Between Worlds director gives tips on how to make a Nicolas Cage movie

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

Saban Films gave writer/director Maria Pulera's film BETWEEN WORLDS a theatrical and VOD release last Friday. I haven't had a chance to check the film out yet, but I did find a BETWEEN WORLDS-related article posted on ComingSoon.net by Max Evry to be very interesting. In this article, Pulera offered 9 pieces of advice on how to direct the film's star Nicolas Cage – who happens to be one of the most fascinating actors working today.

Here are those 9 tips and a little bit of what Pulera had to say about each one.

1. Let Cage be Cage.

…let him be Nicolas Cage, you know? He has an amazing creative energy. I think he’s a very seasoned professional and deserves that kind of allowance."

2. Allow Cage freedom to improv crazy sh*t.

He’s very creative in the different things he can come up with. We did a lot of improvisation during rehearsal time. He’s just brilliant off the cuff."

3. Your producer may not like what Cage is doing. Ignore them.

You can’t control it. You don’t try to stop it. That kind of creative freedom within a project where the energy has a certain tone to it is amazing. I like it. Maybe my producer might not like it as much, but hey, I love it."

4. Let Nicolas Cage read a book by Nicolas Cage during a sex scene.

…it was his idea. When I talked to my producers, I said, 'Oh, by the way, Nicolas has written this book. He’s reading this during the sex scene,' my producer thought it was a big joke, so he came over like, 'Okay, prank’s up.' And I’m like, 'No, no, for real. For real.'"

5. Keep other non-Cage actors as grounded as possible.

So he does a lot of very fun stuff, and because the other actors stay really into character on a very grounded level it works really well."

6. Embrace FULL CAGE.

The definition of "Full Cage" has a full spectrum here. We got a unique little part on that spectrum because his character, in the outrageousness that he did it, was very unique. It’s like a wackiness, you know? It’s not necessarily anything extreme other than just extreme weird, which was awesome."

7. There's no such thing as too much Cage.

No, nothing is too far. No. I initially had an assembly editor who assembled the film in a very literal way and took out all the fun parts of Nicolas Cage and I was horrified. I was so upset."

8. Hire an editor that understands Cage.

After the assembly I said, I’ve got to bring in my editor, Tim Silano. He's done a lot of Cage movies. …he knew what I wanted and he loves all the same things about Mr. Cage that I do."

9. Put Nicolas Cage in every movie.

I’d love to put Nicolas Cage in every single movie, you know? I think he’s awesome. …I think he’s one of the world’s best actors."

Head over to the ComingSoon article if you'd like to read Pulera's full quote on each piece of advice.

Co-starring Franka Potente, Penelope Mitchell, Hopper Penn, and Lydia Hearst, BETWEEN WORLDS tells the story of 

Joe, a down-on-his-luck truck driver haunted by the memory of his deceased wife and child. He meets Julie, a spiritually gifted woman who enlists Joe in a desperate effort to find the lost soul of her comatose daughter, Billie. But the spirit of Joe’s dead wife Mary proves stronger, possessing the young woman’s body and determined to settle her unfinished business with the living.

After reading what Pulera had to say about working with Cage, I'm really looking forward to watching BETWEEN WORLDS as soon as possible.

The movie is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 26th. If you would like to pre-order a copy, you can do so at THIS LINK.