Leaving Las Vegas – Matchbox Cine

Black an white image: Nicolas Cage and stand-in Marco Kyris stand together, looking down - Cage holds tissue paper, Marco an empty tin can — Nicolas Cage and Marco Kyris on set

Matchbox Cineclub are pleased to announce Marco Kyris, Nicolas Cage’s official stand-in for over ten years, will attend our third annual Cage-a-rama film festival at Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts on 3rd, 4th & 5th January 2020 and afterwards embark on a UK-wide Cage-a-rama: Uncaged tour.

Marco, who worked with Cage on almost 20 films between 1994-2005, will join Lindsay Gibb, Toronto-based author of National Treasure: Nicolas Cage and world-leading Nicolas Cage expert, for an in-conversation event and a screening of Uncaged: A Stand-in Story at CCA Glasgow on Saturday 4th January. Kyris will also introduce several of Cage-a-rama 2020’s films across the festival weekend: Leaving Las Vegas (for which Cage won an Academy Award® for Best Actor), the first of the fan-favourite National Treasure films, and Martin Scorsese’s urban horror Bringing Out the Dead, the latter of which he will introduce alongside journalist Josh Slater-Williams (Sight & Sound, Little White Lies).

Kyris has also guest-programmed a special opening night screening of one of his favourite collaborations with Cage, Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes, followed by a Q&A. Throughout the festival, Marco will be open to any questions about his “Cage Wage” years, and share genuine call-sheets and other Cage memorabilia from his archive – and might be persuaded to part with them if audience members pose good enough questions. Cage-a-rama’s opening night is sponsored by Drygate.

Directors Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) and Stephen Campanelli (Grand Isle) will introduce their films via specially recorded videos. Joining them are Nicolas Cage aficionados from across the globe, including Timon Singh of Bristol Bad Film Club, Torïo Garcia of the Spanish NicCagepedia, and Mike Manzi & Joey Lewandowski, the New Jersey-based hosts of the much-loved #CageClub: The Nicolas Cage Podcast.

Three images featuring Marco Kyris standing in for Nicolas Cage on film sets - The Rock, Face/Off and Con Air. (https://www.mkyris.com/) — Marco Kyris, on the sets of The Rock, Face/Off and Con Air

The subsequent Cage-a-rama 2020 UK Tour will feature a 35mm screening of Con Air at the Genesis Cinema in London on Thursday 9th January, and a 20th-anniversary screening of Gone in 60 Seconds in collaboration with Bristol Bad Film Club at Bristol Improv Theatre on Saturday 11th January. Both screenings will be accompanied by Marco Kyris’s short film, Uncaged: A Stand-In Story, and a post-screening Q&A.

Cage-a-rama 2020 highlights Cage’s relationship with directors: from big guns to young guns, from huge budgets to low ones, from his career’s early days to now. The festival features 10 films over three days, closing with the UK premiere of brand-new Nicolas Cage film Primal (2019), to be released by Lionsgate in February 2020. Sunday 5th January also sees the UK premiere of Grand Isle, which pairs Cage with Kelsey Grammer, set to be released by 101 Films. The rest of the programme features Cage classics from some of his earliest roles, in Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married and Top Gun “homage” Fire Birds, to blockbuster sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets and a midnight screening of Zandalee, his erotic thriller co-starring Judge Reinhold.

Cage-a-rama 2020 Weekend and Day Passes and individual tickets are on sale via Matchbox Cineclub’s online shop. Tickets for Con Air in London are available via Genesis Cinema’s website (genesiscinema.co.uk) and tickets for Gone in 60 Seconds can be purchased via Bristol Improv Theatre (improvtheatre.co.uk).

For the first time, the entire Glasgow Cage-a-rama programme will be open-captioned for D/deaf audiences, and tickets for each film are priced on a sliding scale, £0-8, with reference to our three-tiered guide, so audience members decide what to pay.

Keep up-to-date via the Cage-a-rama 2020 Facebook event

Poster for Cage-a-rama 2020, feauring an illustration of Nicolas Cage climbing Glasgow Cathedral a la King Kong (https://veronavarro.com/) — Illustration by Vero Navarro

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We are beyond thrilled to bring Going Full Cage, the extremely popular, sell-out event from Bristol’s Watershed, to Glasgow for Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged. In January, two of the UK’s foremost film experts will explore the phenomenon of Nicolas Cage and debate the case for and against the best/worst actor of our times.

Nicolas Cage has been nominated for more Razzies than he has Oscars (The Golden Raspberry Awards recognise the worst in film), and yet he remains an Academy Award winning actor, thanks to his outstanding performance in Leaving Las Vegas. But just how can one man be recognised by both the industry’s most esteemed and most mocking award ceremonies? As fascinating as he is baffling, who is this enigmatic man? Is he utterly brilliant – in on the joke – or is he an overrated actor taking whatever pay check comes his way?

Whatever your opinion, we can say for sure that this member of the Coppola clan has worked with both the best and the worst in the business. From the Coen Brothers to the Kaufmans, with David Lynch and Neil LaBute, Nic Cage has entertained cinema audiences for almost forty years. Famous for his outlandish purchases, including oddities as wide-ranging as a castle in Bath (where he used to live!) and an illegal dinosaur skull, it’s no wonder he’s earned a reputation for eccentricity.

Nic Cage super fans Tara Judah (Watershed Cinema Producer) and Timon Singh (Bristol Bad Film Club Founder), will be diving deep into the bottomless abyss of the enigma. Presenting their cases for and against his brilliance in back to back presentations with clips, quotes and context, before discussing and debating their findings. Join us on Saturday 5th January as Tara and Ti dare to go Full Cage.

Whether you’ve seen the best or the worst of his career, this session will equip you with the tools, anecdotes and arguments to understand the curious career and big screen allure of one of Hollywood’s most unconventional A-listers.

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Tara Judah is Cinema Producer at Watershed in Bristol, and has worked in programming and editorial for the cinema’s archive, classic and repertory film festival, Cinema Rediscovered since its inception in 2016. Tara is also a freelance film critic and has contributed to Senses of Cinema, Desist Film, Monocle and Sight & Sound. Tara is a director on the board of trustees at one of the UK’s longest continuously operating cinemas, Curzon Cinema Clevedon. Tara’s favourite Nic Cage movie is Wild at Heart and her least favourite is City of Angels. (WHYYYY?) She especially loves it when Nic Cage sings.

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Timon Singh is Campaign Managers for Film Hub South West and also runs Bristol Bad Film Club and Bristol Sunset Cinema in… well, Bristol. He has previously written for Den Of Geek UK and Cineworld Magazine and his first book Born To Be Bad: Talking to the greatest villains in action cinema is out now. Timon is also the writer/producer on the upcoming documentary film In Search of the Last Action Heroes. His favourite Nicolas Cage film is Wings of the Apache. His worst is the first Ghost Rider. At the least the sequel had the decency to go Full Cage…

Going Full Cage, Saturday 5th January 2019, CCA Glasgow, part of Cage-a-rama 2: Cage Uncaged. All tickets on sale via our online store, here.

Tag: Leaving Las Vegas

Cage-a-rama 2020 Guests + UK Tour

Going Full Cage: Exploring the Enigma of Nicolas Cage