The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent writers Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten have revealed who could have played Nicolas Cage in the movie if Cage himself had turned down the role.
The actor plays none other than Nicolas Cage in the film, and there are plenty of references to his movies, meaning it might have been somewhat strange to have another actor in the role.
"I think there were moments when once we had written it and we were trying to get the project going, there were times when I think, personally, selfishly because I wanted to make money and sell this script somewhere, we'd go, 'Um, maybe this actor or that actor,'" Ettan told Collider. "But end of the day, no. Nobody else could have done it."
But if the writers had to pick another option…. "Christian Bale," Etten said, with Gormican adding: "Christian Bale or Daniel Day-Lewis in full prosthetics, probably."
It's difficult to imagine the film would work as well without Cage playing Cage, so it's probably for the best that Bale and Day-Lewis were left out of the finished product – though either actor playing Nicolas Cage would surely be a sight to behold.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent has been very well received so far, debuting with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100% (a career best for Cage, though the film has now slipped to 88%). Plus, a scene shared online has revealed Pedro Pascal's Javi and Cage sobbing over another highly praised movie together: Paddington 2.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is out in theaters now. If you're all caught up, check out our guide to all of 2022's major movie release dates for everything else the year has in store for us.
