Director Lorcan Finnegan’s The Surfer, starring Nicolas Cage at his crazy best, is now in cinemas
Nicolas Cage delivered a show-stopping improvised singing performance in his latest head-spinning thriller, which has just hit the big screens.
The intense drama, The Surfer, directed by Lorcan Finnegan, premieres today (Friday, 9th May) and features Cage as an unnamed protagonist who heads back to his Australian roots to reclaim his childhood abode.
In the movie, Cage’s character and his son (portrayed by Finn Little) face off against a hostile local crew, headed by Scally (Julian McMahon), who block their access to the surf.
Forced to bide his time in his car while waiting for news from his estate agent, Cage’s surfer spirals into turmoil as Scally and his gang mercilessly harass him.
During a pivotal moment of crisis for the surfer, Cage’s talent for ad-libbing came to the fore, reports the Express.
In an interview with Express Online, director Finnegan shared: “In the script process he just had tweaks to his dialogue, how he’d like to say certain things or reverse information around or delete bits. So that was all fine.
“Once we got shooting, in terms of improvisation… he’s very prepared.
“Once we got on set, Nic never needed his script ever. He knew all his dialogue. Which allowed room for trying different things.”
Cage, renowned for his unwavering commitment to his craft, has enjoyed a renaissance with a string of similarly intense and creative thrillers.
Over the past decade, he has consistently pushed his limits in films such as Mandy, Color Out of Space, Pig, and Longlegs.
However, The Surfer propels the star into uncharted territory of chaos with Finnegan’s Franz Kafka-inspired portrayal of a descent into savagery and toxic masculinity fuelled by substances and relentless sunshine.
The director continued: “There’s a scene where he’s walking around the car park with no shoes on, blood on his foot and totally dehydrated and delirious.
“I think in the script it said he’s asking people, ‘Have you seen my broker?’ and mumbling incoherently and that was it.
“Once we were shooting it we shot on an 8mm lens, it was very wide, you could see everything. All the crew and everything had to hide inside the cars in the car park.”
Recalling Cage’s spontaneous creativity, Finnegan added: “And he just went off on one! Talking about wanting to make his wife dinner on the balcony and cook her clams with pasta.
“And that went on for longer than what’s in the movie. He started singing Jump Around by House of Pain and started jumping around with the three young kids.
“That didn’t make the cut, but it was great. It will be on the Blu-Ray bonus stuff.”
Regrettably, film enthusiasts won’t get to witness Cage’s rendition of the classic ’90s track, but they can look forward to numerous other mind-bending moments in this one-of-a-kind thriller.
Source: Mirror
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