During a recent appearance on his Video Archives Podcast, renowned director Quentin Tarantino expressed nothing but high praise for a surprising Nicolas Cage film, the 2021 drama “Pig.” “After watching some of Nic Cage’s work, I was blown away by his movie, Pig,” Tarantino said to his audience. “That’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in the last five years. He deserves to be proud of it. That guy who directed it [Michael Sarnoski] did a killer job. He did a really, really terrific job.”
Directed by newcomer Michael Sarnoski, Pig stars Cage as Robin “Rob” Feld, a reclusive truffle hunter in Oregon whose beloved foraging pig is kidnapped, sending him on a journey back to Portland to search for the culprit. Critics met the film with widespread acclaim, and Cage’s nuanced performance earned him several Best Actor nominations.
Tarantino went on to praise how Pig subverted expectations compared to Cage’s more recent “revenge-fueled” thriller roles. “One of the things that’s great about it, especially after watching all the’revenge-o-matics’ we’ve seen, is that the movie sets it up like all the revenge-o-matics Nic Cage seems to have done in the last five years… this sets itself up to be that, only to decidedly not go down that road in the most creative way possible.”
The Pulp Fiction director’s high regard for Pig stands in contrast to his recent comments about another major 2023 release, Joker: Folie à Deux, the upcoming sequel to the 2019 DC blockbuster. Tarantino’s positive assessment of the film polarized many fans, but cinephiles seem to share his enthusiasm for Cage’s understated dramatic turn in Pig.
“That’s one of the best of the last five years. That’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in the last five years,” Tarantino reiterated. Despite receiving significant critical praise and a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the Academy Awards and Golden Globes notably overlooked Pig. Many believe Cage’s performance should have earned him more major award recognition.
Looking ahead, the prolific actor has a number of high-profile projects in the works. In the upcoming animated sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, he will reprise his role as the Spider-Man Noir character. Cage is also filming a live-action Spider-Noir series for Prime Video, giving fans more of the fan-favorite alternate universe Spider-Man.
Additional upcoming films for Cage include The Carpenter’s Son with Noah Jupe and Souhelia Yacoub, as well as The Prince alongside J.K. Simmons and Giancarlo Esposito. But based on Tarantino’s glowing assessment, it seems Pig may stand out as one of the most acclaimed and memorable entries in Cage’s ever-growing filmography.