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Nicolas Cage has spent the past several years knocking out one low-budget yarn after another, making disposable thrillers or interesting oddities, sometimes in the same year. Other than some occasional voice work, the last major studio release starring the actor was 2011's Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, based on the Marvel character.

But now Cage could be back (not that he ever went away) in a big way as he finds himself in the center of a hot deal for a project in which he would play one of the most iconic characters in Hollywood: Nicolas Cage himself.

Beating out several suitors such as HBO Max and Paramount, Lionsgate is in final negotiations to pick up The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (can there be anything more Cage-like?), The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The meta movie project has a script by Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, with Gormican attached to direct.

If the deals close, Cage would star as actor Nicolas Cage. The character is desperate to get a role in a new Quentin Tarantino movie while also dealing with a strained relationship with his teenage daughter. He also occasionally talks to an egotistical 1990s version of himself who rides him for making too many crappy movies and for not being a star anymore.

The Cage character is also under a mountain of debt and finds himself forced to make an appearance at the birthday party of a Mexican billionaire who happens to be a fan of the actor's work and secretly hopes to show him a script on which he's been working.

While he bonds with the man, Cage is informed by the CIA that the billionaire is actually a drug cartel kingpin who has kidnapped the daughter of a Mexican presidential nominee and Cage is subsequently recruited by the U.S. government to get intelligence. The situation spirals even more dramatically when the billionaire brings over Cage's daughter and his ex-wife for a reconciliation, and when their lives are on the line, Cage takes on the role of a lifetime.

The story is meta and includes nods to Cage works such as Leaving Las Vegas, Face-Off and Gone in 60 Seconds, while the script that Cage and the billionaire are writing begins to mirror events in the storyline. The project has tones reminiscent of Adaptation, which starred Cage; Jean-Claude Van Damme's meta movie JCVD; and the John Travolta Hollywood caper Get Shorty, among others.

Kevin Turen, who produced the just-released drama Waves and was an executive producer on HBO's Euphoria, would produce with Cage and his Saturn Films banner, along with Mike Nilon.

The fact that there is even a spirited interest in Unbearable Weight is part Hollywood dream factory concoction since the script wasn't even supposed to be seen by buyers. Gormican wrote and directed the little-seen rom-com That Awkward Moment, which starred Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller, and with Etten, created Ghosted, a comedy that ran for one season on Fox. The two were looking to shake things up in their careers and wrote Unbearable Weight as a sample script, hoping it would open additional doors. The script was sent around months ago, according to sources. Interest seemed to bubble up simultaneously when many began thinking that the script itself could be sellable and, mind blown, what if Cage himself did it?

According to sources, the script was shown to Cage along with a letter that Gormican wrote, pleading his case and saying how the piece was a love letter to the actor, not something that made fun of him. Cage was convinced and became attached in recent weeks.

The interest in the project was so high that sources say Cage is lining up to achieve a payday that would put him in the same range he was in when making such studio hits as Con Air and National Treasure.

Cage is repped by WME, Stride Management and attorney Patrick Knapp of Goodman Schenkman. Gormican is repped by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and Michael Schenkman of Goodman Schenkman. Etten is repped by UTA and 3 Arts.

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Nicolas Cage‘s upcoming action-comedy satire The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, in which he plays a version of himself, will hit theaters April 22, 2022, Lionsgate announced Wednesday.

Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio and Lily Sheen also star in the movie, alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Tiffany Haddish.

Directed by Tom Gormican, the film stars Cage as a fictionalized version of himself. In this instance, the character is unfulfilled creatively and facing financial ruin.

Consequently, the actor must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan, but things take a wildly unexpected turn when the actor is recruited by a CIA and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved onscreen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones. With a career built for this very moment, the seminal award-winning actor must take on the role of a lifetime: Nic Cage.

Lionsgate beat out other suitors in picking up the project. Gormican directed from a script he wrote with Kevin Etten.

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In the comedy-thriller The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (out April 22) Nicolas Cage plays "Nick Cage." So what exactly does that mean?

"['Nick Cage'] is an invented version of Nic Cage," says the Oscar winner, 58. "The character is feeling unfulfilled and contending with the rejection that can happen so often in the small town that is Hollywood. It's not me. I'm feeling pretty good about things."

The film's Nick Cage accepts a million dollars to attend the birthday party of a crime boss and Cage superfan named Javi (Pedro Pascal). "Javi has a wax statue of Nick and you think, 'Oh, it might be awkward between a film star and a fan,'" says Cage. "But they're both cinephiles, so they're having wonderful conversations about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Paddington 2."

The cast also includes Neil Patrick Harris playing Cage's agent; Sharon Horgan and newcomer Lily Sheen as the actor's ex-wife and daughter, respectively; and Tiffany Haddish as a CIA agent. "Tiffany factors into the story once Nic has gotten to Mallorca, where the birthday party takes place," explains director and co-writer Tom Gormican. "She ropes Nick into a CIA operation and the plot [proceeds] from there."

As he did in 2002's Adaptation, the real Cage pulls double duty, playing both "Nick" and "Nicky," a younger, Wild at Heart-era version of the actor and figment of his imagination. "He's got the lanky long hair; he's just constantly riding Nick about his career choices," says Cage. "I wasn't too excited about the idea of playing myself, but when Tom sent me this script, Nicky reminded me a little of Jerry Lewis' Buddy Love in The Nutty Professor. I always admired what he did with that movie. For me, Nicky steals the show."

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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent – In Theaters April 22, 2022. Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Lily Sheen, with Neil Patrick Harris, and Tiffany Haddish

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