If you’ve ever seen a Nicolas Cage movie, you’re probably looking at this article thinking, “Listen, pal. I’ve seen my share of Cage flicks. I already know how insane they are.” Yeah, maybe you have. Maybe you’ve seen Face/Off. Maybe you’ve seen Ghost Rider. Maybe you’ve even seen the infamous The Wicker Man. But here’s the thing. If you haven’t seen Vampire’s Kiss, you haven’t truly “stepped into the Cage.”
The entire movie is ridiculous, from the title screen to the credits. Cage drifts in and out of an unrecognizable accent, furiously recites the alphabet, and flails through the streets of Manhattan yelling, "I'm a vampire!" to no one in particular. But what happened behind the scenes was even more absurd than what what you see on screen.
In short, Vampire’s Kiss is a movie about Nic Cage becoming a vampire...or something. So naturally, it called for a scene where he gets bitten by a bat. But this is Nic Cage we’re talking about, the greatest method actor of our time. He couldn’t just act like he was getting bitten by a vampire. He wanted it to look real. That’s why he insisted that he had to be bitten by an actual bat. The director had to persuade him otherwise, reminding him that it would probably cause him to, you know...die. Cage eventually agreed, reluctantly.
In case that bat story didn’t solidify Cage’s title as World’s Most Dedicated Method Actor, there is also a scene in Vampire’s Kiss where Cage was supposed to eat raw eggs for shock effect. But what is he, Sylvester Stallone? Get real. Cage instead upped the stakes and ate an actual live cockroach. Two actually. They filmed two takes. So yeah, Nicolas Cage, an Academy Award-winning actor, ate two cockroaches for movie that very few people even saw.
“How did Nicolas Cage get to be such an amazing actor?” you must be asking. Glad you asked! Practice. Lots of practice. But Cage couldn’t just run lines with other actors like a normal person. Instead, he locked himself in his hotel room with his cat Lewis, to whom he was weirdly attached. Cage wouldn’t even let room service in to clean the room. Lewis ended up wrecking the whole place.
For some reason, likely because he is batshit crazy, Nic Cage briefly walked off of Vampire’s Kiss. In that time, he was nearly replaced by Judd Nelson. Judd Nelson, the Breakfast Club guy. Speaking of casting problems, Cage’s role called for a lot of on-screen love-making scenes with the lead female character. Well, that actress’ husband was understandably grossed out by the idea of his wife having her bare nipples in Cage’s mouth so she left the movie right before it started filming.
With the exception of Nic Cage, no one involved in Vampire’s Kiss had ever made a full length movie before. None of the cast. None of the crew. Hard to believe given how many awards the film recei—oh wait. No, that actually makes perfect sense.
Remember that bat from before? The one Cage wanted to be bitten by? Well, the director wouldn’t let him do it and instead brought in an animatronic bat. But he wanted the bat to look realistic. So he hired a guy who did effects for Star Wars. Star Wars, the movie, Star Wars. That Star Wars. But it was no light saber. The bat looked awful.
Vampire’s Kiss grossed just $750 thousand at the box office. Cage made $40,000 to play the lead role. And what did 26-year-old Nicolas Cage do with a $40,000 paycheck? He spent it all on a 1967 Corvette Sting Ray. He still has the car today and refers to it as his “Vampire’s Kiss car.”
Vampire’s Kiss is set it New York, where it was filmed. With a shoestring budget, the filmmakers didn’t have the funds to hire a cast of extras so they did the next best thing: They let a stark raving Nicolas Cage loose on the streets of Manhattan. But here’s the amazing thing: New Yorkers were so jaded to crazies in the late 80s that no one even acknowledged him.
You might come away from Vampire’s Kiss thinking, “Wow, that went over my head.” Well, you’re not alone. On the movie’s DVD commentary, both Cage and the director admitted they really didn’t get what in God’s name they were trying to say with this movie or what it means.
- There is a scene where Cage completely destroys a room and all of its furniture. All of it was real. The mirrors, the plate glass table, everything. Because Cage is a serious method actor, dammit.
- In another scene, Cage had to catch a pigeon to eat. The filmmakers drugged the pigeon to slow it down but didn’t tell Cage.
- Cage wanted his character to have a pencil-thin mustache like his friend, Tom Waits.
- Cage based his faux accent on his father, a professor. No one except the director understood why the hell he used it.
- In one scene set in a bar, an actual patron had just died and the crew had to hold up shooting while the body was taken out.
- There are random mimes throughout the movie and the director had no idea why.
- Cage sent this movie to Roman Polanski and never heard anything back.
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What about Jennifer Beals in Flashdance? She was the lead in a $100 million grossing feature.
Or Maria Conchita Alonso in The Running Man.
Sigh.
Elizabeth Ashley was in Dragnet right before this movie — actually the craziest thing about this cast is, it’s actually stacked.
John Michael Higgins and David Hyde Pierce also. I NEED to see this movie.
YEAH! And also I’m pretty sure the Best Boy Grip once worked on a porno that Bob Guccione shot for Cinemax After Dark.
My friends and I were OBSESSED with this movie in high school and quoted it all the time. It is a masterpiece.
Not a Vampire’s Kiss fact but Cage also had two teeth removed, without anesthetic, for his role in 1984′s Birdy.
this is the greatest movie ever made
At this point aren’t you really comparing which rattlesnake is the most deadly? Which week old bread is the least hard? Which Kardashian is the most inane?
If Daniel Day-Lewis had been in this film he would have not only eaten a cockroach, he would have drunk human blood.
but have you seen Deadfall? He might be more insane in that
Makes sense about wanting to be like his friend Tom Waits with the pencil-thin, as Tom Waits also let real bugs crawl around in his mouth in Dracula.
… Wait, Nicolas Cage is friends with Tom Waits? That explains a hell of a lot, on both sides.
I have not seen this film. But now I know that must change.
Whole movie is on youtube. BOOM!
“With the exception of Nic Cage, no one involved in Vampire’s Kiss had ever made a full length movie before. None of the cast. None of the crew.”
I really love reading all the film facts that you make up on the spot.
This is a movie site and the writer doesn’t know who Jennifer Beals and Maria Alonso are???
Bring back Legel!
Hey, Dan here. Writer of this. You guys are dead right about Beals. However to my credit, I will say that as I mentioned, the original actress canceled literally days before they started filming because her husband didn’t want her in bed with Cage. Understandable. So they brought in Beals at the very last minute. And the reason I put that in was because in the DVD commentary, Cage and the director noted that no one had made a feature film, so clearly they’d forgotten about Beals. Poor Beals.
Great read! Although I disagree with some of your implied criticisms, there’s a lot of interesting stuff here. Cage is at his finest when he’s truly batshit berserk.
AV Club did a great piece on the movie that may twist and challenge your opinion of Vampire’s Kiss just as Peter Loew was tormented by his own demons back in ’89. Check it out here: avc.lu/Jersz0
Did you also know that Nic said in 2010 that Peter Loew was one of his favorite roles of all time? He also described his ambitions in the movie as Kafka-esque. But that’s a word that perhaps only Jesse Pinkman will ever truly understand.
http://www.Nicolas-Cage.org
This film was originally called “Love Sucks”, because of course it was.
The word epic doesn’t even describe this movie.
FUCKING GREASE HOOOOLE!!!
A B C D E F G – H I J K L M N O P – Q R S – T U V – W X Y Z! HUH!? That’s all you have TO DO!!!! Just PUT IT IN!!! ….very good Peter you know your alphabet.
This is one of my favorite movies. I was devastated when they took it off Netflix, but now that someone above mentioned it’s on Youtube, I’m gonna watch it on there tonight. Nice work, Dan.
Vampire’s Kiss is incredible, no doubt, but only scratches the surface of Sir Cage’s utter insanity. Go watch Deadfall and tell me his accent in that movie isn’t a thousand times weirder. From there we can discuss Time To Kill, an Italian movie where Cage plays an Italian soldier surrounded by an entirely Italian cast. Set in Africa. And he thinks he contracts leprosy form a woman he accidentally kills in a cave. After that we finish with Zandalee. Have you ever wanted to see a moustachioed Cage dance sensually with The Judge? You know you have, stop lying to yourself.
[www.youtube.com]
It’s magical.
Classics
my favorite post in this thread by far comes to us from @tommzilla thank you for your hard-hitting journalism :)
Only one of the greatest movies ever. Still have it on VHS, the best way to watch a flick: won’t freeze, skip, jump or generally fuck you out of any of the best moments. Soup?