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Nicolas Cage is giving us a peek into his incredibly creative mind, revealing his favorite films and how they inspired his Oscar-winning career. His list of favorite movies is as eclectic and unique Cage’s roles in recent years, and there’s a good chance you haven’t seen at least five or six of them. It should be no surprise that his favorite films are a broad cross-section of cinema itself; his favorite films include mainstream classics and hidden gems from overseas
Cage has been asked to name his favorite films on a number of occasions, and he is always willing to name them and discuss their effect on him. In 2018, in an interview Cage gave Rotten Tomatoes, he revealed his favorite 13 films, which are included below. In November 2022, during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session with Lionsgate, he revealed a 14th film, which he claims is one of two films he never gets tired of watching. We’ve included that film in this list as well.
The great Face/Off actor didn’t rank his favorite movies by preference, but we did, so you can review his choices for yourself.
15/15 Honorary Mention: Pig (2021)
While Cage is too humble to call Pig one of his favorite movies of all time, he has been vocal about it having his favorite of Cage’s own performances. “Pig is my favorite performance of mine,” Cage said when expressing his three favorite films throughout his career (which also includes the masterpieces Leaving Las Vegas and Bringing Out the Dead). The film is arguably better than several of the 14 movies Cage has picked as his most beloved, but it’s more of an honorary mention here.
14/15 War of the Gargantuas (1966)
This is one of Cage’s guilty pleasure films, as the actor admits to seeing it as a kid and having a nostalgic, personal connection to it. Produced by Toho, the Japanese studio behind the Godzilla films, War of the Gargantuas is another of their “man in suit” monster films, a term coined by fans to describe the creatures, which were portrayed by actors in costume suits. The film may not be the best film in the genre, but it boasts fantastic effects, insane model-smashing creature action, and even an appearance by American actor Russ Tamblyn (who would later be immortalized by David Lynch in Twin Peaks).
The film found an audience in America through extensive airings on television throughout the 1970s. In fact, during a montage played at the 2012 Academy Awards, actor Brad Pitt said it was the first film he remembers watching, and it taught him the power of storytelling in film, a view he shares with Cage. “It was just something that transported me,” Cage said of the film. “I can lose myself in that movie.”
13/15 Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
Federico Fellini’s psychedelic fantasy isn’t for all tastes, but the film is a unique piece of cinema, with striking imagery that connects on an emotional level that today’s CGI visuals cannot touch. Juliet of the Spirits is a tale of a lonely married woman dealing with a cheating spouse, who resorts to dabbling in the spirit world for direction.
While many cinephiles celebrate it as one of Fellini’s best films, the surreal visions in the film turn off many viewers. Cage says that after seeing this as a child, it gave him nightmares. It’s interesting that Cage lists this among his favorite films considering this. It reveals that the power of film is not in its ability to entertain, but in its ability to affect us on an emotional level.
12/15 The Nutty Professor (1963)
Jerry Lewis has inspired generations of comedic actors with his slapstick comedy, and Cage is a self-professed fan, particularly of his 1963 classic The Nutty Professor. That film, which also starred Stella Stevens, featured Lewis as a socially awkward college chemistry professor who creates a potion that turns him into a suave nightclub singer named Buddy Love, a character Cage admits inspired some of his performances. The comedic twist on the Jekyll and Hyde tale isn’t the best of the Lewis comedies, but it was easily his most popular.
Cage has also noted his admiration for Lewis is rooted in the comedian’s practice of overseeing all aspects of production. Lewis wrote, directed, and edited many of his solo comedies, and even pioneered the use of video assist (also known as the “Video Village”), in which a video camera mounted to a movie camera captured the scene being filmed, and allowed for immediate playback for the director to review.
11/15 Enter the Dragon (1973)
Bruce Lee’s kung-fu classic is noted by Cage because it features the legend at his most iconic, “a superhero come to life,” as he described him. Some of Lee’s other films may arguably feature better fight scenes, but Enter the Dragon is a better all-around film.
Lee enters a fighting tournament as cover to investigate an opium dealer, but the plot is secondary to the fantastic action, and Lee is supported by character actors John Saxon and Jim Kelly in one of the defining films of the genre. Cage admitted he could never mimic Lee’s physicality, but Lee’s epic stare downs have often inspired his reaction shots in films.
10/15 Beauty and the Beast (1946)
An exquisitely beautiful film, Jean Cocteau’s 1946 French-language version of the classic tale is certainly not for children. Beauty and the Beast‘s visuals are stunning, but far too dark for very young children. However, you can see elements that inspired Disney for their animated classic. Jean Marais’ portrayal of Beast is fantastic, and the makeup job is unbelievable. Cage said he loved Marais’ portrayal so much, he tried to incorporate his gravely voice into his Moonstruck character of Ronny Cammareri, but director Norman Jewison made him drop it.
9/15 A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Still disturbing after all these years, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange is described by Cage as “the ultimate film for an adolescent to see.” Psychologists would likely disagree, but there’s no denying the film’s social commentary on violence in civilized society has gained new relevance in recent years. Cage said he was so affected by Malcolm McDowell’s performance as Alex that he tried to go to school with the character’s signature eyelash on one eye, until his father stopped him.
8/15 East of Eden (1955)
Cage claims that James Dean’s performance in East of Eden inspired him to pursue acting, and it’s easy to see why. Director Elia Kazan’s adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel is a perfect vehicle for Dean, who plays a troubled young man trying to find purpose after discovering his estranged mother.
When Dean’s character has a breakdown near the end of the film, the scene had a profound effect on a young Nic Cage. “That nervous breakdown affected me more than anything else, and that’s what made me want to become a film actor,” he said.
7/15 The 400 Blows (1959)
Director François Truffaut’s film about a neglected French boy who becomes a juvenile delinquent is both delightful and heartbreaking, thanks to a superb performance from young actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, who would go on to have a long career in French cinema. Cage said he saw The 400 Blows when he was young, and instantly connected to the lead character.
The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and American audiences may recognize Truffaut from one of his few acting roles, as Lacombe the Frenchman in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Spielberg, a fan of Truffaut’s films, asked him to appear in the movie.
6/15 Pinocchio (1940)
There may be debate over which of Disney’s early animated classics is its best, but you cannot fault Cage for picking Pinocchio. It’s a film that has been remade and re-imagined many times, yet has never been equaled or surpassed.
Based on Carlo Collodi’s classic book, the animated film was Disney’s follow-up to Snow White, and surpassed it in many ways, which is why Cage (and many others) consider it his best film. “I think that it’s such a perfectly put-together film,” Cage said. “It has such a beautiful message in it…and of course it’s beautifully drawn.”
5/15 Once Upon a Time in the West (1969)
Cage discovered Sergio Leone’s definitive spaghetti western from airings on television. Like most viewers, he was struck by the larger-than-life characters in Once Upon a Time in the West and what he described as Leone’s “gorgeous” cinematic style. “I was blown away by the power in the stillness and silence of Charles Bronson as Harmonica,” Cage said. “The showdown between Henry Fonda, who is outstanding as a bad guy, and Bronson was one of the most powerful moments I’ve ever experienced in cinema.”
4/15 Spirited Away (2001)
Hayao Miyazaki’s animated masterpiece is one of two films Nicolas Cage says he can watch multiple times without growing tired of it. Spirited Away and the rest of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli classics remain undiscovered by so many American moviegoers, although a new generation of fans will likely be created thanks to the HBO Max “hub” of Studio Ghibli films available to stream. This 2001 Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature follows a young girl who is taken to a fantasy world populated with strange spirits, evil demons, and a wicked sorceress.
3/15 Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apocalypse Now is the other film Cage says he could watch endlessly and not tire of it. It helps that his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, directed the classic film, but regardless, Apocalypse Now is a favorite of most film fans, and deservedly so. Coppola’s tale of a U.S. Army captain (Martin Sheen) sent on a mission to assassinate a renegade colonel (Marlon Brando) in the jungles of Vietnam is a surreal viewing experience, with an outstanding cast. It’s always worth watching, if for no other reason, it nearly killed Martin Sheen by causing a heart attack.
Cage’s first time seeing the film is an incredible story on its own: He attended a screening his uncle held for the cast, including Brando and Dennis Hopper, where they all saw it for the first time. Cage said he was about 13 years old, and remembers, “I was blown away by the scope of the film. I don’t think there really was a movie like that before with the helicopter sequences, and with Brando’s performance with Dennis Hopper […] he was really going off the rails in that.” Coppola famously released a director’s cut of Apocalypse Now in 2001, Apocalypse Now Redux, which adds nearly an hour of new footage he never wanted to remove initially.
2/15 The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Some may insist it is overrated, but The Wizard of Oz deserves every accolade. It’s a near-perfect film, and its charm is undeniable. Based on the classic books by L. Frank Baum, the film had a troubled production, and yet, somehow, a classic film emerged from the chaos, that still entertains young and old to this day. The film is so iconic, even its urban legends and behind-the-scenes controversies have become legendary.
While Cage loves the film, he also admits that, as a child, the film gave him nightmares, saying the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) “was always haunting me,” even while he says the movie was “a huge impact film in my childhood.”
1/15 Citizen Kane (1941)
Many movie fans name Citizen Kane as the greatest picture ever made simply because that’s the consensus among critics, but Nic Cage’s love for the film dates to his youth, when his father would take him to see classic movies at a local art house theater. “I was watching Citizen Kane when I was like eight years old…that is the best movie ever made. Nothing really ever comes close to it.”
Unofficially based on the life of media magnate William Randolph Hearst, Citizen Kane is a phenomenal technical and acting achievement. The film is a masterclass on the art of filmmaking, featuring techniques that had never been put to film, including the use of deep focus. Amazingly, of the nine Academy Awards it was nominated for, it only won one (Best Original Screenplay), and lost most of the categories (including Best Picture) to How Green Was My Valley.
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