Pedro Pascal Shares His 4 Favorite Nicolas Cage Movies That Shaped Him as an Actor

Before he became a star, Pedro Pascal was a fan just like the rest of us. The actor would watch films and TV shows and draw inspiration from what he’d see that he could bring into his own approach to acting. The work of Nicolas Cage was among the most influential for Pascal, it seems, and the actor recently shared the four Cage movies that shaped him as an actor.

Pedro Pascal starred in ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’ with Nicolas Cage

While Pascal is perhaps better known for his TV work, the actor has steadily landed bigger and bigger movie roles. In 2022, for instance, he starred opposite Cage in the action comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. In that film, Cage plays a fictionalized version of himself who — hard up for cash — accepts an offer to make a personal appearance in Majorca.

His benefactor is billionaire Javi Gutierrez (Pascal), a Cage superfan who might be up to no good. In the movie, Cage cooperates with federal agents (Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz)  investigating Javi even as the two men form an unlikely friendship. While it underperformed at the box office, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent received strong reviews from critics.

Pedro Pascal had a surprising list of favorite Nicolas Cage movies

Cage, of course, has a signature performance style and a wildly varied filmography under his belt. So in a recent episode of Hot Ones, host Sean Evans asked Pascal if he had a Mount Rushmore of four favorite Cage movies he would recommend. The actor didn’t hesitate to name his top Cage films, leaning heavily on his earlier films because of the impression they made.

First on Pascal’s list was 1987’s Raising Arizona, the Coen brothers’ comedy starring Cage and Holly Hunter. Next up was the Francis Ford Coppola-directed 1986 fantasy comedy-drama Peggy Sue Got Married with Cage and Kathleen Turner. Pascal also name-drops Cage’s action-packed showdown with John Travola in director John Woo’s Face/Off. And finally, he mentioned 1987’s Moonstruck, director Norman Jewison’s romantic comedy featuring Cher.

Pedro Pascal gave a special shout-out to ‘Adaptation’

Even though he named those four Cage films as his most formative, Pascal did include an honorable mention for the 2002 comedy-drama Adaptation. Cage — who won the Academy Award for 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas –- received his second Oscar nomination for his performance as twin brothers Charlie and Donald Kaufman.

“Adaptation is maybe one of the best screen performances in the history of American cinema,” Pascal said on Hot Ones. “But the four that I mentioned have a personal place in my development as an aspiring actor. And to this day, [they remain] in my DNA.” 

So it seems Pascal didn’t have to do too much acting to play the role of an epic Cage fan in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.