The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a 2022 American action comedy film directed by Tom Gormican, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kevin Etten. The film stars Nicolas Cage as a fictionalised version of himself, along with a supporting cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tiffany Haddish. Filming began in Croatia on October 5, 2020. The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 12, 2022, and was released in the United States on April 22, 2022, by Lionsgate. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances and chemistry of Cage and Pascal, but underperformed at the box office, grossing $28 million against its $30 million budget.
==Plot==
Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage is struggling with his career after being passed over for several major film roles and is constantly pestered and tormented by "Nicky", who appears to him as his younger (and more successful) self. His relationship with his ex-wife Olivia and daughter Addy is also marred by years of emotional neglect. Following an embarrassing and humiliating event at Addy's birthday party and losing a key film role, Cage plans to retire from acting. He decides to accept a vague offer of $1 million from his agent Richard Fink that involves going to Majorca to meet billionaire playboy Javi Gutierrez and to be the guest of honor at his birthday.
Upon meeting Javi, Cage is initially annoyed by his neediness and insistence that they create an improvisational movie based on a script he wrote, but is soon inspired by Javi's determination, and the two of them quickly bond over their surprisingly shared love of films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Paddington 2 (the latter of which Cage watches for the first time with Javi). Soon after, Cage is confronted by CIA agents Vivian and Martin. They suspect that Javi, who they claim made his fortune through arms dealing, is behind the kidnapping of Maria, the daughter of an anti-crime politician, with the hope that he will drop out of an upcoming election. Despite his insistence otherwise, Cage decides to help the CIA with the mission.
After successfully rigging the cameras in Javi's compound, Cage attends a party where he announces his collaboration with Javi on a new movie, as an excuse to stay on the compound long enough to find Maria. After a misadventure involving LSD, Cage discovers that Javi keeps a shrine room dedicated to all of his movies, including a wax figure of his character Castor Troy from the film Face/Off, complete with identical golden guns. Cage finds it difficult to betray Javi, but Vivian convinces him to work the kidnapping into their script so that he could potentially reveal where Maria is.
Cage explains his new idea to Javi, who believes that Cage is creatively bankrupt, and possibly has issues he needs to work out. Javi brings Olivia and Addy to his villa from Los Angeles; they are frightened and angered over what is happening. Cage tries to make amends with them, but they reject his appeal and accuse him of prioritizing his film career over his family. Javi privately goes to meet with his cousin Lucas, who is revealed to be the true arms dealer and the one who kidnapped Maria. Lucas warns him that Cage is working with the CIA and pressures him to kill Cage, or else Lucas will kill Javi. Cage begins to rethink his friendship.
Cage and Javi have a stand-off with each other, but neither can bring themselves to kill the other. Lucas sends his men after both of them, and they race back to the house to discover that Addy has been kidnapped. Cage takes Javi, Olivia and Javi's assistant Gabriela to the CIA safe house, only for the house to have been compromised; Martin has been killed, while Vivian sacrifices herself to kill Lucas's men before they can ambush the group. With Javi's help, Cage and Olivia pose as a reclusive criminal couple to get close to Lucas. They manage to locate Addy and Maria but are found out. However, Cage, Addy, Maria and Olivia escape while Javi and Gabriela stay behind to distract Lucas.
Cage, Addy, Olivia and Maria race to the American embassy with Lucas still in pursuit. Upon arrival, Lucas holds Cage at gunpoint, but Addy tosses him a knife which Cage uses to kill himtransitioning into the movie that Cage and Javi completed, presumably based on their adventure. Cage is applauded for his new film and congratulates Javi before going home with his family to watch Paddington 2, now with a better relationship.
==Cast==
* Nicolas Cage as a fictionalized version of himself.
** Cage also portrays Nicky Cage (credited by Cage's birth name Nicolas Kim Coppola), a figment of Cage's imagination, seen as a younger version of himself. The character is based on the actor's infamous appearance on the talk show Wogan while promoting Wild at Heart.
* Pedro Pascal as Javi Gutierrez, a billionaire and Cage super-fan who pays Cage $1 million to appear at his birthday party.
* Sharon Horgan as Olivia Henson, Cage's ex-wife.
* Tiffany Haddish as Vivian, a CIA agent and Martin's partner.
* Ike Barinholtz as Martin, a CIA agent and Vivian's partner.
* Alessandra Mastronardi as Gabriela
* Jacob Scipio as Carlos
* Neil Patrick Harris as Richard Fink, Cage's agent.
* Lily Sheen as Addy Cage, Cage's daughter.
* Paco León as Lucas Gutierrez, Javi's cousin.
* David Gordon Green as himself
* Demi Moore as "Olivia Cage", Cage's in-movie fictional ex-wife.
* Anna MacDonald as "Addy Cage", Cage's in-movie fictional daughter.
* Joanna Bobin as Cheryl, Cage's therapist
==Production==
In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, actor Nicolas Cage plays a fictionalised version of himself who he said bears little resemblance to his real offscreen personality. Cage originally turned down the role "three or four times" but changed his mind after writer-director Tom Gormican wrote him a personal letter. On November 15, 2019, Lionsgate acquired the production rights. In August 2020, Pedro Pascal entered negotations to star. In September 2020, Sharon Horgan and Tiffany Haddish joined the cast, with Lily Sheen being added in October. In November 2020, Neil Patrick Harris joined the cast of the film.
Principal photography began on October 5 in areas around Croatia, including the city of Dubrovnik.The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent starring Nicolas Cage starts filming in Croatia Mark Isham composed the musical score.
==Release==
In the United States, the film was theatrically released on April 22, 2022. In New Zealand, it was released on April 17. It was originally set to be released on March 19, 2021. It premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 12, 2022.
==Reception==
===Box office===
, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent has grossed $20.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $8.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $28.4 million.
In United States and Canada, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was released alongside The Bad Guys and The Northman, and was projected to gross $5–10 million from 3,036 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.9 million on its first day, including $835,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $7.1 million, finishing fifth at the box office. Deadline Hollywood noted that The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and The Northman were targeting the same demographic, which impacted their debuts. Deadline also mentioned the film's low awareness level at the time of its release and Cage's absence on social media as reasons the film did not perform better. Men made up 59% of the audience during its opening, with those in the age range of 18–34 comprising 57% of ticket sales. The film made $3.9 million in its second weekend, finishing sixth, $1.6 million in its third, finishing eighth, and $1.1 million in its fourth, finishing tenth. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its fifth weekend with $754,976.
===Critical response===
 Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 82% positive score, with 66% saying they would definitely recommend it.
==References== 
==External links== 
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Category:2022 films
Category:2022 action comedy films
Category:2022 black comedy films
Category:2022 crime films
Category:2022 comedy films
Category:2020s crime comedy films
Category:American films
Category:American action comedy films
Category:American black comedy films
Category:American crime comedy films
Category:Cultural depictions of actors
Category:2020s English-language films
Category:Films about actors
Category:Films about the Central Intelligence Agency
Category:Films about Mexican drug cartels
Category:Films impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
Category:Films produced by Nicolas Cage
Category:Films scored by Mark Isham
Category:Films shot in Croatia
Category:Lionsgate films
Category:Self-reflexive films
Category:Rated R
Category:Action
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