Nicolas Cage likes 'unhinged' roles

Nicolas Cage has always "gravitated" towards "unhinged" characters.

The 'Mandy' actor is known for his non-naturalistic style of acting and admitted he's always done his best to push the boundaries of his work into the "surreal".

He said: "I've always been trying to progress film performance into the surreal.

"I've just always gravitated towards what certain people like to refer to as 'Cage Rage' or kind of unhinged characters."

The 56-year-old actor admitted he has always been more drawn to science-fiction and horror over other genres because they allow him to explore his "surrealist film performance dreams".

He said: "To break form with typical narrative film performance, I thought, 'Well, let's not get totally obsessed with naturalism.'

"The only way I thought I could go into the surrealistic approach was to explore characters that were either a) losing their minds b) 'on something' or c) under the influence of something supernatural or alien.

"That's why I always enjoyed science-fiction, why I've enjoyed horror - because it provides a mechanism where I can explore my surrealistic film performance dreams."

In 'Color Out Of Space', Nicolas played alpaca farmer Nathan Gardner, whose family lose their minds after a meteorite lands in their garden, and he appreciated the "family drama" at the heart of the film.

He told Empire magazine: "Ever since I'd seen James Dean's 'East of Eden', I've loved family drama.

"If you take horror and all the imagination and surrealism that horror can provide, and you collide it with the mundane or the ordinary, it becomes a great mix.

"The way I approached it was the more average I can make Nathan Gardner, the more terrifying the overall influence of the alien energy will be - so that the surreal and the fantastic of the alien energy becomes more compelling."