10 Actors Who "Stole" Their Performances Off Real People

2. Nicolas Cage - Kick-Ass

Who He Plays: Big Daddy, superhero alter-ego of Damon Macready Who He Really Plays: Adam West (as Batman) In Matthew Vaughn's reality-bitten superhero black comedy Kick-Ass, Nicolas Cage plays a loving father and ex-cop who fights crime by night as Big Daddy, a wannabe superhero in Batman-aping duds. And according to Cage himself, it was in the scenes playing Big Daddy that he wanted to "bring a little Adam West to this thing." Cage is no stranger to adopting the personas of others for roles, famously taking on Elvis for Wild At Heart and, amazingly, Woody Woodpecker for Raising Arizona. For Kick-Ass, however, he went West: "I like his delivery - I'm not even sure why - there's something bizarre and wonderful about it. I brought it into rehearsal and, shockingly, Matthew didn't kill it and decided to go with it." The result is a series of odd, possibly unintentionally hilarious line readings that could only have come from the brain of Cage via the strangeness of West.