Nicolas Cage has revealed that Christopher Nolan stopped returning his calls after he turned down a role in the director’s 2002 thriller Insomnia, and says the same thing has happened with several other major filmmakers over the years.
Speaking to The New York Times, the Oscar-winning actor was candid about the professional fallout that can come from saying no in Hollywood.
“Most of them, they get their feelings hurt and don’t call you back. It’s happened a million times to me. It’s happened with Christopher Nolan, it’s happened with Woody Allen, it’s happened with Paul Thomas Anderson. They don’t call me back,” he said.
On the Paul Thomas Anderson front, Cage recalled being shown an early short film featuring Philip Baker Hall, with a collaboration apparently in the works that ultimately fell apart.
The Nolan situation was more straightforward, a declined offer on Insomnia that seemingly closed that door for good.
The reason Cage is discussing all of this now is that he has just made a rare exception to what appears to be a pattern of broken directorial relationships.
He stars as legendary football coach and commentator John Madden in the upcoming David O. Russell biopic Madden, premiering on 26 November, alongside Christian Bale, John Mulaney, Kathryn Hahn, Sienna Miller, Shane Gillis and Joel Murray.
The film traces Madden’s life and his role in creating the iconic Madden NFL video game franchise.
What makes the collaboration notable is that Cage had previously turned Russell down too, on a project he described as good but which he declined nonetheless.
Most directors, as he has now made clear, would have moved on permanently.
Russell did not.
“He’s the only director that I ever said no to who actually came back and offered me another movie,” Cage said, adding that the gesture reflected genuine class.
“I didn’t want to say no to him again because I have great respect for his talent. And it was a beautiful experience. I enjoyed working with David. I enjoyed working with Christian, John Mulaney.”
As for Christopher Nolan, it sounds like that particular collaboration remains firmly in the no-call zone.
