Moderator: Cassi, or Nicky, or anybody who
wants to kind of join in and, if anybody wants to just quickly answer this
question, just is there something anybody would just put out here that you
would hope people take away from this movie? It seems something people have
asked many, many times. I have a handful of emails asking that
question. Is there something that you think would be important for someone who
watches this to get out of it?
Nicolas Cage: Well Hi, this is
Nicolas Cage and I was just listening and I, I’d like to answer that question.
I was very taken by the family dynamic that plays out in this script. And
that’s what drew me to the project. That and an opportunity to work again with
Vic Armstrong. I had a good rapport with him on another movie. So I felt that I
could get to where I wanted to go with Captain
Steele. Because this is, this is a person who is in an extraordinary
situation and realizes really what his values are through the, he reaches a
catharsis through the experience of this extraordinary flight that he’s on.
And, gets back to the heart which is his relationship with his family, which is
his relationship with “Chloe” his daughter which is so powerfully, she’s so
powerful Cassi Thomson in the movie. And I think that that’s what I want, if
there’s anything for me, I want that to come across that people realize, yeah
we all make mistakes but in a moment of crisis what we really want, what we
really go to, go back to is, the love we have for our families. And that’s
what, that’s what pulled me in, into this, into this project. That, and also
how you make such an extraordinary set of circumstances authentic and how do
you make that real and that was a tremendous challenge for, for all the actors
to, to play it almost Cinéma vérité that this is really happening and we’re really believing in
this situation and it’s to, to convey that to the audience is the challenge.
I’ve always been attracted to movies that aren’t afraid to venture into the
unknown. City of Angels, movies that
were knowing, movies that aren’t afraid to face the possibility of these
extraordinary circumstances and, and the challenge of making that real.
Moderator: That’s great. Thank you
so much Nicolas we knew you were going to get on and we really appreciate you
joining us so, thank you so much. Everyone has anxiously been awaiting your
arrival here. So we’re going to ask you a few questions here. And then, you
know I had said at the beginning of the call if there’s anything that, you
know, you want at anytime or anybody from the cast just wants to interject or
add in that maybe we’re not asking specifically. One of the things we’re
getting a lot of questions about that people are writing in is, you know, we’re
all fans of your interviews, we know you’ve worked on many different types of
roles, you’ve probably already been asked this but people here would really
like to know, what about this script or what regarding the movie in general,
you know, I know you’ve mentioned things about, you know, your brother before,
you’ve mentioned things about just, you know, we’ve all talked, I don’t know if
you heard us, a little earlier in the call about, you know The Leftovers, and other, like, shows that are out right now, kind
of speaking to end-times. Is there anything regarding just culture today or
anything that you could share about you know, why you would say yes to a movie
like this?
Nicolas Cage: Well again, I, I
really said yes on the merits of the screenplay. And also to work with, to work
with Vic again, the director. I think all artists, if you’re tapped in, if
you’re tuned in, to the zeitgeist, you know when they’re open to that, they’re
going to pick up on, on that. And things happen I think, I really believe
things happen collectively around the world that, people get thoughts and they
start, you know, I didn’t know about The
Leftovers. I didn’t know that was a television show that was already
happening but you can pick up on these things. I mean, at one time I think
someone invented a steam train in one part of the world and another person was
inventing the same thing and they had never talked. So I mean, there are times
when you can, you can, you can tap into something subconsciously. But that
wasn’t on my mind, I wasn’t aware of any of it. I just felt that the script was
a challenge and it gave me a chance to really try to make the extraordinary,
believable. And, and to do something authentic within performance so that
everything around me was, was going into chaos. People were just appearing on
the airplane and how did I make that organic? How did I make that authentic?
And again, all the actors, Chad Michael Murray, Cassi Thomson, Nicky Whelan,
they were all on-point. And I find that exciting. To me, it was, it was an
exercise and I’m very happy with the results.
Moderator: That’s great. So the
story centers on “Rayford Steele”
and his daughter "Chloe”.
How do you describe their relationship? How does it relate even maybe to your
own thoughts as a father? What makes them relatable characters and for most of
the people on the call here, they haven’t seen the film. Explain a little bit
about your relationship there and why this matters in this movie.
Nicolas Cage: Well I mean “Ray Steele” is a, he’s a captain of
a jumbo jet, a transatlantic jumbo jet going, you know to London, England. And,
you know, he’s, he’s, he’s an important guy on that airplane and he has a
flirtation and this, there’s, there’s a chemistry that’s happening with the
flight attendant, so marvelously played by Nicky Whelan and he loses track, you
know, he loses sight of what’s really valuable to him in terms of you know, his
treasures within which is his love for his family. He’s kind of, not that he’s
a bad guy but he’s making a mistake that many people make that are in powerful
positions where they, you know lose track of the importance of family. They’re
drawn away, or they’re seduced or they’re taken from their true inner-values
by, by, by something attractive, or something flirtatious, or something that,
that has the call of the wild. And they lose their place, and what I like about
that is that many people do it. But that “Ray
Steele” gets back to his true need for family through this experience,
through this extraordinary experience and understands the value of family and
just wants to get back to that no matter what happens. Just to be able to get
back on the phone with his daughter. Say I’m sorry. And say “I love you.” And I
think that’s, it’s as simple as that. I think that is heart-wrenching. And if
you have a heart, I don’t think it’s possible to see the movie and not get a
little verklempt. I mean it, there’s some very poignant, emotional moments.
Moderator:
Yeah. Great. Was there, is this the first time you’ve really heard about this
story? Like when you heard about the potential (inaudible) people being taken
away from the earth or disappearing. Is this the first time like, the rapture
was kind of a new concept…(cut off).
Nicolas
Cage: No, no. I’m familiar with the rapture of course. I mean, I’m not
familiar with it in any aspect outside of what the bible says, but you know, I
was not familiar with the LEFT BEHIND
series. My brother, Mark, is a Christian pastor, and he was very excited about
this. And he said, you know, Nicky, you’ve really got to to do this. I mean
this is a, and so I, I, you know I’d already wanted to make the movie because I
thought it was such a great script and an opportunity again to do something
challenging. But when I saw how passionate he was, I thought, well yeah I want
to make this movie for my brother too.
Moderator:
That’s great. Well I think that you’re making this movie for lots of people
because people are very excited about it coming out and it’s got a lot of
anticipation around it so people are excited to hear from you. We’re getting
lots of questions. And, you know one of the questions too that has come in is,
you know, with a lot of the roles that you take that are very heartfelt,
there’s a lot of things that you are drawn to, or that you play where you tell
a human story with a larger than life narrative. Is that something you, you
love to play just because it really has the potential to affect people in their
lives deeply? Or is it usually just like you said with this one where it’s the
script or is there something about that, that is just meaningful to you because
you probably see it affect people in a positive way.
Nicolas
Cage: Well there’s, I mean if you look at my filmography, there’s no secret
to the fact that I, I am drawn to movies that aren’t afraid to take on spiritual
themes. And you know, without going into my own personal, you know,
spirituality which is very sacred to me and not something that I think is, you
know for public consumption or to be put on the, or in the media but, but I
like to let my work speak for me. I like to find movies that allow me to
explore these inner or outer worlds through the work without having to really
talk too much about it.
Moderator:
Yeah that’s, that’s great and you do a fabulous job doing it. So, you may know
that we have most of the cast on the call and then we have Paul LaLonde, we
have Vic Armstrong on with us. Paul, Vic is there anything, since we have
Nicolas on the line with us now that you want to make sure is said, or that is
just communicated on this call? I know people have been hearing a lot of really
great things. I want to remind people on this call too that you can view the
trailer and you can get a lot of information at
LeftBehindMovie.com.
And, you know I’ve been telling you throughout this call where you can get a
lot of the press materials,
LeftBehindMovie.OnlineMediaSpot.com.
So, you know, we would encourage you guys if you have more questions, feel free
to keep emailing them in. And if you, you know need more information again, again
I know I’ve said it before, but you can get the production notes at these
websites. And so, Paul or Vic is there anything that you want to still bring up
here, or even Nicolas, Cassi, Nicky, anybody that’s on the call, is there
anything that you want to also add in that maybe has, you know sparked a
thought from you that you want to include here before we wrap up this call?
Vic
Armstrong: Hi this is Vic. Hi Nic. Welcome. (chuckling).
Nicolas
Cage: Hi.
Vic
Armstrong: So what was, what was interesting with what you’re saying there,
I go back to when we sat down to discuss this script at Great Fosters at Egham
in London before you flew out and I flew out here. We actually sat down and we,
we both agreed we loved the script which was, you know the basis for any movie
and we both loved the script but what was fascinating when I think back to it,
all we discussed was our families and how this would affect our families. And
how people aren’t 100% pure. They do wave a slightly left or right on their
journey through life. And it’s what you said there, it’s when “Ray Steele” does see the light. And
he goes back to, to his family, and his love for his daughter and everything
else. To me it’s fascinating, it brought it all back, hearing you say that.
Because we didn’t discuss the nuances of the characters. We’ve discussed in
general how much your family does lead you through life and how much they mean
to all of us. So that was wonderful to re-live that again.
Nicolas
Cage: Yes. And also I, the only other thing that I would mention is that I,
I want this movie to work for people, for me, of all faiths. It’s about when
you have those moments there really are no atheists in fox holes. And so when
you’re in a crisis, in a crisis like that, I want people from all faiths be
able to say, you know, we’re, we’re all invited to the table. I mean we’re all
going to get something from this movie.
Vic
Armstrong: Exactly. Yeah.
Moderator:
Yeah. That’s great. So since Vic just spoke up, Nicolas you may be kind of,
we’ll all wrap this up here momentarily. It would just be great to hear you
speak to what it was like to work with Vic Armstrong as your director. Right in
front of him (laughing).
Nicolas Cage: Well actually I’m very
comfortable working with Vic. I got to spend quite a bit of time with him on
another movie that we made, called Season
of the Witch. And it was a good experience and I thought that he directed
me to a good performance and something that I was very proud of and wanted to
work with him again. I, I knew that I would be able to relax with him and that
I would be able to go within and just sort of exhale and be in the moment, be
in the scene. That he would allow his actors to breathe and to be relaxed and
to find the truth of their performances. And it really shows in the movie. I
mean, across the board, of Chad Michael Murray, and Nicky, and Cassi again
just, just powerfully real performances. And I knew that that would happen
working again with Vic.
Moderator: Mmm hmmm. Great. And one
last thing, you touched on a little bit but I know you have spoken to how just
the importance of family and just how you really want people to take away from
this too just how important that is. Is there anything more that you could just
share with people about how this movie, does, kind of draw people to want to, I
mean I know you mentioned that you know, the, the entire concept of the movie
is about making sure, you know where your family is and thinking about them but
is there something just about family to this movie that meant something
personally to you as well?
Nicolas
Cage: Well, anytime I make a movie, no matter how, how extraordinary the
circumstances of the movie I try to come at it from a place of truth even if
it’s truth in my imagination. I don’t want to act. I don’t want, because in
that, in some way that implies lying. For me acting is trying to get the truth
of an experience in my past or with in my memory almost like an impression and
try to make it, you know, real within a performance. Recall it, and then bring
it to the situation that my character finds himself in. And, it was, without
thinking too much about it or breaking it down too much it was more about
recalling emotions that I may have experienced in my own life, and applying
them to the relationship between “Ray
Steele” and “Chloe”, his
daughter. And having a chance to say what I wanted to say through that
character. And that, I think I’ve already probably said too much. But, but in
other words, I don’t want to fake it, I want it to be authentic. And this
character, in this movie, you know, within the context of the extraordinary
circumstance gave me the chance to do that.
