Movies - TV
Nicolas Cage's Longlegs Transformation Took Cues From An Iconic Musician
By RYAN SCOTT
Without question, “Longlegs” has become the horror movie of 2024 and much of the film’s success can be chalked up to the ace casting of Nicolas Cage as the titular killer.
In an interview with IndieWire, director Osgood Perkins and makeup department head Felix Fox revealed how they turned Cage into a terrifying serial killer in “Longlegs.”
Perkins explained that the pale makeup that covers the actor’s face was taken directly from Bob Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour look.
Dylan employed white makeup during that tour, but Perkins and Fox took it to another level with Cage. Perkins’ said, “The idea was that he'd been busted by sh***y plastic surgery.”
Perkins and Fox wanted “Longlegs” to be an ex-glam rocker who is “androgynous,” noting that the white makeup was how he concealed botched plastic surgery.
Perkins added, “He's as shabby and sh***y and ugly and pathetic as possible, and that was just meant to make him a human being, just a person, not a monster.”