Like the rest of us movie geeks, Nicolas Cage would like to see John Carpenter direct another movie one day. It’s been 12 years since Carpenter helmed a feature film with the 2010 psychological horror thriller The Ward. Since then he’s mostly been playing video games and composing music.
Cage and Carpenter recently had a conversation with each other that was published on Document, and during that conversation, Carpenter called Cage, “The bravest actor I’ve ever known. You try things, you don’t stop.” He went on to say:
“It is unbelievable. A new movie with a new idea and a new character, and here he is again. He’s going out there one more time. I mean, you love living on the edge of this performance stuff. Putting it out there. I just stay in my box. I enjoy myself here.”
It’s at this point that Cage gently nudges Carpenter about making more movies saying, “I get it. But it would be fantastic to see more of your movies, you know?”
Carpenter explains that he’s making music now and the conversation leads to Cage telling Carpenter that he wants him to be the “Total Filmmaker” explaining:
“I think more directors should learn from what you’re doing. Jerry Lewis used to say to me— ‘I want you to be the Total Filmmaker.’ And to be the Total Filmmaker, you have to write your own music, you have to act, you have to direct. What you’re doing is closer to the Total Filmmaker than most, you know? But you gotta star in it now.”
Cage then brings up how it’s time for him to start giving back in some way and mentioned doing a class saying: “I would make it very Socratic. I would not be one of those guys who is a tyrant of a teacher. I would ask them questions. I would make it an open conversation. And I would get into different things that I’ve tried that helped me get there.”
Carpenter then responded with the idea of launching a Nicolas Cage University, which he seems more passionate about than making movies. He said:
“I like it. You know, what we could do—if you want to be a grifter with me—we could do something like Trump University. We could do Nicolas Cage University. What do you think?”
He added that they could grit some bucks off people, and while Cage says he’s not really ready for Nicolas Cage University, Carpenter told him, “I want you to consider Nicolas Cage University. I want you to think about it.”
They are obviously having some fun with each other, but I’m sure there are some people that would jump at the opportunity to join Nicolas Cage University! Would you?