It’s not often that production on a movie starring Nicolas Cage is upset by a squabble between the director and studio. After all, Cage is known for his eccentric acting methods, sudden bizarre outbursts and big bug eyes that’d make a Spartan soil themselves in fear. On Dying Of The Light, however, the crazed, brilliant man has been well and truly upstaged by director Paul Schrader.
For the movie in question, Schrader was at first content to write the script, (then set to be directed by Nicolas Winding Refn) before climbing aboard to direct. He’s since gone tete-a-tete with producers in the editing suite. While the first image from the movie has landed – surely a sign things are at least gearing up to a release – controversy surrounding the finished product has arisen.
According to producer Gary Hirsch (who spoke to Variety), the dissent over the movie was quite normal:
“It was a typical process in that he delivered a cut, we and the distributor saw the cut and believed there was a better movie there. We made suggestions, which Paul to a large extent didn’t approve of, and so he refused to make the changes that we all wanted, despite the fact that the changes we were looking for were very much in line with the script that he wrote and shot.”
While another producer claims there’s really no reason for everyone to be in a tizzy, Schrader’s exit from the project after delivering a re-cut second version of the movie suggests otherwise. Even Refn, who remained attached as an exec. producer, spoke out about the intervention. He called the actions of the producers “artistic disrespect.”
Dying Of The Light follows a CIA agent Evan Lake (played by Cage) who goes blind during his last assignment. It’s still without a release date, but we’ll keep you posted.
