New Western The Old Way follows former gunslinger Colton Briggs (Nicolas Cage) down a darkish street of revenge. Colton Briggs has discovered a peaceable life, shifting previous his days as a infamous gunslinger in favor of turning into a household man. However, when his previous comes calling within the type of the outlaw son of a person he killed a few years in the past, his spouse is the one to pay the worth. Following this horrible tragedy, Colton and his daughter, Brooke (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), got down to avenge the matriarch of their household at any price.
The Old Way is Cage’s first foray into the Western style. Following most of the traditional Western tropes, The Old Way units itself aside by incorporating a compelling and distinctive father-daughter relationship. The Old Way additionally finds a recent tackle the traditional revenge story, with every of the characters feeling the results that include a necessity for vengeance.
Screen Rant spoke with Cage about his new Western The Old Way and what drew him to the Western style and why the script reminds him of Charles Bronson as Harmonica. Cage defined how he finds the distinctive voice for every of his characters and praises the work of his co-star Armstrong.
Screen Rant: Listen, I like an excellent Western, and this took me proper again to my childhood. Westerns are one of many tentpole genres in American cinema. Why did you need to play in that exact sandbox, particularly with this kind of antihero kind of character?
Nicolas Cage: Yeah. I’m with you in regards to the Western. I grew up watching Once Upon a Time within the West, and my favourite western efficiency is Charles Bronson as Harmonica. I used to be at all times fascinated by his skill to convey a lot and achieve this little. And there was an enigmatic, spooky high quality to that character. When they despatched me this script, that is instantly who I considered. And I like characters that increase extra questions than solutions.
And I feel that with this Colton Briggs character and his daughter Brooke Briggs, these are two social misfits that do not know methods to match into society. They do not know methods to snigger at individuals’s jokes. They do not know methods to cry at funerals. They do not know methods to really feel love. And they each will be predisposed in the direction of violence. So I feel for me, on the coronary heart of it, it was a household drama a few father and a daughter. And they need to, via the expertise of this street journey, study to like. Yes, it is framed in a time and place and a wardrobe of the Old West. But to me, it is actually only a easy household drama about two social misfits.
This film actually faucets into the connection between father and youngsters with Colton and Brooke and James’s motivation. What do you assume is exclusive about that exact bond? And how did you faucet into that with Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who performs your daughter Brooke?
Nicolas Cage: I used to be actually in awe of Ryan. I believed she introduced a lot pathos, complexity, depth, maturity at her age to this character of Brooke. And it isn’t a straightforward ask to play a personality that is approaching virtually a robotic, after which nonetheless have an viewers really feel for you. And I used to be in awe of her expertise. And I felt paternal in the direction of her, and I wished her to be protected. But she’s a really succesful younger woman. She’s completely ready, she’s utterly on time, she interacts effectively with the crew, and she or he’s at all times on level at motion. I felt like I used to be extra of a fan than the rest.
You do such a terrific job of not solely embodying these various kinds of characters, however actually discovering their particular voices for every one. Whether it is Colton Briggs, Spider-Man Noir, or perhaps a heightened model of your self, how do you discover these totally different voices if you’re growing these characters?
Nicolas Cage: I used to be actually in awe of Ryan. I believed she introduced a lot pathos, complexity, depth, maturity at her age to this character of Brooke. And it isn’t a straightforward ask to play a personality that is approaching virtually a robotic, after which nonetheless have an viewers really feel for you. And I used to be in awe of her expertise. And I felt paternal in the direction of her, and I wished her to be protected. But she’s a really succesful younger woman. She’s completely ready, she’s utterly on time, she interacts effectively with the crew, and she or he’s at all times on level at motion. I felt like I used to be extra of a fan than the rest.
I like you as Spider-Man Noir, and I’m hoping that we get to see you in Across the Spider-Verse. What are the possibilities that we’ll see Spider-Man Noir, and you will be revising that function yet one more time?
Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage stars in his first-ever Western as Colton Briggs, a cold-blooded gunslinger turned respectable household man. When an outlaw and his gang put Colton and his household in peril, Colton is pressured to take up arms with an unlikely accomplice — his 12-year-old daughter (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) — on this action-filled movie that builds towards its fateful showdown with pulse-pounding suspense.
Check out our interview with The Old Way director Brett Donowho.