| Nicolas Cage 2005 Half-Life Award Recipient |
If you want insight into the resolve that makes Nicolas Cage one of the foremost and versatile actors of
his generation, take a look at his name. His father is the brother to Francis Ford Coppola, which means
that Nicolas was born with one of the most storied surnames in cinema history. Yet, as he was getting
started as an actor, rather than capitalize on his famous lineage, he dropped the Coppola altogether so
as not to be afforded any special treatment. Even as a firebrand young actor, Nicolas Cage knew the
importance of being his own man.
The gamble may have backfired had he not had the talent to back it up, but Cage wouldn't be denied.
Yes, he did get several of his first parts in his uncle's films (most notably RUMBLE FISH and THE COTTON
CLUB), but it was the parts he earned on his own - VALLEY GIRL, RAISING ARIZONA, MOONSTRUCK - that
established his reputation from the start as a risk-taker whose versatility made him a prime candidate for
drama, comedy, action - pretty much any part that required more than one emotion.
And he's an actor who has returned time and again to the city that rewards every range of emotion. Cage
has toplined three films set around Las Vegas, and those three films provide the perfect study for what
makes Cage different from virtually every other leading man working today. HONEYMOON IN VEGAS was
a screwball comedy that played off the love between a man and a woman persuaded by the lure of the
city's possibilities. In LEAVING LAS VEGAS, those possibilities become judge, jury and executioner. Cage
turns in one of the finest male performances in the past quarter-century in the service of another love
story, the kind that you don't see on the tourism commercials but that is just as integral to the cultural
fabric of this desert oasis. After that devastating turn, Cage went about as big as you can get in
Hollywood, teaming with Jerry Bruckheimer to crash a plane full of convicts along the Strip in CON AIR.
Some people winced at the transformation from character actor to action star, but those who'd been
paying attention knew it was just Cage being Cage. When Tom Hanks headlines a character-driven
boutique film, it's a big deal. When Tom Cruise or Denzel Washington gives himself over to comedy, it's
news. We've come to expect such versatility from Cage: The budgets may have been bigger in
ADAPTATION and NATIONAL TREASURE than they were in WILD AT HEART and RAISING ARIZONA, but the
challenges to the actor were just as great. And, time and again, Cage has risen to those challenges.
his generation, take a look at his name. His father is the brother to Francis Ford Coppola, which means
that Nicolas was born with one of the most storied surnames in cinema history. Yet, as he was getting
started as an actor, rather than capitalize on his famous lineage, he dropped the Coppola altogether so
as not to be afforded any special treatment. Even as a firebrand young actor, Nicolas Cage knew the
importance of being his own man.
The gamble may have backfired had he not had the talent to back it up, but Cage wouldn't be denied.
Yes, he did get several of his first parts in his uncle's films (most notably RUMBLE FISH and THE COTTON
CLUB), but it was the parts he earned on his own - VALLEY GIRL, RAISING ARIZONA, MOONSTRUCK - that
established his reputation from the start as a risk-taker whose versatility made him a prime candidate for
drama, comedy, action - pretty much any part that required more than one emotion.
And he's an actor who has returned time and again to the city that rewards every range of emotion. Cage
has toplined three films set around Las Vegas, and those three films provide the perfect study for what
makes Cage different from virtually every other leading man working today. HONEYMOON IN VEGAS was
a screwball comedy that played off the love between a man and a woman persuaded by the lure of the
city's possibilities. In LEAVING LAS VEGAS, those possibilities become judge, jury and executioner. Cage
turns in one of the finest male performances in the past quarter-century in the service of another love
story, the kind that you don't see on the tourism commercials but that is just as integral to the cultural
fabric of this desert oasis. After that devastating turn, Cage went about as big as you can get in
Hollywood, teaming with Jerry Bruckheimer to crash a plane full of convicts along the Strip in CON AIR.
Some people winced at the transformation from character actor to action star, but those who'd been
paying attention knew it was just Cage being Cage. When Tom Hanks headlines a character-driven
boutique film, it's a big deal. When Tom Cruise or Denzel Washington gives himself over to comedy, it's
news. We've come to expect such versatility from Cage: The budgets may have been bigger in
ADAPTATION and NATIONAL TREASURE than they were in WILD AT HEART and RAISING ARIZONA, but the
challenges to the actor were just as great. And, time and again, Cage has risen to those challenges.
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