Watch Nic Cage Read ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ at a Nic Cage Film Festival

Chris Tilly
Movies
Movies

If you’re a fan of Nicolas Cage, you’re going to wish you were in Austin, Texas last night, as the man himself turned up at the city’s very own Nic Cage film festival.

Nicolas Cage onstage with C4GED host Greg MacLennan.

The brainchild of Greg MacLennan – programmer at the world-famous Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – ‘CAGED’ is a celebration of all things Nic, and has been running for four years now. Every year MacLennan leaves a seat free for his hero. And every year that seat stays empty. Until last night.

Not only did Cage show up mid-way through an audience rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ directed at him, he then proceeded to read aloud Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ – a story that apparently gave him nightmares as a child, and influenced some of his most manic performances.

Cage then stuck around to watch the five movies that he himself had programmed, the line-up consisting of Bangkok Dangerous, Joe, Bringing Out the Dead, Army of One and Lord of War.

“I’m thrilled to say I made it to C4GED” Cage explained. “I’ve been trying to get here before, never happened, but I was always very touched that this was occurring here in Austin.”

As for an exhausted and elated MacLennan, he’s already thinking about 2018, as he exclusively told Fandom: “I have no idea how to top this next year. I’d always said I’d do CAGED until I got him to come, and I did. I’ve done Stallone Zone and Russellmania. So maybe it’s time I start pounding on those doors.”

Chris Tilly
Freelance writer. At this point my life is a combination of 1980s horror movies, Crystal Palace football matches, and episodes of I'm Alan Partridge. The first series. When he was in the travel tavern. Not the one after.