Age of Cage

Four Decades of Hollywood Through One Singular Career

by Keith Phipps

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Pub Date Mar 29 2022 | Archive Date Apr 29 2022

Henry Holt & Company | Henry Holt and Co.

Biographies & Memoirs

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Description

An NPR "Books We Love" 2022

“Age of Cage might be the closest we will get to understanding the singular beauty of each of Nic Cage’s always electric performances. You are holding the Rosetta Stone for Cage. Enjoy it.”
—Paul Scheer, actor, writer and host of the How Did This Get Made? and Unspooled podcasts

Icon. Celebrity. Artist. Madman. Genius.

Nicolas Cage is many things, but love him, or laugh at him, there's no denying two things: you’ve seen one of his many films, and you certainly know his name. But who is he, really, and why has his career endured for over forty years, with more than a hundred films, and birthed a million memes?

Age of Cage is a smart, beguiling book about the films of Nicolas Cage and the actor himself, as well as a sharp-eyed examination of the changes that have taken place in Hollywood over the course of his career. Critic and journalist Keith Phipps draws a portrait of the enigmatic icon by looking at—what else?—Cage’s expansive filmography.

As Phipps delights in charting Cage’s films, Age of Cage also chronicles the transformation of film, as Cage’s journey takes him through the world of 1980s comedies (Valley Girl, Peggy Sue Got Married, Moonstruck), to the indie films and blockbuster juggernauts of the 1990s (Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Face/Off, Con Air), through the wild and unpredictable video-on-demand world of today.

Sweeping in scope and intimate in its profile of a fiercely passionate artist, Age of Cage is, like the man himself, surprising, insightful, funny, and one of a kind. So, snap out of it, and enjoy this appreciation of Nicolas Cage, national treasure.

Advance Praise

"In the wildly entertaining Age of Cage, Keith Phipps paints an addictive, anecdote-rich portrait of Hollywood's most eccentric and singular leading man—an actor for whom the only predictable thing is his unpredictability. Through the cracked prism of Nicolas Cage, the author shows us not only what makes Tinseltown's last big-screen iconoclast tick, but also the ways that the movie business has changed (for better and worse) over Cage's unique four-decade career. From Valley Girl to Raising Arizona, Wild at Heart to National Treasure, Phipps proves there’s a Method behind his subject's infamous madness."
—Chris Nashawaty, author of Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story

"Age of Cage is a sharply perceptive and definitive examination of Nicolas Cage, the greatest living actor among those who can seem like the worst. Keith Phipps is not only alert to the contradictions of this fascinating movie star. He makes sense of them. In illuminating his oddball career and singularly eccentric artistic style, he evokes a fertile cultural era. An entertaining, essential cultural history."
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times bestselling author of Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night and Shock Value

"Age of Cage might be the closest we will get to understanding the singular beauty of each of Nic Cage’s always electric performances. Phipps pieces together how those performances were approached and created from an actor who is normally tight lipped. You are holding the Rosetta Stone for Cage. Enjoy it."
—Paul Scheer, actor, writer and host of the How Did This Get Made? podcast