Actor Nicolas Cage recalls a painful experience he had shooting the scene of his only Oscar-winning movie, for which he did something “high risk.”

SUMMARY

 Nicolas Cage reflects on when he got drunk for a scene in Leaving Las Vegas, calling it a “high-risk film experiment.”
 His more boisterous performances have become Internet memes, contributing to his ongoing renaissance as an actor.

 Even though Leaving Las Vegas is his only Oscar-winning film, Cage’s career is filled with memorable moments, and he is willing to go to great lengths for a worthwhile performance.

Actor Nicolas Cage has opened up about a painful experience he had filming his only Oscar-winning movie, filming a scene he describes as a “high-risk film experiment.”

The actor is best known for his many unique roles in film, playing memorably eccentric roles in movies like Vampire’s Kiss and Mom and Dad. Recently, however, Cage has starred in more serious roles such as Mandy and Pig, something he’s no stranger to within his acting repertoire.

Rewatching some of his most memorable performances with Vanity Fair, Cage reflected on one particular scene in the well-regarded Leaving Las Vegas.

During his commentary, which starts at 2:56, the actor admitted he got extremely drunk in order to film the scene.

It’s hard to watch. I’d seen Albert Finney in Under the Volcano. I asked Mike Figgus, who directed him in another picture, ‘Did Albert drink while he was working?’ Albert Finney is a huge inspiration to me.

And he said, ‘No, but tell Nick I would taste it and I’d spit it out.’ I’d seen several movies with great alcoholic performances. The only one where I really said, ‘That guy’s really drunk,’ was Albert Finney walking through the streets of Mexico at the beginning of Under the Volcano.

So I’d made a decision that at some point in the movie, I want to see if I can get a real blackout on camera. Dangerous, crazy, I would never do it again. I don’t act with alcohol or anything. I act dry.

And we only had four weeks to shoot the movie. If it had gone on for six months, it would’ve been a disaster, but I wanted to take that scene and really get loaded. I was not loaded through the rest of the picture.

I would have a drink here or there just to get a sense of like, the Albert Finney, spit it out, get a vibe. Had a drinking coach named Tony Dingman, family friend, at the time a drunk, a poet.

We were drinking Sambuca, and he thought that would be a good choice for this scene. So I was drinking the Sambuca, and I went downstairs and I was like, ‘Whatever happens, get it, because this isn’t gonna happen again.’

I had developed a sense of backstory for Ben, which is that he had gone through a divorce, was trying to get custody of his son, and in my own life I was really trying to get that one day out of the week to see my kid at the time.

And it was something that I knew was in the body, and I knew it was in the character for Ben. So when I went downstairs and we shot the scene, that’s the result. And you see I’m screaming, ‘I’m his father, I’m his father.’

Well, I meant it [Laughs]. And Ben meant it. So these things that happened to people that have drinking problems, it’s powerful. I think the good news is I got a lot of great response from folks who were recovered.

Some people said, ‘Wow, that movie really made me want to drink,’ or other people said, ‘Well, the movie made me never want to drink again, but thank you Nick, that was really what it’s like.’ And I think that was me taking a high-risk experiment in film performance, but I am happy with the results, as sad and hard to watch as it may be.

How Nicolas Cage’s Dedication Leads To Memorable Performances

Leaving Las Vegas sees the actor star as Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic screenwriter who begins a relationship with prostitute Sera (Elisabeth Shue) as his life spirals out of control.

To date, the movie is Cage’s only Oscar win, being awarded Best Actor for his performance. His story about getting drunk in order to make one key scene feel more realistic also underscores how his dedication to his roles leads to memorable portrayals.

Cage’s more boisterous performances have become Internet memes, leading to an ongoing renaissance for the actor. These include scenes from The Wicker Man, Con Air, and the National Treasure franchise.

His renewed fame online likely assisted in his many recent film roles in highly-anticipated productions, with his most recent being the comedy fantasy film Dream Scenario.

The iconography of his performances led to 2022’s memorable The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, where Cage portrays a fictional version of himself in a movie dedicated to his many film roles.

Although his performance in Leaving Las Vegas was a key part of his career, even films he’s been in that haven’t won awards still contain highlight moments. As his inebriation for one scene indicates, the actor is willing to go as far as he can to deliver a worthwhile performance.