Say what you will about Nicolas Cage, but he always gives it his all in whatever film he’s in. Long legs Although he was not directly involved in promoting the film, Cage drew a lot of attention in the lead-up to its release due to footage and advertising showing his strange appearance. In addition, in order to play a serial killer targeting families, Cage drew on his own family history.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cage recalled watching his mother, Joy Vogelsang, apply Noxzema cold cream as a child. The then-2-year-old recalled her mother “very quickly turned her head and said, [putting on] Cold cream. [it] It was really scary.” In the film, Longlegs has the same eerily pale skin as Cage’s mother in the film, but with no clear motive. The actor gives no specific reason why his character is so pale, but points out the “strange connection” between the killer and skin color. “He says it’s a power he’s aware of and just doesn’t question it much,” Cage points out. “He knows it when he sees it.”
On the acting front, Cage previously called the role a “deeply personal” one, as his mother has suffered from schizophrenia throughout his life. June“I’m not a fan of the character,” he told EW about how she speaks in a poetic language, something he also incorporated into Long Legs. For Cage, the character is a tragic figure who is “at the mercy of the voices that talk to me.” Ahead of filming in early 2023, he recorded himself performing on his phone to perfect the character’s “rhythm and melody.” […] By the time we got to the set, everything was perfectly aligned and it felt like we were singing and playing music.”
In an interview with Cage, Long legs This contains spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, please do not proceed beyond the banner below.
In the film’s climax, Maika Monroe’s Harker finally comes face to face with Longlegs, who has been giving dolls possessed by demonic energy to the families of girls born on certain days. It soon emerges that Harker was targeted as a child, but escaped due to his mother’s intervention. Their “reunion” meeting, and the scene in which Longlegs commits suicide in front of her, is exactly why Cage took part in the film in the first place. The two actors had not previously interacted, which Cage believes was intended by director Osgood Perkins, and he was looking forward to an “explosive” meeting between the two characters.
Ultimately, there’s an added meta layer to this scene: Cage was a fan of Monroe, professing his appreciation of her horror performances in films such as “The Great Gatsby.” It Follows and WatcherLike some of the spectators, It Follows It was the first time he met Harker and he called the film “one of my favorites in the genre”, and he drew parallels between his adoration of his co-star and his longtime obsession with Harker in Long Legs, calling her “a kind of hero that his character finally got to meet”.
Up until that point, the film purposefully avoids shooting Longlegs directly. Instead, he is caught glimpsed at from different angles and through reflections. Perkins explained that this shows how the killer made such an impression on Harker as a child, even though she had repressed the memory. He There, In a sense, Perkins is “not quite there, but [also] It’s totally there.”
Based on pre-release buzz, Cage delivers a fairly unsettling (and I mean that as a compliment!) performance. Long legs That alone is enough to get a crowd going, and having seen him play a variety of different roles over the decades, it’s nice to know he’ll find new ways to wow people.
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