Sometimes, actors go above and beyond to fully embody the characters they play in movies and series. Stars like Zac Efron have had to bulk up or even alter their voices to accurately depict their roles.
Actors are not only expected to be passionate about their craft, but they must also be willing to undergo dramatic changes to bring their characters to life.
Nicolas Cage’s ‘Longlegs’ Transformation
Nicolas Cage underwent a drastic transformation to portray a satanic serial killer in “Longlegs.” When the actor read the script, he said, “I’d love this, and I want to do this.”
The film’s writer-director, Osgood Perkins, envisioned Cage’s villain as “a pathetic-ish guy who kind of comes to your kid’s birthday party, sort of a clown, but not really.”
With this vision in mind, special makeup effects artist Harlow MacFarlane and Vancouver-based makeup effects company, Amazing Ape, began sculpting the character.
Cage wanted to disappear into his “Longlegs” role. Perkins recalled, “He really wanted to go under prosthetics, which he hadn’t really done, I don’t think, in any movie before.”
One of the key aspects of Longlegs’ appearance was bad, cheap plastic surgery. Cage also had to develop his character’s creepy mannerisms and singsong voice.
The star revealed that his late mother, Joy Vogelsang, influenced his portrayal. Vogelsang had struggled with depression and schizophrenia—two conditions that were incorporated into Longlegs.
For much of Cage’s youth, his mother, a former dancer and choreographer, was institutionalized for these conditions. Cage, whose parents divorced when he was 12, recalled watching Vogelsang talk to the walls, and instead of being disturbed, he saw it as surrealistic inspiration, thinking, “Well, this is really interesting.”
The actor explained how he incorporated his mother’s struggles into his performance, saying, “I was coming at it from, what exactly was it that drove my mother insane?” He added, “It was a deeply personal kind of performance for me because I grew up trying to cope with what she was going through.”
Besides working on incorporating his mother’s experience into his Longlegs character, whose appearance was largely concealed in trailers, Cage’s role required heavy makeup and looked nothing like him.
In 2019, Cage described how growing up middle class among wealthy peers fueled his ambitions. Although his father, August Coppola, was a professor and writer, Cage’s family lived modestly on the outskirts of Beverly Hills, near luxury car dealerships. He recalls feeling misunderstood because of his famous last name—many assumed he was wealthy when, in reality, he wasn’t.
His frustration was especially strong when it came to social status and dating, as he compared himself to classmates who had Maseratis and Ferraris while he took the bus. This contrast made him feel disadvantaged in his attempts to impress others.
However, his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, offered him glimpses of a different lifestyle during summer visits, where Cage experienced wealth and success firsthand. These experiences ignited Nicolas Cage’s drive, making him aspire to that level of success—not just for financial gain, but for the lifestyle, prestige, and sense of achievement that came with it.