Stitched Portraits: Nicolas Cage

(b. Jan. 7, 1964) No matter what you think of Nicolas Cage - whether you are a Cage enthusiast who watches National Treasure regularly, a Cage apologist who tells me about how good he was in Raising Arizona, or a Cage hater who laments his explosive acting with an explosive passion - the importance of Nicolas Cage cannot be dismissed.

Reasons:
1. Nicolas Coppola threw away that pesky, highly recognizable last name (...something about films that feature Mafia things...) in favor of an obscure Marvel superhero named Luke Cage. While he wondered if it was the right choice he remembered that he was listening to a lot of John Cage too - so clearly, the name was perfect. Totally a smart idea.
2. This actually was a smart idea.
3. He has been in over 60 films and one of them is called Gone in 60 Seconds.
4. He buys a whole bunch of big houses and castles, even.
5. Peter Loew in Vampire's Kiss. In this movie that should be placed on the National Film Register, Cage plays an arrogant literary agent who descends into madness when he is bitten by a woman who he believes has turned him into a vampire. Lucky for all of us viewers, he does not become a vampire, just a psychopath with plastic vampire teeth. (depicted below)

Nicolas Cage (as Peter Loew):