Why is Nicolas Cage a movie star?
And why do we care? The answer, in part, is that Cage — whose latest, “Knowing,” opened Friday — won an Oscar in 1996 for playing a suicidal alcoholic in “Leaving Las Vegas,” a gritty, brutal, honest movie, wonderfully acted (by both Cage and Elisabeth Shue) and which confirmed what a lot of people had long believed: that Cage was the most interesting actor in American movies. His performance in “Raising Arizona” remains iconic. Likewise, “Wild at Heart.” From the time he was 17 — and got passed over for the Judge Reinhold role in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” — he was cutting a righteous swath across the screen, in movies that rarely missed such as “Valley Girl” and “Birdy.” He even made an impression in some pretty dubious projects, including two directed by his uncle Francis (Coppola), namely “Cotton Club” and “Peggy Sue Got Married.” Then the Coens cast him in “Raising Arizona.” He became Cher’s one-handed romantic poet in “Moonstruck.” That was followed by “Vampire’s Kiss,” the i
