One of Nicolas Cage’s co-stars in an upcoming horror film was so scared by his appearance during filming that her heart rate hit an alarming 170bpm.
The film Longlegs is set to be released this Friday (July 12), but Cage’s physical appearance in the film has been kept a tight secret by the producers and crew.
Even the film’s trailer, which you can watch below, does not give away the look of Cage’s character, who is an elusive and satanic serial killer being hunted down by the FBI.
His co-star in the movie, Maika Moore (It Follows, The Guest) was also unprepared for Cage’s appearance and on the day that she finally laid eyes on him for the first time on set, she was reported to have seen her heart rate leap to a huge 170bpm.
“When I walked in and saw Nicolas Cage as Longlegs, that was a visceral experience I’ll never forget,” she has said.
The film’s writer-director Osgood Perkins (Gretel & Hansel, The Blackcoat’s Daughter) has spoken about the very deliberate ploy that the film’s creators have used to conceal Cage’s look so far from audiences.
“It’s driving people towards a freak show at a circus tent,” he told GeekTyrant.
“We’ve got the thing behind the curtain, and when there’s enough people gathered round, we’re going to pull the curtain.”
The film has been met with very positive early reviews, currently sitting on a strong 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes. “Saturated in disquieting mood while leveraging a nightmarishly gonzo performance by Nicolas Cage, Longlegs is a satanic horror that effectively instills panic,” the site’s critical synopsis reads.
Cage has also spoken up the film’s horror credentials. “It’s the equivalent of putting a warning label on a jar of nitroglycerin,” he said. “The monster is a highly, highly dangerous substance. The way it’s moved, unveiled, deployed has to be treated very carefully.”
“Forget about the movie theater blowing up; the whole city could blow up, nay the country, maybe even the world. He is going to change your reality. Your doors of perception are going to open, and your life is not going to be the same.”
Social media reactions from critics at a surprise screening of the film in Los Angeles described the film as “the most disturbing film of the year” and “100 minutes of unrelenting, intense and overwhelming dread”.
The forthcoming release of this film will precede another Cage horror film, The Carpenter’s Son, which will see Cage star alongside FKA Twigs in a tale centred around the childhood of Jesus Christ.