Nicolas Cage Names His Best Movie He'd Recommend

An unexpected choice.

Nicolas Cage has been entertaining audiences on the big screen for more than four decades. Throughout those years, Cage has appeared in generational movies from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Moonstruck to National Treasure and Kick-Ass. But when it comes to picking the best one to recommend to a friend, Cage went with a recent endeavor rather than something from deep in his catalog. 

The esteemed actor opened up about his life and career in a new interview with The New Yorker. When asked which of his more than 100 films he'd suggest to someone who's never seen any of his movies, he didn't hesitate with his answer: Pig, released in 2021 to critical acclaim. In the movie, Cage plays a lonely former chef who hunts down the thieves who stole his precious companion, a truffle pig.

"It’s something that I think people can get something out of, because tragedy is going to hit all of us at some point. It’s just a matter of when," he said. 

"It’s also a movie that to me is like a folk song. It’s a very quiet, gentle movie, which is the opposite of...people thinking I’m crazy," he continued. "That I’m happy with, because I’d never done anything like that before, where I felt like I got close to putting a meditation on camera, or a haiku."

Ultimately, it was an effort that more closely aligns with the kinds of projects he wants to do today. "I think that the work now is—for me, anyway—more interesting, and it’s more personal," he concluded. 

Pig is streaming now on Hulu.