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What is the best Nicolas Cage role of all time?

By YPB Team

From Oscar-winning heartbreak to gloriously unhinged cult classics, Cage's career is unlike any other in Hollywood history. Which role is his magnum opus?

  1. Ben Sanderson — Leaving Las Vegas — ranked #11
    Ben Sanderson — Leaving Las Vegas
    Cage's Oscar-winning 1995 performance as a self-destructive alcoholic who moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death, meeting a prostitute along the way.
  2. Charlie/Donald Kaufman — Adaptation — ranked #22
    Charlie/Donald Kaufman — Adaptation
    The 2002 Charlie Kaufman meta-comedy in which Cage plays both a neurotic screenwriter and his fictional twin brother with astonishing duality.
  3. H.I. McDunnough — Raising Arizona — ranked #33
    H.I. McDunnough — Raising Arizona
    The Coen Brothers' 1987 screwball comedy with Cage as an ex-convict who kidnaps a baby with his police officer wife to start a family.
  4. Ronny Cammareri — Moonstruck — ranked #44
    Ronny Cammareri — Moonstruck
    The 1987 romantic comedy in which Cage plays a one-handed baker who falls passionately in love with his brother's fiancee, played by Cher.
  5. Cameron Poe — Con Air — ranked #55
    Cameron Poe — Con Air
    The 1997 action blockbuster featuring Cage as a wrongly convicted parolee who must survive a prison transport plane hijacked by violent criminals.
  6. Stanley Goodspeed — The Rock — ranked #66
    Stanley Goodspeed — The Rock
    The 1996 Michael Bay action film in which Cage plays an FBI chemical weapons expert storming Alcatraz alongside Sean Connery.
  7. Castor Troy — Face/Off — ranked #77
    Castor Troy — Face/Off
    The 1997 John Woo action-thriller in which Cage plays both a terrorist and an FBI agent after a face-swap operation, going gloriously over the top.
  8. Red Miller — Mandy — ranked #88
    Red Miller — Mandy
    Panos Cosmatos' 2018 psychedelic revenge horror in which Cage gives one of the most unhinged, beloved performances of his career.
  9. John — Pig — ranked #99
    John — Pig
    The 2021 understated drama in which Cage plays a reclusive truffle hunter searching for his stolen pig, delivering a surprisingly moving performance.
  10. Sailor Ripley — Wild at Heart — ranked #1010
    Sailor Ripley — Wild at Heart
    David Lynch's 1990 Palme d'Or-winning crime road movie with Cage as a leather-jacket-clad rebel fleeing a hitman hired by his girlfriend's mother.
  11. Yuri Orlov — Lord of War — ranked #1111
    Yuri Orlov — Lord of War
    The 2005 crime drama in which Cage plays an arms dealer tracing his rise through decades of international conflict and moral compromise.
  12. Benjamin Franklin Gates — National Treasure — ranked #1212
    Benjamin Franklin Gates — National Treasure
    The 2004 Disney adventure film in which Cage plays a conspiracy theorist historian on a madcap quest to steal the Declaration of Independence.
  13. Big Daddy — Kick-Ass — ranked #1313
    Big Daddy — Kick-Ass
    Cage's comedic, Adam West-inspired turn as a Batman-like vigilante training his young daughter Hit-Girl in the 2010 superhero satire.
  14. Peter Loew — Vampire's Kiss — ranked #1414
    Peter Loew — Vampire's Kiss
    The 1988 cult film in which Cage's unrestrained, eccentric performance as a publishing executive who believes he's becoming a vampire became legendary.
  15. Himself — The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent — ranked #1515
    Himself — The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
    The 2022 meta-comedy in which Cage plays a fictional version of himself, hired by a superfan who turns out to be a criminal mastermind.
#movies#actors#tv shows#action#nicolas cage

Comments

Fifteen Cage roles sit here, and the Academy gave him Best Actor for the screenwriter who moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death: https://youpick.best/articles/las-vegas-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team·3 days ago·
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