Epsiode 19: An Ode to Nicolas Cage's Mullet in Con Air - Pop ...
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Epsiode 19: An Ode to Nicolas
Cage’s Mullet in Con Air
I think over time this podcast is slowly The answer I think is ‘No’, objectively, but
morphing into a meditation on various lockdown has been long and the nights
types of guy – action guys, renaissance have been cold. The second outcome, is
men, guys who love their wives even that I’ve now watched just an obscene
though they’re divorced, guys bonded amount of Nicolas Cage movies in rapid
by the light homoeroticism of male strip succession and I think I know what I want
tease, guys trying to move on from to talk about.
their careers as boy band guys, big
strong guys who I would like to lift me I’m Alex – this is Pop Culture Boner, the
in their powerful arms, and perhaps podcast edition, and today I’m thinking
most importantly, weird guys. I love to about Nicolas Cage in Con Air.
read a Wikipedia page on a guy and go
“Jesus… is this allowed?” So, unlike Steven Seagal, whose film
history can really be held up against
I did an episode on Steven Seagal earlier the continued Western appropriation of
this year and I learned a lot about Eastern genre cinema into things that are
Japanese martial arts and the rise of barely recognisable, there’s no coherent
Kung Fu cinema. To be clear – I learned a starting point for Nic Cage. He’s done
lot about each of these things separately. everything from Oscar-winners, to totally
I know they’re different – it’s unclear forgettable action cinema, to iconic camp
if Steven Seagal does. Anyway, that action cinema, to rom coms, to children’s
episode was prompted by a conversation films, to unhinged indie cinema. Where
with notable friend of the pod, Jamie the question “What’s Steven Seagal
Preisz. At this point, he’s essentially co- up to?” has a fairly definitive answer
producing with Wesley, and I’m paying of “something offensive probably,
neither of them. And now that Sydney is just based on his personal brand”, the
in lockdown, he’s done it again by being question “What’s Nicolas Cage up to?”
like “You should watch the film Next has a variety of responses which include
starring Nicolas Cage. What’s he up to?” large goth sons, films about truffle pigs,
Which is a great question that prompted crow domes and tax debt. There’s a lot on
me to do a deep dive on Nic Cage’s his plate.
chequered film history, strange personal
life and the invention of the crow dome. Hollywood has always loved an eccentric
This journey has had two major outcomes – or maybe it just consistently produces
– the first is that at various points I have them and so they just have to turn it into
said to myself out loud “Is Nic Cage hot?” a charm point. It’s unclear. Either way,I’ve fully bought into the narrative – I But then I was forced to say the plot of
have an entire shelf of books dedicated Con Air out loud to my dad, to remind him
to the various scandals, murders, of the fact that we’d watched it together.
affairs, addictions and eccentricities of And as I said the words “but then Steve
Hollywood’s Golden Age and beyond. Buscemi doesn’t dismember the child
And look, 90% of it is probably made up, who sings ‘He’s Got the Whole World In
but I think the number of rumours flying His Hands’ and disappears into the Las
around often drives further oddball Vegas night, which we are happy about”,
behaviour. Like, do I think Joaquin I thought “I should probably actually just
Phoenix is a bit of a weirdo? Yes. Do write about Con Air.” So here we are –
I think that he deliberately inflates we’re going to use this episode to look
his own eccentricities to allow him to at Nick Cage’s Hollywood reputation at
maintain an air of mystery? Also yes. Do the time of Con Air’s release, his bizarre
I think Ben Affleck is a grubby little ass- performance in the film and unpick the
man who loves ice coffee? Yes. Do I think completely unhinged plotline. Let’s get
his relationship with Jennifer Lopez is into it, shall we?
real? Yes. Do I think the recently staged
paparazzi photos where he is touching If you have not seen Con Air before
her butt in direct imitation of photos taken and now think that it might be about a
of the couple circa 2003 are the most murderous Steve Buscemi finding Jesus
genuinely unhinged and beautiful thing through the power of not murdering
in the world? Absolutely. Everything is a children, allow me to elaborate. That is
circle. Weird begets further weird. only a small portion of the plot. Nicolas
Cage plays Cameron Poe, an army ranger
Cage is a good candidate for this angle. in prison for manslaughter after he breaks
He comes from storied Hollywood a dude’s neck in a bar far fight. He’s
family, famously changing his name ostensibly defending his wife’s honour,
from Coppola to Cage in an attempt to but the guy also said “Pussies like you
prove he could make it on his own as an are why we lost Vietnam”. Which I think
actor. (Of course, that’s definitely how is maybe the only time I’ve seen this
that works. No one’s ever seen of heard specific approach to the Vietnam War on
of you before, wink wink.) But like… I film? Not to get too side-tracked but like,
think growing up in any family that’s the I realise that it was an unpopular war
equivalent of American royalty makes and that negative public opinion resulted
you a little weird to begin with, and then in some pretty difficult circumstances for
rumours of your eccentricities begin to some veterans... but I don’t think it was
make the news and then that’s how you cos anyone thought the Army Rangers
end up with a stolen Mongolian dinosaur were pussies? I thought it was cos people
skull and a geodesic crow dome. And kept seeing children – Vietnamese and
initially, this episode was going to be American – blown up on TV in a war effort
about the idea of a Weird Guy Spectrum that was getting nowhere and doing
in Hollywood, and Nic Cage’s place in the nothing? Am I wrong? Americans… if I’m
canon of Weird Guys. incorrect, please let me know on Twitter
or something. Explain to me this can ofworms. It’s a lot of trouble because one man
wants to save a diabetic, and he doesn’t
Anyway, they give Nicolas Cage 10 years care how many casino-goers he takes
because his Army Ranger training makes down in the process.
him a deadly weapon – again, this is a
direct quote. But he’s well behaved in If that all sounds completely batshit, it’s
prison because he’s actually a nice man because it is. When I started watching Con
at heart, and he writes to his wife and Air, one of the notes that I wrote down
daughter every day. He’s finally paroled, was “who would put every single bad
but first him and his buddy Baby-O guy in the world on one plane?” (and
have to take a flight to a new supermax then in brackets I wrote “John Cusack”)
prison, from which he will be released. – the script even acknowledges it too,
Unfortunately for Nicolas Cage, he’s when Cage says to Baby-O that the guards
about to be put on a plane with the so- had somehow managed to get “every
called worst of the worst, a plane full of creep and freak in the universe on one
predators. Again, these are lines taken plane”. This is explained away through a
directly from the script. These predators new supermax facility that conveniently
include Oscar nominee John Malkovich, needs to be populated. Now, I didn’t
national treasures Danny Trejo, Dave know much about supermax facilities,
Chapelle and Steve Buscemi, and aside from hearing them as a buzz word
Marsellus Wallas himself, Ving Rhames. on crime procedurals. The Wikipedia
The unfortunate thing about putting definition of a supermax prison facility
every criminal mastermind in the world is as a “control-unit” prison, or a unit
on one plane is that they’re probably within prisons, which represents the
gonna mastermind some stuff. Which most secure levels of custody in the
they do, and lo and behold they hijack prison systems of certain countries with
the plane. Nicolas Cage has a chance the objective of providing long-term,
to escape but decides not to because segregated housing for inmates classified
Baby-O is diabetic and needs his insulin as the highest security risks in the prison
shot, which has been destroyed during system and those who pose an extremely
the hijacking. Nic Cage spends the rest of serious threat to both national and global
the movie being thwarted in his attempts security. In movies, that usually means
to find a needle so Baby-O can have his serial killers (Hannibal Lecter types) or
insulin. Meanwhile, John Cusack is on criminal masterminds (guys who pull off
the ground trying to work out what’s big heists). In reality, the majority of
happening. He gets the hot tip when Nic people who sit in supermax prisons in
Cage attaches a note to Dave Chapelle’s our current climate are people being held
corpse and drops it on an elderly couple. on terrorism charges – in the US federal
Eventually, John Cusack and Nicolas Cage system this includes the Unabomber, the
manage to take down the criminals but Oklahoma City bombers and the Boston
not before crashing a plane into the Las Marathon bomber. Same deal here,
Vegas Strip, presumably killing hundreds except no one has actually committed
of people. Also, at some point in there, any acts of terrorism, they’ve just been
Steve Buscemi finds Jesus. Or something. convicted of planning them. Supermaxprisons also house people considered to to country, and even from state to
be too high profile to be in the general state in the US, but Leena Kurki and
population – like El Chapo in the States, Norval Morris identified four general
or Ivan Milat in Australia. characteristics in a 2001 paper called
The Purposes, Practices and Problems of
I am getting lightly side-tracked by Supermax Prisons. They are: long term
history here, but the blueprint for incarceration; extended powers of prison
supermax prisons is considered to be administration without outside review
Alcatraz, which was constructed in 1934 or usual prisoner grievance systems;
and designed to be inescapable. This is intensive and long solitary confinement
the set-up for a theme, because Alcatraz designed to isolate prisoners from each
was so notoriously inhumane and brutal other and the outside world; and few, if
that Hollywood made several prisoner- any, opportunities to access rehabilitative
sympathetic films about it. But there was programs generally seen in other prisons
big push for supermax prisons in the 80s (for example, substance abuse programs
following the killing of two prison guards. or formal education). Essentially,
So, by the time Con Air rolls around in regardless of whether or not you think the
1997, it’s interesting to see what types carceral system is something that should
of prisoners they’re interested in putting exist, supermax prisons are pretty much
in there – most of them are the kinds designed to isolate and break down the
of dangerous types Hollywood loves humanity of the people in them. So, it’s
as criminals because they make us feel not like… entirely surprising to me that
alright about prison – a serial killer who the people on John Cusack’s crime plane
describes wearing a little girl’s head as a saw an out and took it.
hat, and a serial rapist whose nickname of
‘Johnny 23’ reflects the number of sexual Con Air has a weirdly dual approach to
offences he was convicted for. Theatrical, crime and punishment, where it revels
but also the types of people we hope that in the view of prisons as necessary and
prison keeps away from us. The one that vital, and the notion that good men
I found really interesting was Diamond can be redeemed through staying true
Dog, played by Ving Rhames, who is a to their goodness, while also showing
black power activist who blew up an NRA redemption as somehow able to be
meeting and wrote a New York Times obtained through personal revelation –
best seller in prison. It’s interesting to see Steve “I wore a girl’s head as a hat”
see that even prior to supermax prisons Buscemi wandering free into the Las
being filled with (largely white) domestic Vegas night after realising that perhaps
terrorists, Hollywood was still so scared he needn’t kill (maybe because Jesus
of radical black activists and prison has the whole world in his hands? It’s
philosophers that they would cast them unclear). And I know I said this podcast
as primary villains next to blood soaked was actually about Nicolas Cage in this
serial kilers. film, but I’m giving you all this so you
have the fully muddled backdrop against
Anyway, the features of supermax which truly bizarre performance takes
prisons vary significantly from country place.Now that you have that – let’s talk about Nicholas Cage was when making Con Air.
Nicolas Cage in this movie. He is Southern, By 1997, Cage was about 2 dozen films
he has a mullet, he doesn’t walk deep, with several of them going on to be
anywhere, he swaggers like he’s Naomi either cult classics, like Raising Arizona,
Campbell hitting a Mugler catwalk circa or Oscar favourites, like Moonstruck.
’92. He answers everything with the calm His performances in every film were
confidence of a man who believes in his the notable kind of eccentric, garnering
core that his is the most practical, powerful reviews that hinted at Cage’s talent even
and honourable man in the room. He where the films themselves weren’t
says “please don’t do that”, giving his good. In 1995 he won an Academy Award
opponent the opportunity to walk away for Best Actor for his role as a suicidal
before inevitably gutting them like a alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas. People
fish. It is, as with all Cage performances, tend to view an Oscars win as a launch
totally unhinged, especially when placed pad for serious actors who are looking to
in contrast with the screaming camp that make more serious films. Cage did the
is John Malkovich playing prison genius. opposite. Rather than meaty dramas,
Nicolas Cage was on Saturday Night Live Cage films a three large budget action
in 2012, side by side with Andy Sandberg films back-to-back – The Rock, Con Air
who was doing an impersonation of and Face/Off – all of which are very silly
him – the point of the bit is irrelevant, He received a weird amount of criticism
but at one point Andy Sandberg-as-Cage from colleagues and film writers, who
and Cage-as-Cage say that the primary viewed the move as a cynical cash grab.
qualities of a Nicolas Cage action film are And I think this is partially where public
that “all the dialogue is either whispered perception of Cage started to change.
or screamed” and that “everything
in the movie is on fire”. Everything in If you were on the internet circa 2006, you
Con Air is on fire, and while everyone likely saw the evolution of Nicolas Cage
else is screaming throughout the film, into a meme. It started with a YouTube
Cage barely makes it above a Southern video called Nicolas Cage Losing His Shit,
whisper. Despite being shot, stabbed, which was a super cut of every time a Cage
punched and blown up, Cage literally character had a screaming breakdown – I
never loses his cool. Like… never. At still sometimes mutter “I’m a vampire,
one point he kills a guy who threatens I’m a vampire!” from early Cage film
to expose him as working with the police Vampire’s Kiss in the which features
after finding a rabbit toy he bought for his in the clip. Out of context and hacked
daughter, looks at his bleeding corpse, together, these screaming breakdowns
drawls “why’d you have to touch the seem as though the sum of Cage’s craft
rabbit?”, sits back down in his seat and is just that he is a man who yells on
stares forlornly at his hands, as though film. This was combined with some very
he simply cannot believe that God would publicly odd goings on in his personal life
curse him with the fighting skills of an – like the purchase of several castles, a
ancient warrior. public feud with his tax accountant, and
the return of Mongolian dinosaur bones.
It’s odd to think about where in his career Rather than being rewarded for daringperformances, Cage was lampooned for GQ, Cage says “Cameron Poe was really
obvious acting. a fantasy… growing up as a skinny kid
who wanted to not be bullied… it was a
Now, like I said before – Con Air feels version of myself, of who I wanted to be
deeply strange to watch. I think part at that age.” And if you think about the
of this is because of the strangeness of performance as this totally unflappable
Nic Cage’s performance, but I think at man who is honourable, gets the girl,
least part of it is because I know Nicolas protects his friends and wins every fight,
Cage is a little eccentric. I’ve seen his then actually Nicolas Cage has created
fancy jacket collection and read about the perfect vision of a shy 12 year old’s
the meaningful conversations he has version of cool cinematic tough guy.
with his pet crow, and I’m projecting a
little bit. I’ve decided that the person The point of this podcast was initially
and the acting are the same thing. I was going to be what a weirdo I think Nicolas
reading a piece by David Goodman while Cage is, but actually I’ve really discovered
researching this pod, I was struck by the that I kind of love him? He talks about
phrase “audiences have been trained to acting as a craft without making it sound
believe that visible acting is bad acting”. like wank and by referencing his sources
I’d never really thought about it before the same as any other artist. And if he
– I think because I once had an actor tell wants to use his post-Oscar clout to jump
me that I would never understand how on a fully unhinged crime heist movie,
Heath Ledger died for his craft because then more power to him. Let that mullet
I wasn’t an actor, and decided to write float gently in the breeze.
the entire profession off – but there is
nothing about visible performing that Well, that was my Con Air podcast. I
necessarily renders a performance bad. really watched a lot of Nicolas Cage films
What’s interesting is that Nick Cage thinks for this and one of the things that I don’t
the same thing. There are hundreds of think we talk about enough is the fact
interviews with him name checking early that in the 2004 film National Treasure,
German cinema as references for his there is a full 45 seconds where the full
turns of phrase or use of body language. message of the film is “the real national
He says: treasure is the friends we made along the
way”. And then they find the Scrolls of
“I feel that it’s just stylistic choices, and Alexandria and everyone is like “NEVER
this was obviously a choice to use grand MIND!” If you have a particular favourite
gesture and go bigger. […] I’ve always Cage performance – or just want to talk
thought that acting is […] an art form, about Nicolas Cage’s geodesic dome he
therefore if you look at other art forms built for his crow – talk to me about it
like painting, you have photo-realism, next time you see me at the pub! Peace.
and you have surrealism, you have
abstract … Why can’t you do the same
with film acting?”
When he was breaking the role down forThis episode premiered on 11th August 2021. Episode written by Alex Johnson and produced by Wes Fahey. Theme tune by Wes Fahey. (Soundcloud: lee snipes) Visit us: Web: www.popcultureboner.com Twitter: @popcultureboner Instagram: @popcultureboner
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