Nicolas Cage on Making The Surfer ‘A Descent Into Hell and Madness’ | Interview
Nicolas Cage has always had a knack for finding the humanity in his characters, even in the most ridiculous of circumstances. Cage spoke about the human reliability in his new film The Surfer, which sees him go on a wild descent as he takes on an Australian surfer cult in the psychological thriller. Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions will release The Surfer in theaters nationwide on May 2, 2025
“In the psychological thriller directed by Lorcan Finnegan, a man returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son. But his desire to hit the waves is thwarted by a group of locals whose mantra is ‘don’t live here, don’t surf here.’ Humiliated and angry, the man is drawn into a conflict that keeps rising in concert with the punishing heat of the summer and pushes him to his breaking point,” says the synopsis for The Surfer starring Nicolas Cage.
The Surfer is this really trippy homage to Australian New Wave and Ozploitation movies of the seventies. I know you’re a huge film buff. So what was it about that genre that really appealed to your sensibilities?
Nicolas Cage: Well, I would say that I went to the cinema when I was 10, 11, 12, 13 in the seventies, and saw many of Nicolas Roeg’s movies [like] Walkabout, Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock [and] The Last Wave. Nic Roeg and Peter Weir had a big influence on me, and I liked the storytelling and the style.
I also liked the location. So this movie all takes place on a beach and in a parking lot in Australia, and I thought that would be a great place to make a movie.
It’s a wonderful juxtaposition seeing how gorgeous the beach is and then how increasingly disheveled and bloodied your character becomes over time. What did you like most about getting to chart that character progression physically? Because it really mirrors his mental state. You get more beat up as he is coming undone.
It was a distinction that I wanted to really play in the beginning, that he was somewhat together. He seemed like a fairly normal individual, and then slowly he becomes degraded and humiliated, and everything begins to leave him. His son, his watch, his wallet, his surfboard, his car. I wanted it to be a descent into hell and madness and chaos, but not anything reminiscent to the person we first meet. So I wanted you to go on this ride with me and see the character devolve.
To me, the movie and the story speak from a place of trying to fill a hole in your heart. Fill a gap with a material thing or certain people. Well, no one can fix anything for you, and a house can’t fix it for you. I think that’s highly relatable and something that people can see in their own lives. Maybe not to that extreme place or level, but it’s a human condition story that people can respond to.
During that descent, your character finds this nest of small eggs, and you eat them. Was that the real deal? I hope it tasted better than it looked.
The eggs were real. The eggs were real, and sure, they were okay. The rat was rubber. That was a rubber rat, so that didn’t happen. But thank you for asking. It wasn’t as painful as it looked.
Thanks to Nicolas Cage for taking the time to talk about The Surfer. Tickets are now available.
Source: Comingsoon.net