The last time we saw Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes together on the big screen was in Mark Steven Johnson’s exuberant, kid-friendly comic-book movie, Ghost Rider. If you were expecting their next pairing to be in a sequel to the 2007 hit, then you’re sorely mistaken. In fact, it’s the very definition of 180-degree shift.
For Mendes is in negotiations to join Cage in his eagerly-awaited collaboration with Werner Herzog on a new version of Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant which, given that it will likely feature much violence, swearing, nudity, sex, religious imagery, Cage screaming maniacally, is as far removed from Ghost Rider as it’s possible to get. (Although that movie did have violence, mild swearing, religious imagery and Cage screaming maniacally, so it’s all down to the tits’n’willies, we suppose…)
Little else is known about Mendes’ involvement in the movie, but we're guessing that she'll be more - much more - than a mere love interest this time round. But we do know a little more about the movie itself now, thanks to Herzog, who dropped a note to Jeffrey Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere, which contained a little information on the remake. Well, we say remake, but…
“It is not a remake (as reported almost everywhere),” says Herzog, emphatically. “It is a completely different story in the same sense as the last James Bond is not a remake of the previous one.”
Hmm… interesting. So, does this mean that Cage is playing the same character – simply called The Lieutenant – as Harvey Keitel did in Ferrara’s 1992 version? Tricksy, given that he was (SPOILER WARNING!) pretty unceremoniously offed at movie’s end. But we’re so excited to see what comes of this Cage/Herzog pairing that we’ll swallow just about anything.
Herzog goes on to reveal that the movie is now called Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans which, in a world currently packed with movies cursed with clunky titles, might be going for the first prize rosette. To read more from mad old Werner, including news of a recent arrest, click here to go to Wells’ blog.