Nicolas Cage’s Longlegs has done a decent box office performance in the preview screening while the movie starring Maika Monroe in the lead went on to be a critical darling. Many critics dubbed the thriller as one of the best recent horror movies. Cage, who has been on a streak of delivering remarkable movies and trying different roles recently, played a serial killer, Longlegs. The actor revealed that his scary portrayal of the character was inspired by one incident with his mother.
Nicolas Cage Shared The Inspiration Behind His Character In Longlegs
Nicolas Cage in Longlegs. Image Credit: Neon
Nicolas Cage played Longlegs, the title character who is a serial killer in a hunt by the FBI. As the actor shared in his interview with Entertainment Weekly, the eerie character was inspired by an incident with his mother that spooked him to the bone. Detailing the incident with his late mother, Joy Vogelsang, Cage revealed that the episode of life is stuck in his memory to date.
“My mom put on Noxzema cold cream. I was 2 years old, and I opened the bathroom door [to see] what she was doing,” Cage recalled. “For no reason, she turned her face really fast and stared at me after [putting on] the cold cream. The whiteness of the cold cream just really spooked me,” the actor added.
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As the 60-year-old was preparing for the role in Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, he used his childhood memory as a source of inspiration. It did fit as Cage intended, or so it seems as the movie has climbed up the ladder of success both critically and in the commercial aspects.
Nicolas Cage’s Inspiration For Longlegs Is Much Deeper And Personal
Nicolas Cage in Longlegs. Image Credit: Neon
Cage’s mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and severe depression and lived most of her life suffering the mental illness. The grave sadness of witnessing her mother throughout her suffering has, however, turned out to be the focal point of his inspiration for the character in the film that stars Maika Monroe as Lee Harker who was assigned to apprehend Longlegs.
In a previous chat with EW, Cage shared, “I was coming at it from, what exactly was it that drove my mother insane?” He went on to add, “It was a deeply personal kind of performance for me because I grew up trying to cope with what she was going through.”
Further, Cage explained, “She would talk in terms that were kind of poetry. I didn’t know how else to describe it. I tried to put that in the Longlegs character because he’s really a tragic entity. He’s at the mercy of these voices that are talking to him and getting him to do these things.”
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Maintaining his seriousness with his recent performances, Cage has yet again delivered a stunning character portrayal that is purely worthy of applause. Currently, Longlegs is at an astonishing 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes with a 69% audience appraisal. The movie also made a CinemaScore debut with a C+ credit.
Longlegs is now showing in the theaters.
