Cage plays Milton, a felon who seeks revenge for the murder of his daughter and the kidnapping of his grandchild. Heard plays a sexy waitress who steals her ex-boyfriend's muscle car and helps Milton in his hunt for the cult members who want to sacrifice his grandchild as a means to unleash hell on Earth. Together for a press conference, Cage and Heard talked about working on the 3-D project and the appeal of genre films.
Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard Drive Angry Press Conference Interview
What was the appeal of Drive Angry?Nicolas Cage: "The first thing I would offer is that this is a movie that hails from ‘70s classic films, like High Plains Drifter, movies that were a major factor in my decision to become a film actor. And then on top of that is it’s in 3-D and directed by one of the pioneers in this day and age of 3-D, Patrick [Lussier]. He’s a purist, so I knew it would be in the camera and that I would have an opportunity to try to work with the 3-D camera and see how that would inform my performance, with different body language and different ways I could play with the format. That was a big draw for me."
Can you describe the essence of this character for you?
Nicolas Cage: "I try to keep my characters raising more questions than giving answers. I don’t want to leave too much on the table. I want you to have your connection and your secret understanding of the character, so I hesitate to talk too much about anything specifically about him."
Why do you think the aspect of retribution resonates so strongly with an audience when we see these characters?
Nicolas Cage: "Because everybody gets angry. Everyone feels like they’re being tested or they’ve gone through trials in life and, especially when loved ones are involved. The fierce, protective nature comes alive. And I think this is happening in Milton. He’s on a terror to save this little child."
Do you consider Drive Angry one of your midnight movies, like Wild at Heart and Vampire’s Kiss? And can you explain your love for those movies?
Nicolas Cage: "Absolutely. I definitely feel that Drive Angry fits into that audience. I think my love for those kinds of films is the intensity and the adrenaline of them. They don’t compromise. They just honest and they give it everything they have. I used to enjoy punk rock music. I feel like it’s that kind of relentless intensity that I respond to. The little I saw today I felt that Drive Angry achieved that. I was very excited by the footage I saw today. I haven’t seen the finished result yet, but I do think that this movie is really in your face, it’s tough and it’s cool, and I’m excited by that."
What's the difference as an actor making a film in 3-D?
Nicolas Cage: "For me, there’s no fun in [converting it later]. If you shellac the movie I have nothing to do with it. It gives me no opportunity to work with the 3-D camera. That way, it’s in post. This way, it’s a much more collaborative experience, where the actors get to work with the director and with the camera and talk about it. And therefore, it’s exciting. Otherwise, I really have nothing to do with it as an actor."
Were there specific ways it affected your performance?
Nicolas Cage: "For me, in terms of perspective, I wanted to know how I was going to become friends with this new mechanism. I would talk with Patrick and ask, 'Can I move like this?' I even went so far at one point, to try to stick my tongue out all the way, so I could get into the fourth row of the audience to see if that would have an affect. I don’t know if it made it into the movie or not. But, my point is is it's a relationship with perspective, and the camera, body language, dance and movement, and I wanted to see if there was anything we could do with that."
Amber Heard: "Elaborating on what he said, for me, part of it was feeling like you were a part of the audience, in a way, participating actively while you're filming something. Acting and participating in how it’s going to be viewed later is kind of, in a weird way puts me in the audience’s position, and that was an interesting to go about filming something. I also know that we had certain shots, because this movie was conceived in 3-D and not converted, we had the privilege and opportunity to kind of manipulate some of our actions and blocking around how it would be viewed later. I threw some punches directly into the lens and I backed the car up almost over the camera a couple of times to create effects with specific results that it will achieve in the audience, viewing the film in 3D. I also have to say that I think movies when they're converted later...I haven’t seen good examples of movies that so much. I see a lot of good 3-D that were shot in 3-D, but it’s harder to convert something and maintain the quality, no matter what you’re converting."
Nicolas, growing up you went through the various incarnations of 3-D. What do you think of 3-D movies of the past in comparison to 3-D movies of today?
Nicolas Cage: "For me, the 3-D movies in the ‘50s never worked for me. I just felt it didn’t look right. I would not go into that dimension. They just turned me off because they looked so goofy. Today, this is the time for 3-D. I think Avatar really showed that, in terms of the perspective and not just pop-ups, but perspective and depth. It’s almost like painting. Some of the shots that we did in Drive Angry, when I would look at the monitor, I saw those depths of field, like with a pool and the pool was lit at night and Amber and I would be running, and you see the dimension. There’s no better word for it than beautiful. It’s a very beautiful format for filmmaking."
Amber, what was it like to do such a physical role?
Amber Heard: "It’s one of the only movies where I actually get to kick some ass, but it’s surprisingly not too far from home. I mean, I’m from Texas and guns and fist fights and stuff are all part of the gig. Everything from the hot rod to the cowboy boots was close to home for me. I was happy."
Amber, do you feel like genre films have stronger roles for women?
Amber Heard: "This seems like an action film to me. It does have supernatural elements to it, but in terms of strong female characters, that’s why I’m doing this job. I would be a model if I didn’t want to do something. For me, the genre serves sometimes as a good vehicle for young women in this business to actually have a role. It might not always be saving the day, but you certainly get to more than just play the girlfriend in horror films and thrillers. I’m drawn to them because I actually get to do something in them most of the time. And this one was on a different level completely. Piper, my character, is this bad-ass, potty-mouth, Daisy Duke-wearing, Charger-driving, gun-toting motherf--ker, and she doesn’t take any sh-t. Where else am I going to find that? This is the only script I’ve ever read with those elements."
Nicolas, what is your character’s relationship with anger?
Nicolas Cage: "It’s really not that simple for me. I can’t encapsulate everything about Milton in the word anger. There are other things also motivating his drive. Hopefully, when you see the movie, there are other dimensions to the character. It’s more like a sense of otherness and a purpose, but the anger is an anger that’s a residual anger of something that happened in another life. And I’ve probably said too much already. But I do want to talk about the relationship that Milton has not with anger but with Amber."
"Piper provides the heart in the movie. When you see the movie, you’ll see what Amber did with it so beautifully. There is another element that may surprise you, where the film actually has a pretty deep, strong heart - and that’s not romantic. It’s like a partnership. I think it would be great if we could do another film because I love that relationship to deliver between Milton and Piper."
Amber Heard: "I’m in!"
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Drive Angry 3D hits theaters on February 11, 2011.
