It's been a funny old run for Nicolas Cage of late. Popping up in all sorts of schlock, he's also been working on more considered films (such as upcoming Lovecraftian horror Color Out Of Space) and some more madness (a planned movie where he'd deal with murderous animatronics). But here's something else entirely on the horizon: Nicolas Cage playing... Nicolas Cage.
Director Tom Gormican wrote the script for The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent with Kevin Etten, and the meta movie is focused on Cage struggling to score a new tole. With an eye on landing a part in Quentin Tarantino's next film, he's also battling huge debt, a strained relationship with his teenage daughter and an egotistical 1990s version of himself who keeps appearing to lambast him for making so many bad films and diminishing his star wattage.
To help ease his financial burden, Cage agrees to appear at the birthday party of a Mexican billionaire and Cage super-fan who has a script he'd like to run past the actor. Trouble is, the man is also a drug kingpin and has kidnapped the daughter of a Mexican presidential nominee. Cage is recruited by the CIA to gather intelligence even as his family are drawn into danger. It could be the most self-referential film the actor has appeared in since Adaptation.
Lionsgate has won the right to make the movie, and now all involved are just hoping Cage's deal closes.