Before ‘A Quiet Place Day One,’ Its Director Made One of Nicolas Cage’s Best Movies

Nicolas Cage’s career trajectory is one of the most fascinating in film history. After breaking out in a series of films directed by his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, Cage became one of the most ambitious dramatic actors of his generation, even winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his heartbreaking performance in Leaving Las Vegas. Cage spent many years starring in blockbuster action films like The Rock and Face/Off, but the quality of his output began to go downhill after a series of disastrous projects that were heavily ridiculed. Although he became most closely associated with over-the-top moments of overacting, Cage delivered a beautifully intimate performance in the 2021 drama Pig by director Michael Sarnoski.

Perhaps Cage’s most admirable trait is that he rarely fails to be completely invested in the projects he appears in. Cage is never uninteresting on screen, but the 2010s didn't often allow him opportunities to prove that he was a great actor. With the exception of a few supporting roles in larger films like Kick-Ass and Snowden, much of his work at this time was in smaller films. However, Pig proved that Cage was willing to take a risk on an up-and-coming filmmaker that other mainstream actors may have been more skeptical about working with. Considering that Sarnoski has now leveled up to work on the highly anticipated horror prequel, A Quiet Place: Day One, it appears that Cage’s bet paid off.

What Is 'Pig' About?

Pig centers on a lonely truffle hunter who pursues his craft in isolation in the wilderness of Oregon. Although Rob Feld (Cage) was once a member of Portland’s high-society cuisine industry, he now lives alone in the company of a pig, who helps him hunt for truffles. These rare truffles are of high value to the young supplier, Amir (Alex Wolff), whose father, Darius (Adam Arkin) is involved with several high-end restaurants. While he is content to be alone, a group of enigmatic hunters kidnap the pig, leaving Rob without his most prized possession and best friend. This forces a reluctant Rob to return to the city for the first time in years to find the pig, while also coping with the traumatic memories of his past.

It’s somewhat ironic that he became known for over-the-top performances in The Wicker Man and Ghost Rider, among others, because Cage is remarkably soft-spoken and vulnerable in Pig. It becomes evident that Rob’s relationship with the title pig is not purely out of economic convenience. He genuinely takes pleasure in spending time with a creature that is incapable of betraying him. While eventually the film takes a more thrilling direction once Rob begins searching for the assailants, the first segment of the film is a heartfelt window into the daily reality of the characters’ lives. The intimacy that Sarnoski established makes the pig’s eventual kidnapping even more emotionally devastating.

Pig expertly breaks down the economics of fine dining, serving as a clever critique of capitalism. While there are multiple factors involved in Rob’s decision to break away from society, his primary motivation is that the other chefs and restaurants in the area purely saw food as a commodity. They did not put the care and personality into meals that Rob felt was so important. Where others look at the pig and see a tool that can help appease high-end clients, Rob sees something unique that is worth protecting. Pig tragically notes that the lingering effects of capitalism and greed end up drawing everyone in, even those like Rob who want to take no part in it.

'Pig' Takes Its Premise Seriously

Considering how many terrible direct-to-VOD action and thriller films Cage starred in over the past decade, it would have been easy to mistake Pig for another forgettable entry in his filmography. However, Sarnoski plays the premise of Pig straight, without any hints of irony. The somewhat unusual nature of Rob’s relationship with the pig is one of the film’s strengths, as he is constantly ridiculed by the other characters for why he cares so much. Thankfully, Sarnoski doesn’t ever rely on convention, as the film’s ending is particularly upsetting and bleak.

Pig is also proof that a dedication to process can be dramatically satisfying. The film takes the time to show both Rob and Amir perfecting their meals, which signifies what makes a “great chef” compared to a hired hand. While these are the type of details that are often cut out in favor of streamlining the narrative, Sarnoski chooses to immerse the viewers in the unique side of the world that the film is dedicated to. He makes the decision to depict cooking as a form of art, and one that for Rob requires intense mental concentration.

'Pig' Is a Throwback to Nicolas Cage’s Early Work

Pig isn’t the only memorable Cage film of the past few years, as he managed to turn in delightfully fun roles as himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and Dracula in Renfield. It’s great to see that he has a sense of humor about his reputation, but Pig feels more in line with the critically acclaimed dramas that turned Cage into a sensation. The film’s gritty, unsentimental attitude evokes comparison to the coming-of-age drama Birdy and the subversive Hollywood satire Adaptation. These roles showed a quiet, contemplative side to Cage in which he plays more sensitive characters.

It’s admirable that Cage was willing to take a risk on an unproven talent in Sarnoski, as it would have been far easier for him to work with a more established name. Given how unusual the premise is, Pig may have struggled to find an audience without the novelty of Cage’s involvement. Thankfully, it became a critically acclaimed debut for Sarnoski that has allowed him to move on to even more ambitious projects.

Nicolas Cage Is Having a Comeback

Cage doesn’t necessarily need a comeback, as no amount of bad movies will tarnish the legacy of his greatest performances; inevitably, classics like Leaving Las Vegas, Peggy Sue Got Married, Raising Arizona, and Birdy will be better remembered than misfires like Ghost Rider or The Wicker Man. However, the success of Pig indicated that the general public was willing to take Cage seriously again, as the opportunity to see him taking on a dramatic role of this caliber was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Pig may not have been a box office smash hit in the same way that National Treasure or The Rock were, but it was one of the first films that established NEON as a legitimate distributor interested in making compelling independent films. Sarnoski also benefited from the critical success that it was granted with; in addition to getting hired by Paramount Pictures to direct A Quiet Place: Day One, Sarnoski is set to direct the upcoming A24 drama The Death of Robin Hood with Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer.

Cage showed an ability to elicit emotion in Pig that emphasized the empathetic qualities he has as an actor. While it is very easy to classify the work that he does as being too “big,” Cage has certainly shown a great deal of sensitivity with his ability to get inside the head of troubled characters that are coping with serious issues. This degree of vulnerability can often get ignored in the direct-to-VOD genre films that he so often appears in, but Pig was not the last film that took advantage of his unique talents. 2023 saw the release of the dark comedy Dream Scenario, in which Cage plays a professor who unexpectedly begins appearing in the dreams of people around the world. Although the film serves as a scathing satire of “cancel culture” and the notion of celebrity, Cage’s earnest work made it very charming. The film earned him excellent reviews, and secured him a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical.

Cage has surprisingly become a box office draw again thanks to the shocking success of Longlegs at the 2024 summer box office; although there was certainly a lot of anticipation among cinephiles for the next film by Osgood Perkins after the acclaim for The Blackcoat’s Daughter, no one would have expected that a film as cynical and disturbing as Longlegs would end up outgrossing potential blockbusters like Kraven the Hunter and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Longlegs is a complex film with a divine, ambiguous ending, but it is certainly the terrifying performance by Cage that helped advance the viral marketing campaign. There was certainly an appeal to older film fans who grew up with Cage’s work, and were interested in seeing him take on such a villainous role. However, the performance was so universally hailed that it is possible that Cage was able to reinvent his image as the icon of an entirely different generation.

Pig is available to rent on Amazon in the U.S.

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