Filming 1995’s “Leaving Las Vegas” with Nicolas Cage was quite the experience, director Mike Figgis told The Times of London, partly because the actor wanted to be a little too in-character.
As Figgis recalled, Cage once “drank a bottle of vodka” before filming a scene. “I was furious,” he said.
“He wanted to be drunk, for example, and I said no. He drank a bottle of vodka before one scene anyway and smashed up a casino,” Figgis told the outlet. “He was completely and utterly drunk and I was furious. But then, looking at the film, it’s a great scene.”
Working with Cage was also how Figgis met the actor’s uncle, Francis Ford Coppola. “We had this fascinating chat and became long-distance friends. That’s how ‘Megadoc’ came about,” he explained.
Figgis added that he received some advice from Coppola’s wife, Eleanor about working with the “Godfather” director: “Keep your eyes open because he’ll change his mind all the time.”
Figgis directed 2025’s “Megadoc,” about Coppola’s decades-long attempt to bring his film “Megalopolis” to life. Figgis insisted Coppola “blocked himself” from having the creative freedom he wanted for the project.
He also disputed some of the criticism the movie received.
“That was disrespectful. Without a doubt, Francis had something to say with the film,” Figgis insisted. But he added that the success of the documentary probably made things worse.
“Had I made a film that I was passionate about and then somebody did a low-budget documentary which became critically successful, would I be pissed off? Probably the answer is publicly not but privately yes,” Figgis admitted.
Read the full interview at The Times of London.
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