Nicolas Cage: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

1. Ben Sanderson - Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Before he became Nicolas Cage - Action Man Extraordinaire, Cage delivered his best ever performance in Leaving Las Vegas, a small-budgeted indie drama about a dying alcoholic's love affair with a hooker (with a heart of gold, of course). The affable drunk and the good-hearted whore, two well-worn cliches, are transformed into something really special in the hands of Cage and co-star Elizabeth Shue. Shot in under a month, with a 16mm camera and without having secured the proper permits to film in certain locations (they really didn't have much money), this is the opposite of the films that Cage has been ruining his name with over the last few years. In these humble surroundings, he seems totally uninhibited and fearless which greatly benefits his performance. Cage also did the old method acting thing of talking to alcoholics as well as watching films about alcoholism as research. Although Cage was reportedly not drunk on the set, he's so convincing as a wino that it would hardly be surprising if it came out that he was tipsy when the cameras started rolling. He did, however, have a couple of booze binges and would sometimes film himself drunk afterwards in order to research his speech pattern. Such preparation lead to Cage's most genuine and impressive performance. The Academy recognised as much, awarding Cage his first and (to date) only Best Actor Oscar. Now for those Cage performances that didn't work out so well...