Nicolas Cage has revealed that he asked his uncle, director Francis Ford Coppola, for a role in The Godfather: Part III but was rejected.
Speaking in The Hollywood Reporter’s actor roundtable, alongside Andrew Garfield, Jonathan Majors, Peter Dinklage and Simon Rex, Cage recalled the story when asked about a film they’d love to make but didn’t think anyone would let them.
“This is a very embarrassing answer to your question, OK, because it involves family,” Cage said. “So Uncle was doing Godfather III and I said, ‘I really think I ought to be in your movie, Uncle. I really think it’s a good idea if you would cast me. I think I could play this part.’
“He was going to cast Andy Garcia, and I said, ‘But I just see myself more as James Caan’s son, and he’s playing Sonny’s son. He’s not playing Michael’s son. He’s Sonny’s son. I just feel a little more James Caan.’ It just wasn’t going to happen. Nope, not going to happen. So that was a movie I didn’t get let in that I really wanted to be in. There.”
Released in 1990, The Godfather: Part III is the final instalment in the Godfather trilogy, starring Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Bridget Fonda and Sofia Coppola.
While it was nominated for seven Academy Awards – including Best Picture – it’s widely considered the worst in the trilogy, sitting at 68 per cent on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.
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Cage is set to play a fictionalised version of himself in the upcoming film The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, alongside Pedro Pascal and Tiffany Haddish. The film is scheduled to be released in cinemas on April 22, 2022.
A synopsis reads: “The fictionalised version of Cage must accept a $1million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pascal). Things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Haddish) and forced to live up to his own legend, channelling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones.
“With a career built for this very moment, the seminal award-winning actor must take on the role of a lifetime: Nick Cage.”
Cage was also recently cast as Dracula in Renfield, a new horror film starring Nicholas Hoult as the vampire’s notorious henchman.