There's a reason Nicolas Cage was named best actor of 2009 by the Toronto Film Critics Association: The man does crazy like nobody's business. In Werner Herzog's The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Cage tears up the Big Easy, threatening old ladies, shaking down clubgoers, hallucinating iguanas, gambling recklessly, laughing maniacally and, in one memorable scene, taking drugs apparently by accident.
Fans of this kind of thespian nuttiness can rejoice, because Cage has three new projects all opening in the next six months. Why so much work? Apparently he needs steady paying gigs to fund his collection of luxury cars, dinosaur skulls, poisonous snakes and European castles -- but that's a whole different kettle of crazy.
March 19 brings Season of the Witch, a title that will have Donovan fans singing: "You've got to pick up every stitch ... " But the closest musical comparison -- at least based on the trailer -- would be to a heavy-metal album cover, perhaps from the likes of Anvil. It's dark, brooding, medieval and satanic.
It's also clearly plotted. "You must deliver the witch to the abbey of Severac," Cage's character is told, "where you will destroy the witch's powers." At his side is Ron Perlman, who always seems to show up in gritty sci-fi/ fantasy/medieval movies. Now all Cage needs is a GPS.
April, being the cruellest month, brings Kick-Ass. This is a superhero movie, the twist being that all the heroes are young enough to still have a curfew. All that is except 55-year-old Cage as Big Daddy, getting in touch with his inner Batman and proving he hasn't lost his sense of humour. In the trailer, he says of a young crime-fighter: "He should call himself Ass-Kick instead," followed by a weirdly asthmatic laugh. Kick- Ass also stars Christopher Mintz-Plasse ( Superbad), who always seems to show up as the geeky kid with the inflated ego.
In July, Cage returns in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, with the help of frequent collaborators Jon Turteltaub (director of National Treasure and its sequel) and Jerry Bruckheimer (producer of same, as well as Con Air and The Rock). This would seem to offer the best chance for Cage to cut loose and act large. In fact, he'll have to, since he's competing against such special effects as flying gargoyles, pewter dragons, bug-men, morphing automobiles, great balls of fire -- and Alfred Molina. Helping Cage hold his own are a gonzo haircut, a great floppy hat and his own inimitable brand of cinematic quackery.
Cage may be the star, but a movie called The Sorcerer's Apprentice needs a novice. That role goes to Ottawa actor Jay Baruchel, winner of the 2010 Marty McFly act-alike contest for his delivery of the line: "What you just did is impossible!" He also gets to ask: "Are you insane?" To which Cage responds with a twitch of a smile and a "just a little bit" hand gesture. As if we didn't know.
Baruchel, by the way, will be the subject of next week's trailer tracker.
Black & White Photo: Disney / Nicolas Cage in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a film in which he is just a little bit crazy -- not that you can tell.
