Longlegs has been one of the summer 2024 movie schedule's biggest success stories, and a key to that success was Nicolas Cage's character being hidden from audiences for so long that we didn't know what he looked like. And apparently, the film's editors had their own long-awaited experiences when they saw Cage in his full Longlegs look.
Featuring a story about a serial killer being hunted down by the FBI, Longlegs has a lot going for it as one of the best movies of the year, but Cage as the villain is the main draw. With every trailer that was released, people questioned more and more what he looked like – until Cage's villain was revealed not that long before the movie was released. I had the chance to talk to the editors behind the movie, Greg Ng and Graham Fortin, and I asked about their experiences in seeing Cage in costume. They had varied reactions. Ng, at first, didn't even know for sure that it was Cage underneath the costume and the makeup, saying
When I saw Nicholas Cage as Longlegs for the first time, I wasn't sure it was him or who it was because it was kind of like – I don't even remember which one it was. I'm like, 'Wait, is it? Who is it?' It took me a while to sort of digest it.
Graham Fortin, on the other hand, had his own private 'what the-' moment when he watched the footage and immediately had to text one of the producers to share his thoughts on how 'amazing' Cage looked as Longlegs. Said the filmmaker,
I remember the first time I saw him, it was a private, 'what the f---?-' moment. I was watching it, and I was like, 'No way.' And I just texted one of the producers, Chris Ferguson, who we worked a lot with, and I'm like, 'I can't believe it. This is amazing.'
There are some iconic horror movie villains out there. We could talk about classic villains like the legend that is Michael Myers or maybe Freddy Krueger (and the most brutal kills from the Nightmare on Elm Street series). Or we could bring up scary modern villains, like The Entity from It Follows or even Paimon from Hereditary, one of the best A24 horror movies.
But Longlegs is another kind of horror – one that almost feels a little too realistic and creepy in so many ways. Neon, the film behind Longlegs, made sure to keep Cage's look in the movie as a secret, and Ng had a lot of praise for the marketing team behind the film. He said that all he wanted was for them to 'not ruin' the surprise that was Cage in the movie. Ng explained,
Props to Neon and the marketing team, they did a bang-up job and we didn't have anything to do with that. It was all up to them, but I have to say their approach…it was really quite an amazing campaign…I was on board with everything they were doing. I was like, 'Don't ruin it.'
Longlegs had an impressive opening box office weekend despite taking second place behind Despicable Me 4 (which was expected). It has only continued to be popular despite major releases like Deadpool & Wolverine and Twisters.
In a world saturated with action films, superhero movies, and many more, it's always lovely to see a film like Longlegs stand out amongst the competition and scare the heck out of audience members. And yes, Cage's costume and makeup still live in my mind, and I'm still utterly terrified that he'll pop out in the middle of the night, so thanks for that, Longlegs.
