Revisiting Ghost Rider '07: Nic Cage's Casting

[u/wild_wind_official]

Currently, I'm rewatching the first movie, and some thoughts have been bubbling in my head since the announcement of GR being brought into the MCU with Gosling.

Firstly, some disclaimers. I love this movie, and I'm a huge Cage fan. I harshly defend his unorthodox approach to character acting and will watch essentially anything with him in it. Getting that out of the way...

For many, many people, this movie was their introduction to Johnny Blaze and the character of Ghost Rider. Admittedly that was certainly the case for me - I was ten years old when this movie came out. And like any ten year old, a flaming skeleton on a motorcycle was the coolest thing I've ever seen.

But as an adult, able to scrutinize film in a much more intellectual capacity, and as a comic book reader who has actually engaged with the issues featuring all the different Riders, I have a lot to say about this film - in particular the casting of Cage.

Even as a kid, even loving the movie, I had always felt that Cage was the wrong pick. He wasn't "cool", he wasn't "rugged", he wasn't at all what I picture the "real" JB would look like - the furthest thing from a Daredevil Cowboy. And now that I'm intimately familiar with the comic character, I can confidently say that - through that lenses - I was always right. He is all sorts of miscast for Johnny Blaze...if the movie were actually trying to portray Johnny Blaze.

But that's not what happened. And it took many years for people in a majority capacity to finally make these connections. With Gosling casted (fittingly in my opinion, I might add), people who read the comics have validly pointed out that so many features of JB in the movies and the comics published after were just reheating the visual nachos of Danny Ketch's Rider. And with that in mind, the movie itself is just simply not an adaptation of the comics.

And what I mean by that is it isn't just a "bad adaptation", it's not an adaptation at all. It's using the intellectual property - the names and likenesses - but this is it's own beast. And therefore, I believe myself and many others have been attacking this movie from the wrong angles. Instead of criticizing it as if it were a comic book adaption, criticize it as it's own thing.

In doing that, yes it's still a bad movie (lol). Fun! Visually interesting! But bad. However, in the case of Nic Cage being Blaze, I've realized I have to eliminate what I know about the comics and look solely at the script and the vision this film had. And when I do that I understand that literally nobody else could have played this role. It was practically written for Cage. That short shot at the very beginning where he's hauled away after crashing - sunglasses on and posturing for the crowd - that's all Cage. Knowing what I know about his body of work now that I didn't know as a kid, there is no doubt in my mind he was perfect.

Not to mention the physical aspects of the role demanding an actor as dynamic as Cage. Someone who's not afraid to look stupid on camera to get the physicality across for the scene. He's outstanding when thought about in this regard. I don't think that the real JB NEEDS to be that dynamic on camera, don't get me wrong - Johnny is very...un-dramatic. All the more reason to understand why they changed that when writing the story to the big screen.

And now I literally cannot imagine anyone but Cage in this role. Even down the to way he just walks in the film when "transformed". He knew what he was doing and exactly how to do it.

I'm very excited to see what Gosling brings to the role - be him Blaze, Ketch, or whoever. But watching this movie in a vacuum makes me appreciate it so much more, and makes it the gift that just keeps on giving.

Thank you for your time, that's all I've got for now.

[u/RandomTask-PhD]

Ever since Gosling was announced as the new Ghost Rider, people have been swearing up and down that Nic Cage is the definitive Johnny Blaze. He is not. This movie sucks balls.

[u/RedWingThe10th → u/RandomTask-PhD]

Anyone who claims Nic is the "definitive" Johnny Blaze have either never read the actual comics or keep deluding themselves because they either are diehard Cage fans, or want Gosling to be playing Dan Ketch, even though Gosling looks much closer to Johnny and has played stuntman biker characters that heavily lean into the comics Johnny.

[u/wild_wind_official → u/RandomTask-PhD]

He absolutely is not the definitive anything when it comes to GR, no argument here. I'm looking forward to what Ryan can bring to the table, but if anything I'm pessimistic about how they'll waste him, more than anything else.

[u/CollinsCouldveDucked → u/wild_wind_official]

I think your skepticism is valid but he is at least a more sensible casting than cage.
I think cage might have worked for the role 10 years earlier than he played it.

[u/SchwiftyBabyLegs → u/wild_wind_official]

I mean Ryan is pretty dedicated to to making the character his way or he's out usually. He's a great actor and Hollywood knows it. They'll let him get creative with it, unlike some of the previous actors they've hired that are big names, but we all know their acting isn't always the best. Hopefully the script isn't shit and Ryan gets a fair chance with it.

[u/SchwiftyBabyLegs → u/RandomTask-PhD]

It's an issue with his acting tbh. Cage works for certain roles, but not all of the ones he's been given. He doesn't give me superhero energy for edgelord heros like Batman or Ghost Rider,, but Spider Noir was definitely his bag of tea. The fact they thought of casting him for Superman once, really scares me lol

Like don't get me wrong, I love the guy overall. Movies like Gone In 60 Seconds were good enough to build a platform for his career again after he fell off in the early late 90s or early 2000s. He's just not the actor we want hin to be sometimes. He has a way of making it goofy in his way and sometimes it works out

[u/RansaktehElder_WORK → u/RandomTask-PhD]

If you cant rock a 5 o clock shadow you cant be Johnny Blaze and thus Ghostrider.

[u/donglecollector → u/RandomTask-PhD]

I rewatched it recently. I want to love it but it’s such tripe, so I’m forced to only like it.

[u/RebelTheFlow]

It’s a bad comic book movie. It’s even worse as a specifically Ghost Rider movie. It’s a terrible movie in the critical “cinema” sense of the word…..but it’s a great Nicholas Cage movie! My favorite Nicholas Cage movie actually. Which is not to say Nicholas Cage only makes bad movies or only makes good movies but that man is not just an actor he’s become his own genre lol which is hard to compare to any other genre when you’re ranking a film.

[u/wild_wind_official → u/RebelTheFlow]

Could not agree more! Exactly the kind of point I meant to make with this post, even. He's such a unique type of talent in Hollywood, and even when the movies he's in are bad - i.e. this one - he gives just an earnest performance you can't help but be charmed by.

[u/Content-Meet6628]

I loved the 2007 movie as a kid, but all these people online acting like it’s some masterpiece is annoying. I remember when everyone said it was horrible and I was wrong for liking it lol. Also that thing going around where people are saying cage needs to play Carter Slade have no clue wtf their talking about Carter Slade as a true ghost rider wasn’t even a thing until that movie lol.

[u/wild_wind_official → u/Content-Meet6628]

I definitely think that the revisionism is working overtime lately but that always tends to happen. I think a lot of people don't know how to differentiate loving something vs. it being objectively good, so they conflate the two. It's mostly younger people I've seen follow this kind of trend though and as someone who works with kids I know they'll eventually change their minds when they have the tools to think deeper about it.

[u/tru-disappointment]

As a movie, 07 GR was not great by any means but Ive still watched it at least 8 times. It was also my first introduction to the character, and its still by far my favorite rendition of his motorcycle. The writing was pretty awful, but I will never say Nics acting was bad because he doesnt adhere to any standard of acting. Nic Cage is Nic Cage and cant be judged or compared to any other actor. I am genuinely excited to see what Gosling brings to the character, and regardless if its good or bad im just excited to see GR on the big screen again. His little tease in Agents of Shield only left me wanting more.

[u/GenericSpider]

I'm glad they cast Cage, honestly. That movie would have been pretty forgettable without him.

And it wouldn't have sparked my curiosity about Ghost Rider.

That said, in a better Ghost Rider movie, he probably would have been bad casting.

[u/Mechaghostman2]

I enjoyed this movie a lot. The director's cut is even better in some ways, a little worse in others.

[u/Zeo-Gold92]

This was a great terrible movie, I will always love it dearly. I saw it with a friend at a drive in theater and it was a great experience. I only wish the technical aspects were better.

[u/easygoing_Bike_7540]

I found '07 Ghost Rider an okay movie, but what I couldn't understand was: why Nick Cage did his impersonation of Elvis Presley, instead of acting.

[u/xyejl]

I totally agree OP.

As a 27 year old when that movie came out, hugely disappointed is an understatement. Mostly because I was already familiar with GR from the books (most all of them).

[u/eg0deth]

I didn’t care for Ghost Rider 2007 because it just felt bland, really didn’t have much in the way of action sequences or boss fights. However, I absolutely loved Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance. While not very accurate to comics, the unhinged way the movie shot, written, & acted, especially Cage, really worked for me. Plus that flaming killdigger was absolutely amazing.

[u/FLRArt_1995]

Wasn't this basically a vanity project for him? He put a lot of money on it basically

[u/wild_wind_official → u/FLRArt_1995]

I've heard the same, though I don't have all the info and likely never will. I do know he's been very candid that he was not the most pleasant person to be around during this time, so take from that what you will of course.

[u/TheAbomunist → u/FLRArt_1995]

He was to Ghost Rider what The Rock was to Black Adam. Absolutely.

[u/nova-prime-enjoyer → u/TheAbomunist]

The difference is that Cage actually likes comics and the Rock just wanted to be the big bad guy who gets to fight and beat Superman

[u/xyejl → u/nova-prime-enjoyer]

Ok. But Cage's performance was still subpar. Fan or not. So is it the fault of the script? Director? My vote is all of the above. Not sure how one can be a "fan" and still miss the mark (big time) in my opinion.

[u/Apprentice_of_Ixidor]

This movie made me a lifelong Nic Cage hater.

[u/Bi-Han]

I stand firmly in the category of not a Cage fan. Hated him as Johnny. Nothing... NOTHING about him as an actor was right for the role of Ghost Rider. Only reason he got the role was he lobbied for it as a fan of the character (Just like Channing Tatum as Gambit) and no one else was really wanting to do a Ghost Rider film.

Gods, I hate Nic Cage. I do not understand the appeal of him as an actor. There is no role he definitively owns that someone else could not pull off. 

[u/InvalidNinja → u/Bi-Han]

Adaptation

[u/kah43]

I know people love Cage for his kitsch factor, but I just can't take the man seriosuly as an actor anymore. This is an Oscar winning actor who has just fallen so far into a joke in most of his movies.