How music created Nicolas Cage’s acting idol

(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)

Sun 2 March 2025 4:30, UK

Considering how absolutely insane he comes across, it’s hard to pin down exactly what inspires Nicolas Cage. The living meme has led such a varied and fascinating life that he clearly isn’t following just one particular dream—unless that dream is to make the internet explode. As talented as he is enigmatic, Cage doesn’t really need an inspiration—he’s more than enough of one himself.

According to one source, however, there is something that helps the secret Coppola get out of bed in the morning—music. In a 2013 interview with The Guardian, he called it “the highest art form”. He’s a self-confessed Elvis nut—which is a little strange considering he was once married to the King’s daughter—and even repeatedly inspired Tom Waits to write the song ‘Eyeball Kid’. However, neither Waits nor Elvis were described as Cage’s hero in that same article. That accolade went to someone entirely unexpected.

In his own words, Cage’s only idol at the time was Sir Anthony Hopkins. This is because the younger actor had recently discovered that his elder was “a marvellous, magnificent classical composer”.

Cage continued, saying, “I was always such a huge fan of him as an actor. Now I can see it in his acting, the way he delivers his dialogue, it’s musical. Even in Thor, when the young upstart says, ‘I’m king’, and Hopkins says, ‘You’re NOT; KING; YET.’  It’s music! Ba-BA; BA; BA.” The interviewer assured his readers that this final staccato was delivered with a ‘theatrical pose’. Lord only knows what that must have looked like.

What Cage says is true; the esteemed Welshman is indeed a classical composer. “I’ve been composing music all my life and if I’d been clever enough at school I would like to have gone to music college,” he told The Guardian in a separate piece released two years later. “As it was I had to settle for being an actor.” The Silence of the Lambs star realised his dream later in life, penning music for concert halls and embarking on a world tour in 2007. His wife Stella, a fan of the Dutch violinist André Rieu, sent him a composition that her husband had written in his mid-20s. Rieu would record the piece, entitled ‘And the Waltz Goes On’, on his 2011 album of the same name.

Hopkins had never heard the piece performed before until it received its premiere at a Rieu concert in Vienna. It was clear to see that this meant a lot to him, the culmination of a lifelong dream.

“It was Stella’s idea to collect all the scores that were lying around gathering dust in drawers around the house and send them off,” Hopkins continued. “After they got played by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, other people took notice and finally they’ve been recorded by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.” The unexpected success of his work led to the Oscar winner releasing his own collection of classic pieces in 2012, titled Composer.

Though Cage has never pursued a professional career in music, he has shown off his pipes in a number of his films. He sings pretty conventionally in both Peggy Sue Got Married and Wild at Heart, but arguably his best musical performance is in Longlegs. His creepy lullaby accentuates what was already one of his greatest, most unnerving performances.

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