10 Actors That Got Unnecessarily Committed For A Role

9. Nicolas Cage - Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

ghostrider600The Commitment: For the sequel to 2007's Ghost Rider, Nicolas Cage was given the opportunity to play Johnny Blaze's demonic alter-ego Ghost Rider for the first time. To do this, Cage boned up on ancient shamanic practices (obviously), he then painted his face black and white, wore black contact lenses so his eyes resembled a shark's and covered himself in thousands-of-years-old relics, taking his Nouveau Shamanic acting technique to heart. In Cage's words, "I believed I was the Ghost Rider." The Result: Nicolas Cage got so into the character that he became him, and therein lies the problem: Nic Cage thought he was Ghost Rider. No-one needs to get so committed for that kind of role. Worse than that, after all of Cage's unnecessary intensity to play a man with a flaming skull for a head, the film bombed anyway, drawing low box office returns, taking a critical fracking and receiving two Razzie noms. That included one for Cage, who thought magic was going to improve his performance. It didn't.
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Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1