Very few actors have managed to be so simultaneously revered and reviled as Nicolas Cage. For every Leaving Las Vegas there is a Fire Birds. To call his work inconsistent is to malign the word inconsistent.
However, one thing remains consistent in Nic’s work – his vast collection of hair pieces.
You see, like so many of us (myself included) Nic is losing/has lost most of his hair. However, unlike, say, me, Nic has an army of Hollywood magicians to help him find just the right coif to go along with whichever role he is tackling.
The results, like his canon, have been mixed. Today we begin a series delving into Nic’s wonderful world of wigs. We’ll look at the good, the bad and the simply outrageous.
When the idea came to me, I knew exactly which hairpiece we’d start with. If you actually read the title of the article you know where we’re going.
To quote Cameron Poe…
Well, Baby-O, its not exactly mai-tais and Yahtzee out here, but let’s do it!
Say hello to the Con Air Special Forces mullet.
Ain’t it purty.
It seems that after serving 8 years in maximum security for the crime of being a deadly weapon, Army Ranger Cameron Poe decided to ditch his military issue haircut for one that made him look like a roadie for Great White. That makes perfect sense doesn’t it?
Neither does much of anything else in Con Air.
What is impressive is the amount of screen time the mullet gets. It flaps behind Cage in the desert. It sticks to his face during the finale. It frightens the daughter he never knew when he tries to give her “the bunny.”
Smart kid.
This hairstyle went extinct within months of Nirvana’s big Teen Spirit scented debut. I’m not sure what made Nic decide he’d try to revive it in 1997, but it didn’t work. That’s too bad. Imagine, if you will, a legion of Nicolas Cage fans, sporting mullets, 4 days worth of beard and growling in a really bad southern accent.
Oh what could have been.
So there you have it, a look back at one of the many intriguing hair choices made by Nicolas Cage in his long and lustrous (not a typo) career. If they ever start to award an Oscar for wigs (like the one they gave Julia Roberts’ push up bra for Erin Brockovich), Cage will be a multiple winner.
In the meantime, spend a few watching the Con Air Special Forces mullet in glorious action courtesy of Trisha Yearwood and the song “How Can I Live,” which is, for my money, the third most annoying movie song of all time.
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“the one they gave Julia Roberts’ push up bra” – FTW!