Good actor or bad? Hilarious Internet meme or misunderstood thespian in on the joke? Car connoisseur or self-indulgent consumerist? Explore all that and more over between April 22 and April 24, 2022. Featuring eight screenings of some of his best films (including Moonstruck, Face/Off, National Treasure, Adaptation, and Pig), and additional Nicolas Cage themed events between films, this is one weekend you’ll be saying, “You don’t say?” to.
Caged In: A Nicolas Cage Film Festival is an homage to an actor whose career has spanned four decades and countless iconic characters. His repertoire is as varied as one can get. What will his next movie reveal?
EVENTS
Cornerstone Panel
Join a panel of film experts and Nicolas Cage enthusiasts for an in-depth discussion about his career.
Village Treasure: Store of Secrets
Starting with a clue at the WHBPAC, search the village of Westhampton Beach for historical hints – treasure awaits the first team to put it all together!
Wild at Heart
Immerse yourself in the ultimate Nicolas Cage acting experience – run some of his most famous lines or improv a Cage-esque scene on our world-class stage under the expert eye of our teaching artist.
You Don’t Say: Memes in the Age of Cage
Discuss with our Internet experts the way memes influence the cultural zeitgeist.
FILMS
Pig
Living alone in the Oregon wilderness, a truffle hunter returns to Portland to find the person who stole his beloved pig.
“A slow-burn of a story about a man searching for his stolen prize pig, this character study hands its star a chance to tone things down” Rolling Stone
Moonstruck
No sooner does Italian-American widow Loretta (Cher) accept a marriage proposal from her doltish boyfriend, Johnny (Danny Aiello), than she finds herself falling for his younger brother, Ronny (Nicolas Cage). She tries to resist, but Ronny lost his hand in an accident he blames on his brother, and has no scruples about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls deeper in love, she comes to learn that she’s not the only one in her family with a secret romance.
“An American movie with foreign-film sensibilities, Moonstruck’s depths come from their perfect balance of writing and direction.” Los Angeles Times
Face/Off
Obsessed with bringing terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) to justice, FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) tracks down Troy, who has boarded a plane in Los Angeles. After the plane crashes and Troy is severely injured, possibly dead, Archer undergoes surgery to remove his face and replace it with Troy’s. As Archer tries to use his disguise to elicit information about a bomb from Troy’s brother, Troy awakes from a coma and forces the doctor who performed the surgery to give him Archer’s face.
“In Face/Off, Woo sweeps us away again, into a world of wild action, heroism, villainy and double faces that turn deadly.” Chicago Tribune
Adaptation
Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald (Nicolas Cage). While struggling to adapt “The Orchid Thief,” by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep), Kaufman’s life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean’s book, become strangely intertwined as each one’s search for passion collides with the others’.
“Just go see it. Immediately. Today. There are far too few films that make one giddy and excited about the art of making movies. Adaptation is one of them, and it is for the ages.” MovieFreak.com
National Treasure
Historian and code-breaker Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) has been searching his whole life for a rumored treasure dating back to the creation of the United States. Joining an expedition led by fellow treasure hunter Ian Howe (Sean Bean), Gates finds an ice-locked Colonial ship in the Arctic Circle that contains a clue linking the treasure to the Declaration of Independence. But when Howe betrays him, Gates has to race to get to the document ahead of his so-called colleague.
“It is a definitely guilty pleasure, and 90 percent of the reason why can be summed up in two words: Nicolas Cage.” Salon.com
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
When a long-missing page from the diary of assassin John Wilkes Booth suddenly resurfaces, it implicates the great-great grandfather of treasure hunter Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) as a conspirator in Lincoln’s death. Ben’s globetrotting quest to prove his ancestor’s innocence leads him to a closely guarded book containing the nation’s deepest secrets.
“Even when its credibility is stretched thin, it coasts through on charm…” From the Front Row
G-Force
Armed with the latest high-tech spy gear, a guinea pig named Darwin (Sam Rockwell) and his team of specially trained rodents are often the last line of defense against chaos and destruction. But when the government shuts them down and ships them off to a pet shop, Darwin and his gang will have to find a way to break out and prevent a mad billionaire (Bill Nighy) from taking over the world.
“’It’s an octave or two higher than my normal voice — this way I don’t resort to profanity or yelling,’ Cage says of the voice he used for Speckles The Mole.” MTV.com
For more info, visit www.whbpac.org
