Sometimes, certain names in Hollywood invoke a sense of unpredictability. Tiffany Haddish and Nicolas Cage both fall into that category. So the stars acting together in a film may look strange, but it makes sense on paper. Cage and Haddish will appear in the satire The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. But things didn’t go so smoothly at first, according to the actress. This led to Haddish revealing the NSFW reason she was initially "intimidated" by the Oscar winner.
Given Nicolas Cage’s on and off-screen persona, it would be easy for anyone to be intimidated. But Tiffany Haddish has always appeared to be a formidable force in her own right. According to her, acting alongside the Oscar winner caused the usually energetic Haddish to no be on her A-game. The Girls Trip star said about the awkward moment:
You could tell [Nicolas Cage] was getting irritated and I was like, ‘Look, I’m really intimidated by you and I need to tell you something … I have to tell you this story, man, and once I tell you this story it’ll be fine.’
Despite the public’s perception, Nicolas Cage does come off as a serious artist about his craft. Tiffany Haddish’s mental distraction may have appeared to be unprofessional to someone of Cage’s caliber. With the ongoing tension between her and Nicolas Cage, the Bad Trip star decided to reveal a very intimate story. Of course, Tiffany Haddish isn't afraid to reveal embarrassing moments. So she broke the tension by spilling her long-held secret to the Oscar winner. When discussing the story with NPR, she said:
So basically I was at the movie theater seeing Face/Off. I was about 17 years old on a date with this guy and nobody else was in the theater really, it was just us in the back of the theater. And we started making out and stuff, and it was my first time being fiddled with, I will say it like that. And as I was achieving a momentous moment that I had never experienced in my life, I opened my eyes, and the eyes of Nicolas Cage are looking into my eyes super big. And that was my first big O.
Well, that's certainly one way to break the ice but, based on Tiffany Haddish's comments, it was necessary. The actress further admitted to NPR that Unbearable Weight forced her to tap into some serious acting. That added to the pressure of working with the Oscar winner, despite the fact that she'd been in films such as The Kitchen and Here Today. Haddish revealed that as part of her acting process, she needs to connect with her co-stars on a personal level, which led her to reveal her past experience in the movie theater.
Thankfully for her though, things seem to have worked out for the best. Tiffany Haddish recalled that after she dropped the revelation, Nicolas Cage laughed at her story and that it ultimately helped the two to carry on with filming. So who says a NSFW memory can't help one get over a mental block? Hopefully, this translates into better chemistry between Cage and Haddish in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which arrives in theaters on Apr. 22, 2022.
