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Nicolas Cage Says He’s Done Playing Serial Killers After ‘Longlegs’: “I Don’t Want To Play People Who Are Hurting People.”

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Man in black blazer holding a red card with printed eyes over his face at a movie premiere, standing in front of a red backdrop.

Nicolas Cage is drawing a line. After the success of Longlegs in 2024, the actor says he’s done playing serial killers.

A man in a black blazer and a woman in a black leather bralette and skirt pose together in front of a red backdrop.
Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe pose together on the red carpet at the ‘Longlegs’ premiere, held at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on July 8, 2024. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images.

“I know that the phone’s going to be ringing off the hook to play serial killers after Longlegs,” Cage told IndieWire. “And that’s not really what I like to do. I don’t like violence. I don’t want to play people who are hurting people.”

Man in black sequined blazer holds a red card printed with menacing eyes over his face in front of a red backdrop.
Holding a piece of promotional art over his eyes, Nicolas Cage strikes a playful pose at the premiere of Neon’s ‘Longlegs’ at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on July 8, 2024. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images.

It’s a strange line to draw after the role that resurrected his box office. Longlegs, Osgood Perkins’s 1990s-set horror about an occult-obsessed killer picking off families across Oregon, grossed $128 million worldwide on a budget under $10 million. It became Neon’s highest-grossing domestic release and the highest-grossing independent film of 2024.

A gaunt, pale figure with long disheveled hair and dark sunken eyes leans toward the camera in a dimly lit room.
A heavily made-up figure lurches forward in an unsettling close-up from Neon’s horror film ‘Longlegs’ (2024).

It was also Cage’s first live-action film to open above $20 million since Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in 2012. His unnamed, barely-glimpsed killer drew some of the best reviews of his career, with critics singling out the performance in a movie sitting at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Two men pose on a sidewalk beneath an Aero Theatre marquee reading 'Beyond Fest / Longlegs / Say Your Prayers' at dusk.
Director Osgood Perkins and Nicolas Cage stand outside the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica for a secret Beyond Fest screening of ‘Longlegs’ on May 31, 2024. Photo by Leon Bennett / Getty Images.

Cage produced the film as well, under his Saturn Films banner, alongside co-stars Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, and Alicia Witt. The praise is exactly why he expects the offers to keep coming. It’s also why he says he’s shutting the door on them.

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