Prisoners of the Ghostland: Why Nicolas Cage Was Cast

Nicolas Cage leads the new genre-blending movie Prisoners of the Ghostland, but how did he come to be involved with the Sion Sono-helmed action movie?

Sion Sono’s Prisoners of the Ghostland is in theaters and on VOD platforms now, but how did Nicolas Cage become its leading man? Bringing together samurai, Western, and post-apocalyptic elements, Prisoners of the Ghostland sees Cage as Hero, who is outfitted with a suit with explosives and sent into the barren desert known as the Ghostland to bring back the daughter of the ruthless Governor (Bill Moseley). Just from the synopsis, one can easily infer that there’s frankly nothing else in 2021 like Prisoners of the Ghostland.

Aside from Cage, the film also brings in other big names like Moseley, Sofia Boutella as The Governor’s daughter Bernice, and Nick Cassavetes as Psycho. Fans of Japanese action movies will also swiftly recognize Tak Sakaguchi as The Governor’s silent samurai associate, Yasujiro. As for how Cage boarded the film, it came about through a mutual interest on both his part and the makers in the movie in each other’s past work.

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In Screen Rant’s interview with director Sion Sono, he explained that, with the film being his first English-language production, the producers suggested Cage as Hero, with Sono describing Cage as “a legend”. When Cage and Sono subsequently met in Japan ahead of production on Prisoners of the Ghostland, Cage said he was a fan of Sono’s work as a filmmaker, which was why he came aboard. Sono stated that “there was a trust as a filmmaker that Nic wanted to make that happen with me” on Cage’s part, and that’s pretty evident in the finished film.

As Sono’s first English-language movie, Prisoners of the Ghostland is a different experience on every level for those not already familiar with his work in Japan. Meanwhile, the entire concept of the film is one so perfectly suited to Cage’s particular brand of going over the top, it’s hard to imagine anyone else as Hero. Not unlike Escape from New York, Prisoners of the Ghostland aims to be as crazy as it can be from start to finish, so Sono and Cage’s mutual desire to collaborate on the film makes plenty of sense.

Sono’s direction and Cage’s performance as Hero bring Prisoners of the Ghostland to life with how smoothly they mesh with one another. Especially for a movie that fully embraces being bizarre, Cage joining the film made it the entertaining blast it was clearly aiming to be. Hopefully, the two continue to collaborate on future projects with an equal drive to be so off-the-chain.

NEXT: Prisoners Of The Ghostland: Why The Samurai Doesn’t Talk In Nic Cage’s New Movie

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