Nicolas Cage

About

Nicolas Cage is an American actor who has appeared in over 60 films and played a versatile range of characters of from the “bad boy” roles in the nineties (Con-Air, Face Off) to the more recent “adventure hero” characters in Ghost Rider and the National Treasure franchise. Despite the critical acclaim for a number of his performances, the varying quality of his movies and occasionally over-dramatic acting have made him a significant figure in Internet culture.

Online History

For more biographical information about the actor, please read Know Your Meme Blog – Internet God: Nic Cage. Beginning in the mid-2000s, Cage became the subject of several YTMND parodies with the earliest instance submitted in 2005. Notable versions include ''Nicolas Cage Loves Mario Kart''^[1], "Cage Rampage"^[2], "Nic Cage has Great Hair"^[3], ''Cage Loves Katamari''^[4] and "Nic Cage Doesn't Change Facial Expressions".^[5]

eBay Auction

On September 16th, 2011, an auction appeared on the shopping website eBay of a photo from 1870 that was described as "Nicolas Cage is a Vampire."

"Nicolas Cage is a Vampire / Photo from 1870 / Tennessee: Original c.1870 carte de visit showing a man who looks exactly like Nick Cage. This is not a trick photo of any kind and has not been manipulated in Photoshop or any other graphics program. It's an original photo of a man who lived in Bristol, TN, sometime around the Civil War."

The Daily Mail^[7] reported that the photo came from a Civil War era photo album filled with strange death portraits, and that the Nic Cage lookalike did not include a name.

Related Memes

The Wicker Man

In 2006, Nicolas Cage starred in a remake of the 1973 British horror/psychological drama The Wicker Man as sheriff Edward Malus. His character investigates the disappearance of a young girl on a small island, which leads to him discovering the existence of a neo-pagan cult. The movie was a massive critical failure, much of which was blamed on the unintentionally funny acting of Cage. A video highlighting some of its funniest and worst scenes was uploaded by Youtube user Enoosti on January 1st, 2007 and has garnered over 2,980,000 views as of the September 16th, 2011. Two of the most notable scenes sparked a fair number of derivatives including NOT THE BEES! and How'd It Get Burned.

Your Argument is Invalid

Your Argument is Invalid is a catchphrase often associated with a photoshopped image of Nic Cage taken during the filming of the movie Next. The photo was altered to make Cage's hair look like a bald eagle, and was captioned with the text "My hair is a bird. Your argument is invalid."

You Don't Say?

"You Don't Say" is a black and white drawing, often used in rage comics, of Nicolas Cage developed from a scene in the 1988 black comedy film Vampire's Kiss, which revolves around a troubled literary agent's descent into madness after convincing himself that he is turning into a vampire. In rage comics, the face is used as a sarcastic response to an obvious observation or statement.

Nic Cage as Everyone

In November 2009, the single topic blog titled Nic Cage as Everyone launched on microblogging site Tumblr with the sole purpose of collecting photoshopped images of Nic Cage's face on anyone. This meme began to spread very strongly with the creation of FaceApp which enabled more complex face-swaps called Deep Fakes which spread heavily on Reddit.

Nic Cage Wants Cake

On June 15th, 2009, Internet animator Harry Partridge (a.k.a HappyHarry) uploaded an animation to the social flash website Newgrounds called Nicolas Cage Wants Cake. Set to a self composed dance song featuring vocal clips from the movie The Family Man, the song depicts Cage's absolute desire to have a cake which he is repeatedly denied. The video has had a number of remixes and parodies, and has accumulated over 3 million views on YouTube as of September 16th, 2011.

Nic Cage Losing His Shit

On November 21st, 2010, YouTuber hh1edits uploaded a video titled “Nicolas Cage Losing His Shit,” which featured a montage of the actor’s most intense on-screen performances throughout his career. In less than three years, the video accumulated more than 9.1 million views (the video has since been deleted, shown below is a re-upload from a different channel).

Homestuck

Nic Cage's films have been a recurring theme in the webcomic Homestuck with characters John Egbert and Vriska Serket admitting to being fans of the actor's work. Con Air is often featured with the bunny from the "Put The Bunny Back in the Box" scene even becoming a significant plot point.

Reputation

Nicolas Cage is known for being plagued with financial troubles, and has apparently made several poor real estate decisions including the purchase of a medieval castle in Germany. According to the Houston Chronicle^[8], the IRS alleged that Cage failed to pay $6.2 million in federal income tax.

Fudgesicle Story

On September 14th, 2011, Reuters^[6] reported that at a Toronto film festival Nic Cage claimed to have woken up to a man in his bedroom eating a Fudgesicle frozen ice cream snack.

"It was two in the morning. I was living in Orange County at the time and was asleep with my wife. My two-year old at the time was in another room. I opened my eyes and there was a naked man wearing my leather jacket eating a Fudgesicle in front of my bed." "I know it sounds funny…but it was horrifying."

Cage claims he was able to talk the man into leaving his house, but said he could not continue living the house after the ordeal.

2013 Guardian Interview

On July 19th, 2013, The Guardian published an interview with Nicolas Cage in a film review of the actor's latest film The Frozen Ground. During the interview, Cage was asked if he was aware of his ever-growing fandom on the internet, to which he responded:

"Oh my god. I just can't keep up with that stuff," he says. "The internet has developed this thing about me – and I'm not even a computer guy, you know? I don't know why it is happening. I'm trying not to… lemme say this: I'm now of the mindset that, when in Rome, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

Search Interest

External References