Francis Ford Coppola praises his nephew, Nicolas Cage, after seeing his performances in Pig and Dream Scenario

Last Updated on January 12, 2024

While Nicolas Cage is loved by the internet for his many meme material, the actor is equally loved for his genuinely acclaimed acting performances. He has been in some of the most beloved movies of yesteryear, with films like The Rock, Face/Off, Con Air and the National Treasure movies. While Cage has been in movies of varying quality due to his need to pay off some of his notorious expenses, he has been able to maintain his artistic integrity by starring in movies like Pig and the recent Dream Scenario. He is set to be seen in the upcoming Longlegs, which just released a chilling teaser.

It was also those recent movies that had compelled Cage’s famous uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, to give his nephew a shoutout on his Instagram. Coppola posted a picture of Cage’s unrecognizable look as his Dream Scenario character and wrote in the post, “My nephew Nicolas always pulls a wonderful performance out of his hat, even as a little kid he could imitate a computer. His work in Michael Sarnoski’s Pig and his most recent performance in Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario is beyond an old Uncle’s praise.”

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For those who don’t know, Cage was born Nicolas Coppola. Admirably, when he decided to pursue acting, he wanted to do it on his own merit, so he changed his name to Nicolas Cage, named after the comic book character Luke Cage. Cage is a professed comic fan who even named his son Kal-El.

Cage has always been an actor who was up for acting in a performance that was outside the box. He has continuously remarked how influenced he has been by German expressionist cinema, to the point that it was even satirized in the meta film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. So, the fact that he would imitate a computer as a child is of no surprise, given his repertoire.

When you look at the grand image of his career, Cage has been able to explore many facets of his range. In fact, he recently came to the conclusion that he may not have much more to contribute and teased a retirement of sorts. Last month, he told Vanity,  “I may have three or four more movies left in me. I do feel I’ve said what I’ve had to say with cinema…I think I took film performance as far as I could.”