Paul Schrader still is able to make movies. I do not understand how this can happen. Yes, I know he wrote Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ, but unless he is working with Martin Scorsese, every other thing he has made has ranged from subpar to genuinely awful, much like his last film The Canyons. You know, the one with Lindsay Lohan and James Deen. The one I and six other people saw. Well, today we are “treated” to a trailer for his latest film Dying of the Light, starring the man who is willing to take on any role: Nicolas Cage.
Now, I like Nic Cage. I think he is a legitimately good actor. He just has a knack for picking the worst material possible. He had a bit of luck with this year’s Joe, David Gordon Green’s movie that came and went, but around all that is a string of poorly conceived, cheesy dramas and inert thrillers. Dying of the Light looks like a combination of those two genres. The trailer also tries to sell it as a true Oscar contender, such as including “Academy Award Winner Nicolas Cage”, and packaging what looks like a bad movie as something that will matter really rubs me the wrong way.
Cage plays Evan Lake, a veteran CIA agent. Not only does he have to have a battle with a terrorist, he also has another battle: dementia. Anton Yelchin, Irène Jacob, and Alexander Karim also star. You can watch the trailer and see the poster below, if you wish. I think it looks quite terrible, if you had not already guessed by now, but others might be excited.
Perhaps more exciting, though, is a story from Variety detailing the behind-the-scenes troubles the film has faced including Schrader quitting the picture “leaving an un-scored, un-mixed workprint behind”. Nicolas Winding Refn, who serves as producer, was originally going to direct with Harrison Ford and Channing Tatum starring, has been quoted saying Schrader’s cut of the film was “absolutely terrific.” Refn praised Cage’s performance and has called further cutting of the feature an act of “artistic disrespect”. Schrader made his opinion (or inability to have one) known on Facebook.
You can read more on the issue here, which includes Refn hoping an Internet movement for Schrader’s cut will one day become available. For now, here’s the trailer for the version that will hit limited theaters and Video On Demand on December 5.
