know where they're going but I do think the flow of a story in a way cinematically should be seamless.
[on La Boheme and the opera scene]
Cher: of course Nicky knew it really well and Norman knew it, me not knowing anything,being the cultural deficient that I am, I didm't know it, so we sit down, and the music starts playing and Norman starts explaining it and he was doing such a great job of explaining it and the music was so fabulous that the scene all worked, I couldn't really help from crying, I really like the way I cried in it too I thought it was my best work. And then when we were finished, Norman was crying. So I figured, well that must be pretty good. And, that was a complete instance where if you look at Nicky in that he is totally playing it close to the vest, there's no over acting there.
Norman: So it was like shooting a silent movie. It was a very intimate moment with the actors.
[on the "get in my bed" scene]
Norman: Nic is a much larger actor as far as performance goes, he attacks the role with a much greater bravado, whereas Cher is much more internal and most of the acting is done with the eyes, with the face, she's a minimalist, whereas he is a much more theatrical performer, actor, and so actually to get both of them working together is kind of interesting, to have that contrast, because it not only helped their characters, it offset them. But I remember I was always pulling him down and bringing her up, as far as direction went and performance.
[on the last 'ensemble kitchen' scene in the movie]
Cher: In the last scene in the movie, I know Norman didn't know how to shoot it. I know he didn't know what he was going to do with it. And Nicky walks in and goes, 'I don't want to be in it, I don't think I can do it, I think it's silly, I don't know how it's going to work, I just think I shouldn't be in it.' So of course everybody just like fell apart and so Norman just caused this fight, he caused all this energy and Nicky was really cranky and pissed off and then Julie who was an acting teacher and a director on her own right, she said something to Nicky that really got him so crazy that he threw a chair across the living room and people were just going insane! It was so weird, and then, that's when we started shooting it.
Oh, I didn't feel that way at all, Lula, I really loved reading this, especially the part about the opera scene, and all the references to 'Nicky' and how he acts, it is so great! Thanks for posting! I so love this movie, I can actually get chills thinking about it because of the romance, it is so pure. My very favourite romantic movie.
Thank you for posting this great audio commentary, Lula. It really helps, to understand some of the scenes better, while watching them. I love to read those audio commentaries or whole transcripts of them. Even, if there are not with Nic. I think, you get a better understanding about the movie out of those commentaries.
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"When you think about magic, it is imagination plus willpower focused in such a way that you can create a conscious effect in the material world..."
I feel that way too Lady Arwen, the insights direct from the actors and filmmakers themselves are truly precious! but i think i would defintiely prefer to watch the film first before hearing a commentary.
Glad you enjoyed it Lady T, I had to give the obligtory spoiler alert though, this particular commentary, in my mind, reveals quite alot , perhaps not so obviously with just these excerpts!
Has anyone else listened to the full commentary? what did you think?!
Wow!!! I know we've talked about the passion Cher had in getting Nic on the movie but it's really cool hearing it in her own words and how it went down. SHE REALLY DID FIGHT FOR HIM!!!!
Wow, the fact that Norman wanted to orchestrate the project around an operatic base is very ideal as Nic is so well versed in the opera and would have totally been on the same page and mind set. Perfect!!!
