How Coppola Became Cage

Abstract How Coppola Became Cage chronicles Nicolas Cage’s early career and rise to fame, examining the formative performances that made him an icon of independent cinema in the 1980s and early 1990s. Drawing on more than 100 new interviews with Cage’s collaborators—including filmmakers David Lynch, John Patrick Shanley, Mike Figgis, Martha Coolidge, and Amy Heckerling—this book offers a revealing portrait of Cage’s origin story as a member of the Coppola family, his early roles in low-budget teen films, and his rise to stardom with memorable performances in cult films like Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, and Wild at Heart. The book examines how Cage drew on influences as eclectic as silent cinema and German Expressionism, while displaying an intense commitment to his performances both on- and off-screen. The book demystifies the actor’s on-screen eccentricities and argues that his commercial failures are as interesting as his successes. How Coppola Became Cage meticulously traces Cage’s career from 1981, when he was a young drama student at Beverly Hills High School, to 1995, when he gave an Oscar-winning performance as a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas.