Nicolas Cage had learned the whole script for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent before his first read-through with the cast.

In Tom Gormican’s meta action-comedy, the Face/Off actor plays a fictionalised version of himself, an actor who is down on his luck and in the middle of divorcing his wife, played by Irish actress Sharon Horgan.

In an interview with The New York Times, Horgan revealed that Cage was fully prepared for the cast’s first read-through of the script over Zoom and already knew his dialogue.

“All these people were in different locations, and Nick came onscreen in his little Zoom box and he had this incredible pink leather jacket and shades on,” she recalled. “It was such a starry entrance. And everyone was reading and looking down, but he knew the whole thing – he had it all learned – and it was like a full performance. It was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.”

In the film, the fictional Cage has racked up lots of debts so reluctantly agrees to fly to Mallorca, Spain to meet his rich super-fan Javi. His co-star Pedro Pascal told the publication that he didn’t need act much as he was already a fan of the Con Air star.

“He’s very well prepared, and he’s a great scene partner,” Pascal praised. “He’s in it with you, he’s dancing with you, he’s paying attention if you shift your tone. It was the easiest role in that my character loves Nicolas Cage, and I love Nicolas Cage.”

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is in cinemas now.

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