Knowing - Nicolas Cage interview

NICOLAS Cage stars as an astrophysics professor who stumbles upon a numerical code that foretells every global disaster of the past 50 years, as well as a couple that haven’t happened yet, in Alex Proyas’ sci-fi thriller Knowing.

In London to promote the film, he talks to us [at a press conference] about the appeal of the movie and why he intends to stop killing people on film and concentrate on more fantasy work and intelligent horror in the future. He also gives us some insights into the forthcoming Bad Lieutenant remake, as well as Matthew Vaughn’s Kick Ass.

Q. The film poses the question of determinism versus randomness. When it comes to building and maintaining a career, do you take the view that it is a random sequence of events? That the films that propel you forward are not necessarily always the ones you think are going to be hits?
Nicolas Cage: Well, first of all the criteria that I have that goes into any career decision is whether or not I have the life experience, emotional resources to play the part truthfully or the imagination. Second, would be the director. At this particular point in my life I had made a series of movies with a hieroglyphic of my face and a gun and having to kill people, and I had given a serious look at a couple of movies that were offered to me – one that I almost did and I had to pull out. At this point I didn’t feel that I wanted to kill a person on camera. So, I was trying to think about ways that I could entertain you, hopefully, and give you some sort of escape, which I think in this day and age, now more than ever, is very important without having to resort to gratuitous violence.

Science fiction is a way that I can go into the abstract, into the imagination, and audiences are still willing to go along for the ride. It really is a bit of a watershed for me because I had the emotional resources to play the part having been a single father. I wanted to put that family dynamic into a movie, in any form. I was just trying to find the right movie, so Knowing provided that. And it also gave me the chance to go into where I want to now dance, which is in science fiction, in fantasy and in intelligent horror. I want to make more of these kinds of movies because of the metaphor. I don’t have to shoot people. That’s not to say that I won’t do that again in a movie, but perhaps I’ll be more thoughtful about it each time out.

Q. How much do you believe in pre-determination? Do you buy into the overall concept? Have you ever been to see a psychic?
Nicolas Cage: I really think it’s important that my beliefs don’t impinge upon what you get from the movie. It’s your opinion that matters and it’s far more interesting than mine. I just put something out there. If I were to say I believe in this or that, then I think you may sway in another direction and that would deprive you of the experience of going to the movie. All I will offer, and this is probably still too much, is that I’m not a chaos theorist. But I’ll leave it at that.

Q. How did you establish your rapport with your child co-star?
Nicolas Cage: You know, people often say that you should never work with child actors. I think that’s all wrong. Children have not had the imagination kicked out of them by life experience and adulthood. So, they still are very much alive with that kind of magical thinking which enables an actor to believe they’re in these circumstances and make them real to you. Chandler has that. It was so easy working with him. He’s a really good person and a real gentleman – very polite and right there. It was just effortless with him. So, it just flowed.

Q. How brave did you have to be to go into those fiery scenes?
Nicolas Cage: I was really concerned about those people. They were on fire, ok? The airplane was a computer but those were stunt people. I know it’s their job and all, but they were being lit on fire. So, when you see the movie, if I look scared it’s because I really am. I took it personally that nobody got hurt. I felt like if I made a mistake, it was all one shot, then we’d have to go back to the beginning and they’d light them on fire again. So, I was just really hoping that nobody would get hurt.

Q. Knowing was shot in Melbourne. How was that for you?
Nicolas Cage: Well, I’ve had really good experiences in Australia and I like going there because with the exception of the Aboriginals it’s quite a young country. So, there’s this veneer of civilization and right behind the two inches is the most dangerous spider in the world, and the most poisonous snake and so there’s a buzz in the air that I kind of enjoy and I get stimulated by that. I’ve often wondered if that has something to do with why there’s so many great actors coming out of Australia, because they’ve got that experience going on in the zeitgeist.

Q. How was working with Alex Proyas?
Nicolas Cage: He really makes you feel safe and comfortable, and that you can feel liberated to explore ideas. He’s not just going to shut you down. He’ll listen. And I thought that Alex and I were really on the same page in a lot of ways, in terms of our interests and how we wanted the performances to come off, which again was almost like a documentary style, to hopefully make the more extraordinary aspects of the story more believable for you.

Q. Did you find the experience of working with Alex Proyas exceeded your expectation?
Nicolas Cage: Yes, because I was a fan of I, Robot and The Crow because he can really design a beautiful movie. When I say that, I mean he’s a visionary. There’s a signature to his effects. You know it’s Alex because it’s not like anybody else’s. But what went above and beyond, I had no idea that he would work with actors in the style that he did, or that I would be that comfortable with him and that trusting of him, and vice versa. And also that he would be open to ideas coming from the actors, as well as his interests. His interests coincide with my own.

We both have an interest in the esoteric and in science fiction in general, and have read similar books. We had a lot of nice discussions together, so I consider him to be a friend. I do hope to work with him again. It’s one of the first times for both of us I think… I know that Alex has gone on record saying this, and I’m going on record saying it, where the movie really was everything I hoped it would be. It all came together in the way that I had imagined in the most positive way.

Q. What would you do with your last day if you knew the date the world ended?
Nicolas Cage: Be with the loved ones… you know. There’s a moment in the movie that I really like, where all hell has broken loose and you see people scrambling aimlessly pulling their box of stuff. It’s an interesting question: if that were to happen, are you going to go for your box of stuff? Or are you going to go and see your family? I liked that about it. It really puts you at the epicentre of what’s valuable to you.

Q. Was it always the intention that the film could be read as a religious parable or not?
Nicolas Cage: I think it’s best to be left ambiguous. Movies work, in my opinion, on the best level when they’re more enigmatic, when we don’t say it’s this or that and where it raises more questions than answers. I’m a huge Stanley Kubrick fan and 2001: A Space Odyssey left me with more questions than answers and I’m still trying to sort it out. But that’s why I’m captivated. So, I don’t want to say it’s this or that.

Q. Apparently, the idea for Knowing was first pitched eight years ago. Have there been many changes in the structure?
Nicolas Cage: There weren’t many changes that I’m aware of. The only change that I sort of worked with Alex, and it was so minor, was that this is a man of science and he shouldn’t just buy into this list right off the bat. We have to extend that little and have him exhaust all the other possibilities so it would stand up. Is this a cruel prank for some perverse reason that’s being played by these janitors at the school? Look for that… and then, as the disasters start to unfold, he starts to buy into it.

So, it was just about getting up to that original plane crash scene. But just to digress for a moment. I think all art forms, whether they’re movies, or a painting, or music, consciously but perhaps more interesting subconsciously tend to try to define, or reflect, or make some sense out of what’s going on during these times in the zeitgeist. I think it’s in the air and it’s impossible not to pick it up on some level, even subconsciously.

Q. You spent a long time in England last year filming Kick Ass, which is quite a violent film. Can you explain what interested you about that?
Nicolas Cage: It’s no secret that I’ve been aware of the kind of obsession with comic books and video games and even violence coming out of my own country and also around the world. What I liked about it was this kind of absurdist take, almost ironic take, that Matthew Vaughn was able to weave on that – the twist of this obsession with violence so much so that the lead character in the movie becomes a superhero. That’s the kind of thing I can really relate to and respond to in the most absurd way. I find it entertaining and also thought-provoking.

Q. You’re also about to do a remake of Bad Lieutenant, directed by Werner Herzog. What attracted you to the project and how was working with Werner and Val Kilmer?
Nicolas Cage: Well, I was attracted by the idea of working with Werner being that I’ve enjoyed his movies over the years. He strikes me as an original and a deeply poetic thinker in his documentaries as well as his feature films. So, I wanted to get together with him. The idea of a remake of the Bad Lieutenant, which is a movie that I really enjoyed, by a director who I really admire – Abel Ferrara – and Harvey Keitel – an actor who I consider a friend and also a terrific actor – to me was so audacious that I couldn’t resist. I felt that it would be a bold move to see what Werner would come up with. The fact that he was even considering it to me made it just impossible to resist.

One of the things that Werner came out with was he felt that the movie would be kind of like a franchise, in that you could have more than one Bad Lieutenant; that this movie is not a remake, it’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. You could have Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call London next. It could happen and that’s what makes it interesting. I’m not the same cop that Harvey was. I’m a different cop. I’m a New Orleans cop.

Q. Is it a re-imagining?
Nicolas Cage: I don’t want to talk too much about it for fear that I’ll give it away. But it’s going to be quite different. Bad Lieutenant, in my opinion, really was still very much in a Judea-Christian programme. I liked it. But Werner’s Bad Lieutenant goes more into the existential point of view. But even with that I’ve probably said too much.

Q. You mentioned that you wanted to start working in sci-fi and horror. Can you elaborate a little more?
Nicolas Cage: Yeah, I just did a movie called Season of the Witch, which is like an occult version of Wages of Fear is what I liked to call it. We’re transporting a witch… it’s not nitro-glycerine, it’s a witch to an abbey. And it’s in the 14th Century. I’m very excited about that, as you can tell. I’m now doing a movie called Sorcerer’s Apprentice with our mutual friend Jay Baruchel in New York City. And that’s another opportunity in the grand Disney tradition to go into the fantastic.

I just feel that these movies give me a chance to express myself in a way that is of the imagination, that is more abstract and still can entertain you, and still connect with audiences. I like the idea of giving a child something to look forward to, especially in these times. They might smile and say: “I’m going to go and see National Treasure. I’m going to go and see Sorcerer’s Apprentice…” With that I feel I’m applying myself in the best way; and also that I don’t have to kill so many people on camera. Just the metaphor of that, the symbol of that, the hieroglyphic of that, I find troubling on some level… just personally right now. I realise I may be digging myself into a rabbit hole by saying that, but I feel that I can affect positively more people if I go into fantasy and go into science fiction and go into intelligent horror, because it’s of the metaphor and of the imagination.