Oscar winner invited to his own Las Vegas festival — but will he show?
It’s a Cage match of a different order.
The films of Nicolas Cage are again featured at The Beverly Theater during “Cage Free Weekend.” The retrospective paying homage to the Oscar-winning Las Vegas resident runs Sept. 12-14. In order, the movies being dusted off are “Red Rock West,” “The Rock” and “Honeymoon In Vegas.”
The latter classic features a very young Bruno Mars leveling the place as an Elvis tribute artist.
Kip Kelly, for whom the honeymoon in Vegas seems endless, is holding a spot for Cage.
“We’ve tried calling, but it seems Nic’s playing hard to get,” says Beverly Theater’s program director and arbiter of all things groovy, claiming to be joking. “We’re big fans of everything Nicolas Cage, and we’re convinced he’d be a fan of ours, too. This theater was made for Vegas, and what better way to celebrate our city’s own movie legend than by highlighting his cinematic brilliance? Whether or not he shows up, we’ve saved him a seat—just in case!”
This can only mean a collective civic effort to get Cage to take part, for which yours truly is volunteering.
The first “Cage Free Weekend” at The Beverly was Aug. 10-12, 2023. “Pig,” “Vampire’s Kiss,” “Moonstruck,” “Con Air,” and Cage’s Oscar turn in, “Leaving Las Vegas” were screened.
The success, similar to many of Cage’s characters, was raging.
A “limited number” of $0 tickets are available for “Cage Free Weekend”; go to thebeverlytheater.com for intel.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
