The 15 craziest Nicolas Cage performances, ranked (including 'Sympathy for the Devil')

He’s got an Oscar and was one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the 1990s. What we love most about Nicolas Cage, though, is when he goes "full Cage" – which means completely and wonderfully bonkers.

And we’re not talking about a “stealing the Declaration of Independence” kind of crazy, either. No, these are the kind of unhinged, curse-laden performances that spawn NSFW YouTube roundups, fun GIFs and viral memes. 

His newest project falls in line with what he does best: Cage wields fire-engine red hair and a Boston accent as an unhinged mystery man who carjacks an expectant father (Joel Kinnaman) in the psychological thriller "Sympathy for the Devil" (in theaters and on-demand now).

In honor of his new flick, let’s get in the cage with Cage: Here are the 59-year-old actor’s craziest performances, ranked. 

15. 'Peggy Sue Got Married' (1986)

His character in the retro time-travel comedy is actually called "Crazy Charlie," so that tells you a lot. Plus, he sings and talks in a weird and nasally high voice, which makes a hot-and-heavy car scene with Kathleen Turner that much stranger.

14. 'Adaptation' (2002)

Double the Cage, double the fun in screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's drama about adapting Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief." Cage plays the depressed Charlie and annoying twin brother Donald in an extremely odd film that has its emotional touches, too.

13. 'Deadfall' (1993)

His brother Christopher Coppola's crime drama is a movie so terrible that it has a zero Rotten Tomatoes score. Yet it's worth watching for Cage's con man and a coked-up meltdown involving four-letter words and mattress humping.

12. 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance' (2012)

The noted comic-book fan’s second go-round as the flaming-skull superhero lets Cage unleash a lot of rage as he transforms into a vigilante phantom. Fun fact: He’s actually a little scarier when he’s just ol’ Johnny Blaze cackling madly than racing on a cycle from hell.

11. 'Color Out of Space' (2020)

Cage is a family man living an ordinary existence with his wife (Joely Richardson) and two kids until a meteorite lands in his front yard. Things get extremely trippy – including the neat purple sheen that surrounds everything – but also seriously bloody as their minds and bodies are taken over by an alien presence.

10. 'Sympathy for the Devil' (2023)

He loves the nightlife and he's got to boogie as Cage sings a disco tune in the thriller. His character, called The Passenger, is unpredictable, violent and has no patience for phonies, though there is an emotional key to his madness.

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9. 'Raising Arizona' (1987)

With wild hair and impressive mutton chops, Cage’s baby-robbing oddball is just one of many goofy aspects of the Coen brothers’ crime comedy. Cage steals the show in quite a few scenes, including one involving cops, dogs and high jinks in an epic diaper heist.

8. 'Renfield' (2023)

It's not his first vampire, it (hopefully) won't be his last, but you don't get more iconic than Cage playing the Prince of Darkness – especially as a gaslighting narcissist who's a serious pain in the neck to have as a superior.

7. 'Willy's Wonderland' (2021)

Cage's silent role is more stoic action hero than wacky goofball, as his taciturn good guy is suckered into cleaning a shut-down family restaurant and mops the floor with a bunch of demonic Chuck E. Cheese wannabes. Then again, when he's not whooping evil mascot posterior, he's a soda-swilling, dancing pinball wizard.

6. 'Wild at Heart' (1990)

"Twin Peaks" guru David Lynch is responsible for this piece of Southern-fried pulp, with Cage and Laura Dern as a pair of reckless youngsters on the run. All you need to know: Cage’s Elvis-styled Sailor Ripley beats a guy to death – in the first scene.

5. 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans' (2009)

Cage’s drug-addicted cop in post-Katrina N'awlins investigates the murder of Senegalese immigrants while trying to square gambling debts. But he also makes time to wonder if fish dream and gets so high off a crack pipe he sees a soul breakdance.

4. 'The Wicker Man' (2006)

This horror redo features the Cage-y one playing a cop investigating a pagan cult community. Ever wanted to see him don a bear suit and punch a woman? There’s that scene, or the infamous one where he screams, “Not the bees!” as he's mauled by stinging pests.

3. 'Vampire’s Kiss' (1989)

The dark comedy doubles as an exercise in madness, with Cage’s yuppie literary agent losing his mind after getting bit by a vampire and becoming convinced he’s about to turn into one himself. When it doesn’t happen, he dons plastic Dracula teeth and runs through the streets screaming, “I’m a vampire!”

2. 'Mandy' (2018)

In the blood-soaked heavy-metal fantasy, Cage plays a lumberjack on a path of drug-fueled vengeance, complete with emotional breakdowns and a destructive battle ax that wouldn't feel out of place in Middle-earth. The fact that "Mandy" totally rules as a flick is mainly because of Cage's fantastically gonzo performance.

1. 'Face/Off' (1997)

As supervillain Castor Troy, Cage dresses like a priest, dances flamboyantly, gropes a teenage girl and sings the "Hallelujah" chorus(from Handel's "Messiah") all before the opening credits finish. The no-guilt, all-pleasure action flick with switching faces and identities lets Cage go all-in with kooky glory.