Nicolas Cage reveals inspirations behind ‘The Surfer' and his unhinged characters

San Francisco Chronicle​

13-05-2025

Nicolas Cage is riding the wave.
' The Surfer ' is the latest film in a late-career surge of excellence for the 61-year-old actor, who just a couple of years ago was considering retirement.
'I'm feeling very good about the work, perhaps more than I was even in the '90s,' Cage told the Chronicle in a video interview from his home in Los Angeles on the eve of his new movie's release. 'There are scripts coming to me now from young filmmakers that seem a lot more confident and brave, who take risks. That's always appealing because you might catch lightning in a bottle.'
Set in Australia, Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan's 'The Surfer' has Cage's character hoping to close on the purchase of his childhood home once owned by his grandfather that overlooks his favorite surfing spot. But when he tries to catch a wave, he is thwarted by a tough surfer gang, leading to some very desperate actions.
It follows 2021's 'Pig,' 2022's ' The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,' 2023's ' Sympathy for the Devil ' and ' Dream Scenario ' and last year's ' Longlegs,' among others as vehicles for Cage's unique unhinged style.
Next week, the former San Francisco resident and nephew of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola begins shooting David O. Russell's 'Madden,' in which Cage, in a bizarre bit of casting, plays Bay Area football and broadcasting legend John Madden.
Q: One of your most distinctive early performances was in 'Wild at Heart' (1990), directed by David Lynch, who died in January. What did you learn from him?
A: Obviously, I was saddened by his passing, but I was happy with the en masse response recognizing his contribution to cinema and what he cultivated and what he was able to accomplish with the power of a visual image. His surrealism was never weird for weird's sake; it was always in form, not unlike a dream that made you feel something after the movie was over and came back to you.
His maestro was Federico Fellini, and I think David was the American Fellini, in that both artists were able to do something with cinema that nobody else really had mastered.
He taught me the importance of enjoyment, of fun. I was one of these method actors who was so serious. And I remember I said to David, 'Is it OK if I have fun?' He said, 'Nic, not only is it OK, it's necessary.' That was like an anchor came off me, it was that kind of freedom.
After the premiere, I screamed at him, 'You're the greatest!'
Q: 'The Surfer' features one of your most desperate characters, but he is a man with a lot of pain. What was your inspiration for the role?
A: 'The Swimmer' (1968) with Burt Lancaster for me was the model — both Lancaster's performance and John Cheever's short story. I felt that I had enough life experience to play it authentically and to inform the character with genuine emotions and frustrations.
I also like the idea of a character who is not going to stop. There was an old Russian short story called 'The Overcoat.' This guy's just had this beautiful coat made, he doesn't have a lot of money, and then someone steals it and he goes on a tear to try to get it back.
Q: What determines how far you go with a character? Is there a point where you pull back, or do you just keep going forward?
A: The body and the mind and the heart tell me when it's not real or doesn't feel authentic. I am my own instrument, and I can tell when I'm out of tune or when I'm in tune going for something that feels right. I've always been an advocate of 'it's OK to go bigger' as long as it's informed with genuine emotional content and the audience will connect with it.
You have many options on the palette and it's music, and this is a character and a story and an unusual narrative that allows me and my instrument to take it up a notch right up against the edge and see what happens.
Q: Was there a specific scene in 'The Surfer' that for you was the key to your performance?
A: One is when the Surfer goes back down to the beach and he says, 'Dude, that's my board, and I want it back,' and I added the 'dude' because that's a very California thing. You don't explain why he wants it back, that's not important. What's important is he's gonna get his board back. I like that.
Q: You said in 2023 that you were close to retirement. It seems like you're on such a roll right now, have you reconsidered?
A: I think what I was talking about was trying a different format, that I had done a lot of movies and that I wanted to try something else. I'm 61 and I've made I don't know how many movies, and at a certain point you have to find ways to stay interested. Maybe that means try a new format such as television or the stage, some other way to get the body moving again and get reinvigorated.
Q: Do you ever see yourself moving back to San Francisco?
A: I have fantasies about it. Sometimes I look at my old homes there and think, 'God, that was a nice time.'
I remember my Uncle Francis' house on Broadway, thinking, 'How big was that house?' When I was in that house, I was maybe 3-feet tall. It seemed cavernous and Old World and Gold Rush, from another time.
It's like how the Surfer feels about the house on the cliffs and his grandfather. I feel like that about San Francisco and my uncle's old house.