We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Nicolas Cage is a great actor. You only need to go back as far as this past summer to see an example of his brilliance — this is a reminder for you to watch Pig as soon as possible — and it looks like he’s leaning into the meme a bit. Lionsgate finally dropped the trailer for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a meta-exercise where Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage, an actor hired by the CIA to do a riff on the 1,001 Nights in order to infiltrate a criminal and super-fan’s birthday party. Let’s face it: This could either be the next JCVD or Last Action Hero (which are great movies in their own right) or it could just be the manifestation of a thousand Reddit shitposts.
Peep it:
Here’s a synopsis that, as you might expect, leans pretty hard into the meta aspects of the film’s story:
“Nicolas Cage stars as… Nick Cage in the action-comedy ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.’ Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal). Things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones. With a career built for this very moment, the seminal award-winning actor must take on the role of a lifetime: Nick Cage.”
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent hits theaters on April 22. If you start in January, you might be able to watch every single Cage film before you go see Massive Talent. Do it! You’ll find out the guy’s both in on the joke and deserves much better than he gets from the ironists.