Nicolas Cage has made a career from his highly entertaining scenery chewing. He follows a performance style he calls “Nouveau Shamanic” – an exaggerated form of method acting where he acts according to the character’s impulses. This allows for the wild, unpredictable outbursts his characters are known for.
Cage films are also usually about masculinity: its worst excesses, the parameters restricting it, and what ennobling versions of it might look like.
