The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a 2022 American action comedy film directed by Tom Gormican, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kevin Etten. It stars Nicolas Cage as a fictionalized version of himself, along with a supporting cast including Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Neil Patrick Harris, Tiffany Haddish and Caroline Boulton. Filming began in Croatia on October 5, 2020.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Gormican
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyNigel Bluck
Edited byMelissa Bretherton
Music byMark Isham
Production
companies
  • Saturn Films
  • Burr! Productions
Distributed byLionsgate
Release dates
  • March 12, 2022 (2022-03-12) (SXSW)
  • April 22, 2022 (2022-04-22) (United States)
Running time
107 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Spanish
Budget$30 million[2]
Box office$29.1 million[3]

The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2022, and was released in the United States on April 22, 2022, by Lionsgate. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances and chemistry of Cage and Pascal, but performed poorly at the box office, grossing only $29.1 million against its $30 million budget.

Plot

Hollywood actor Nicolas "Nick" Cage is struggling with his career after being passed over for several major film roles and is constantly pestered and tormented by "Nicky", who appears to him as his younger (and more successful) self. His relationship with his ex-wife Olivia and daughter Addy is also marred by years of emotional neglect. Losing a key film role and following an embarrassing event at Addy's birthday party, Nick plans to retire from acting. He decides to accept a vague offer of $1 million from his agent Richard Fink that involves going to Majorca to meet billionaire playboy Javi Gutierrez and to be the guest of honor at his birthday.

Upon meeting Javi, Nick is initially annoyed by his neediness and insistence that they create an improvisational movie based on a script he wrote, but is soon inspired by Javi's determination, and the two of them quickly bond over their surprisingly shared love of films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Paddington 2 (the latter of which Nick watches for the first time with Javi). Soon after, Nick is confronted by CIA agents Vivian and Martin. They suspect that Javi, who they claim made his fortune through arms dealing, is behind the kidnapping of Maria, the daughter of a Catalan anti-crime politician, with the hope that he will drop out of an upcoming election. Nick insists that his acting instincts would've detected if Javi was a criminal, but he eventually decides to help the CIA with the mission.

After successfully rigging the cameras in Javi's compound, Nick attends a party where he announces his collaboration with Javi on a new movie, as an excuse to stay on the compound long enough to find Maria. After a misadventure involving LSD, Nick and Javi decide that their movie should be about their relationship. Nick later discovers that Javi keeps a shrine room dedicated to all of his movies, including a wax figure of his character Castor Troy from the film Face/Off, complete with identical golden pistols. Vivian suggests that Nick includes a kidnapping in their script, to get Javi's reaction to it.

Nick explains his new idea to Javi, who believes that Nick is distracted by his family issues. Vivian tells Nick to flee, or possibly kill Javi, as Javi has discovered their plot. But Javi reveals he's brought Nick's family to his villa. Nick tries to make amends with them, but they reject his appeal and accuse him of prioritizing his film career over his family. Javi privately goes to meet with his cousin Lucas, who is revealed to be the true arms dealer and the one who kidnapped Maria. Lucas warns him that Nick is working with the CIA and pressures him to kill Nick, or else Lucas will kill Javi.

Nick and Javi face off, but neither can bring himself to kill the other. Lucas sends his men after both of them, and they race back to the house to discover that Addy has been kidnapped. Nick takes Javi, Olivia and Javi's assistant Gabriela to the CIA safe house, only for the house to have been compromised; Martin has been killed, while Vivian sacrifices herself to kill Lucas's men before they can ambush the group. With Javi's help, Nick and Olivia pose as a reclusive criminal couple to get close to Lucas. He figures out their plan, but they still manage to escape with Addy and Maria.

Nick, Addy, Olivia and Maria race to the American embassy while Javi and Gabriela stay behind to delay Lucas's pursuit. Upon arrival, Lucas holds Nick at gunpoint, but Addy tosses him a knife which Nick uses to kill him—transitioning into the movie that Nick and Javi completed, presumably based on their adventure. Nick is applauded for his new film and congratulates Javi before going home with his family to watch Paddington 2, now with a better relationship.

Cast
Nicolas Cage at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.
Pedro Pascal at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.
Nicolas Cage (left) stars as a fictionalized version of himself who attends the birthday party of a rich superfan played by Pedro Pascal (right).
  • Nicolas Cage as a fictionalized version of himself.
    • Cage also portrays Nicky Cage (credited by Cage's birth name Nicolas Kim Coppola), a figment of Cage's imagination, seen as a younger version of himself. The character is based on the actor's appearance on the talk show Wogan while promoting Wild at Heart.[4]
  • Pedro Pascal as Javi Gutierrez, a billionaire and Cage super-fan who pays Cage $1 million to appear at his birthday party.
  • Sharon Horgan as Olivia Henson, a retired film makeup artist and Cage's ex-wife.
  • Lily Mo Sheen as Addy Cage, Cage's daughter.
  • Tiffany Haddish as Vivian Etten, a CIA agent and Martin's partner.
  • Ike Barinholtz as Martin Etten, a CIA agent and Vivian's partner.
  • Alessandra Mastronardi as Gabriela Lucchesi, Javi's assistant
  • Paco León as Lucas Gutierrez, Javi's cousin and an infamous arms dealer.
  • Jacob Scipio as Carlos, one of Lucas's men.
  • Neil Patrick Harris as Richard Fink, Cage's agent.
  • Katrin Vankova as Maria, the kidnapping victim
  • David Gordon Green as himself, a film director who declines to give Cage a role in his new film.
  • Demi Moore as "Olivia Cage", Cage's in-movie fictional ex-wife.
  • Anna MacDonald as "Addy Cage", Cage's in-movie fictional daughter.
  • Joanna Bobin as Cheryl, Cage's therapist.

Production

Cage plays a fictionalised version of himself who he said bore little resemblance to his real offscreen personality. He originally turned down the role "three or four times" but changed his mind after writer-director Tom Gormican wrote him a personal letter.[5] On November 15, 2019, Lionsgate acquired the production rights.[6] In August 2020, Pedro Pascal entered negotiations to star.[7] In September 2020, Sharon Horgan and Tiffany Haddish joined the cast,[8][9] and Lily Sheen was added in October.[10] In November 2020, Neil Patrick Harris joined the cast.[11]

Principal photography began on October 5, 2020, and wrapped on November 24, 2020.[12] Most of the movie was shot in Croatia, with some areas around the city of Dubrovnik.[13] Mark Isham composed the music.[14]

Release

The film premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 12, 2022.[15][16] Originally set to be released on March 19, 2021,[17] the film was theatrically released on April 22, 2022 in the United States.[18] In New Zealand it was released on April 17.

The film was released for VOD on June 7, 2022, followed by a Blu-ray, DVD and 4K UHD release on June 21, 2022.[19] The film was released to Starz on October 21, 2022, 6 months after its theatrical release.[20]

Reception

Box office

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent grossed $20.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $8.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $29.1 million.[3]

In United States and Canada, it was released alongside The Bad Guys and The Northman, and was projected to gross $5–10 million from 3,036 theaters in its opening weekend.[21][22][23] It made $2.9 million on its first day, including $835,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $7.1 million, finishing fifth at the box office.[24] Deadline Hollywood noted that The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and The Northman were targeting the same demographic, which impacted their debuts. Deadline also mentioned the film's low awareness level at the time of its release and Cage's absence on social media as reasons it did not perform better. Men made up 59% of the audience during its opening, with those in the age range of 18–34 comprising 57% of ticket sales.[2] The film made $3.9 million in its second weekend, finishing sixth,[25] $1.6 million in its third, finishing eighth,[26] and $1.1 million in its fourth, finishing tenth.[27] It dropped out of the box office top ten in its fifth weekend with $754,976.[28]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 309 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Smart, funny, and wildly creative, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent presents Nicolas Cage in peak gonzo form – and he's matched by Pedro Pascal's scene-stealing performance."[29] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[30] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 82% positive score, with 66% saying they would definitely recommend it.[2]

References
  1. "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (15)". BBFC. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  2. D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 24, 2022). "Bad Guys Proves Family Pics Still Work With $24M Debut; Making Sense Of Northman & Unbearable Weight Counterprogramming In Streaming Era – Sunday Update". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  3. "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  4. Kohn, Eric (April 24, 2022). "How Nicolas Cage Wound Up Kissing His Younger Self in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  5. Hibberd, James (March 9, 2022). "Nicolas Cage on Playing Nicolas Cage: 'I Wanted No Part of It'". The Hollywood Reporter. No. March 9, 2022. Archived from the original on March 11, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
  6. Hipes, Patrick; D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 15, 2019). "Nicolas Cage Pic 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent' Near Lionsgate Deal". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
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  8. McNary, Dave (September 2, 2020). "Sharon Horgan Joins Nicolas Cage's 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  9. N'Duka, Amanda (September 21, 2020). "Tiffany Haddish Joins Nicolas Cage In 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  10. D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 13, 2020). "Lily Sheen Joins Nicolas Cage Lionsgate Action Comedy 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 1, 2022. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  11. D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 23, 2020). "Neil Patrick Harris Boards Lionsgate Nicolas Cage Satire 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 1, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  12. "@pacoleon on Instagram: "Hoy termina una aventura intensa e inolvidable. También una película. Gracias a @tomgormican por la confianza, a todo el equipo que me han hecho sentir tan querido. Al maestro Nicolas Cage, a mi @lamastronardi, @jacobscipio, @sharonhorgan @tiffanyhaddish, @neilpatrickharris, @katrinvankova ... y todo el repartazo de estrellas... y sobre todo a mi primo forever, el malo más bueno del mundo: @pascalispunk"". Instagram. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent starring Nicolas Cage starts filming in Croatia". October 5, 2020. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  14. "Mark Isham Scoring Tom Gormican's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent". Film Music Reporter. December 14, 2021. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
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  16. "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent". South by Southwest. Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  17. Hipes, Patrick (February 3, 2020). "Nicolas Cage's 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent' Gets 2021 Release Date". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 3, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  18. D'Alessandro, Anthony (June 30, 2021). "Lionsgate Dates Nicolas Cage Satire 'Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent' & Kingdom Story Movies". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 16, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
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  24. "Domestic 2022 Weekend 16". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  25. "Domestic 2022 Weekend 17". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 3, 2022. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
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