Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis.

The film was released on December 16, 1987 in New York City, and then nationally on December 18, 1987, receiving largely positive reviews from critics. It went on to gross $91,640,528 at the North American box office, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of that year.^[1]

Moonstruck was nominated for six Oscars at the 60th Academy Awards, winning three for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress.^[2]

Plot[link]

Thirty-seven-year-old Loretta Castorini (Cher),an Italian American widow, is an accountant for a few local businesses in Brooklyn Heights, New York. She lives in a large, comfortable house with her parents: Cosmo (Vincent Gardenia) a successful plumber, Rose (Olympia Dukakis) and her grandfather (Feodor Chaliapin Jr.). Her boyfirend, Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello), proposes to her over dinner in a neighborhood Italian restaurant, The Grand Ticino before leaving for Italy to attend to his dying mother. He asks Loretta to invite his estranged younger brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage) to the wedding. Loretta drives Johnny to the airport, then stops at a liquor store for a bottle of champagne. At home, Cosmo listens to a Vicki Carr record and broods. Loretta pours them a drink and shares her news. Cosmo points out that she married before and it didn't work out. Loretta says she had bad luck, her husband was hit by a bus. She feels the bad luck was caused because she did not have a real wedding. Cosmo had not approved and they got married at City Hall, with no party, no cake and had bad luck. He agrees. She tells him she has to have a 'real' wedding this time. They wake Rose to tell her the news. She asks Loretta if she loves Johnny. Loretta says no, but she likes him. Rose says that is good, "When you love them they drive you crazy because they know they can." The next morning as Loretta and Rose have breakfast, Johnny calls from Italy where his mother is still dying. He hasn't told her about his engagement yet. Loretta urges him not to wait until she is dead. Loretta remembers her promise to visit Ronny. She visits the bakery that Ronny owns. He explains the reason for the bad blood. Ronny had been engaged to a woman and during that time Johnny came in to buy bread. Ronny talked to Johnny as he sliced the bread and wasn't paying attention and lost his hand. He blames Johnny for the accident which led to his fiancée leaving him because he was maimed. He is very upset. Loretta tells him she has not come to upset him but to talk. They go to his apartment above the bakery and Loretta cooks him a meal and they drink whisky and talk. They are attracted to each other and eventually make love. An amazing full moon shines over many lovers that night. In the morning, Loretta feels ashamed and tells Ronny they can never see each other again. He admits he's fallen in love. He agrees to not see her again if she goes to the opera with him that night because he would have had the two things he loves most, the opera and Loretta. She agrees to meet him at the Met. That day Loretta goes to a beauty salon and has her hair colored and styled, her eyebrows plucked, a complete makeover. She shops for a beautiful gown and shoes. She stops at the church to go to confession where she tells the priest that she has slept with her fiancee's brother. The priest urges her to consider her life. She sees Rose in the church and they talk. Rose tells her that Cosmo is seeing another woman. Loretta does not believe her. That afternoon Cosmo is having lunch at a fancy restaurant with his mistress Mona (Anita Gilbert). He presents her with a gift of a gold braclet. There is a scene that evening where Loretta plays romantic music as she leisurely dresses for the opera and then takes a cab to meet Ronny at the Met. He is wearing a tux and they are both transformed. Loretta is deeply moved by her first opera, La Traviata. That night Rose dines alone at The Grand Ticino and witnesses a dramatic breakup between a young coed and a college professor named Perry (John Mahoney). She invites Perry to dine with her; afterwards he walks her home. She knows her husband has a mistress but refuses to be unfaithful and doesn't take Perry's suggestion that she invite him in "because I know who I am." As Loretta and Ronny leave the opera, she sees Cosmo with Mona; they agree to pretend they did not see each other. Loretta and Ronny stop at a bar for a drink. Loretta is upset about Cosmo's infidelity and feels guilty for being with Ronny. She explains to him how a person can decide to do things differently and change. But he desperately and passionately persuades her into another tryst. Meanwhile, Johnny's mother has made a miraculous recovery after being told of his plans to marry Loretta and he has returned from Italy unexpectedly. He stopped at Loretta's house on his way back from the airport, while she was at the opera and he talked to Rose. Rose had concerns of her own and asked him why men cheat on women. He thought it might have something to do with Adam looking for his missing rib. Rose says she is sure it has to do with a fear of death. As they talk, Cosmo comes home from the opera and she says "I just want you to know no matter what you do, you're gonna die just like everyone else." Loretta arrives home the following morning, having spent another night with Ronny. Rose is alone in the kitchen and tells her that Johnny has come back from Italy and will be there soon and remarks that Loretta has a love bite on her neck. As they wait, Ronny arrives. Rose lets him in and looks at his neck where she sees a love bite. He says that he would be delighted to stay for oatmeal. Cosmo and the grandfather come down for breakfast. As they all sit around the table, Rose tells Cosmo that she wants him to stop seeing his mistress. He says he felt that his life was worth nothing. Rose tells him his life is not worth nothing. He slams his hands on the table and agrees to be faithful and tells Rose he loves her. Rose's brother Raymond Cappomaggi (Louis Guss)and his wife Rita (Julie Bovasso) stop in because Loretta, who does their books, has forgotten to make a bank deposit from thier delicatessen and they are worried. Everyone is introduced to Ronny-Johnny's brother and they all await Johnny's arrival. Johnny arrives and claims that he can't marry Loretta or his mother will die. Loretta throws the engagement ring at him. Seizing the moment, Ronny asks Loretta to marry him; he borrows Johnny's ring and Loretta accepts. The family shares a bottle of champagne to celebrate and the grandfather insists that Johnny join in the toast "To the family!" Each scene is masterfully set and played and would be capable of standing on it's own as if the movie were composed of many perfect vignettes linked together with rich musical backgrounds.

Cast[link]

• Cher as Loretta Castorini
• Nicolas Cage as Ronny Cammareri
• Olympia Dukakis as Rose Castorini
• Vincent Gardenia as Cosmo Castorini
• Danny Aiello as Mr. Johnny Cammareri
• Julie Bovasso as Rita Cappomaggi
• Louis Guss as Raymond Cappomaggi
• John Mahoney as Perry
• Feodor Chaliapin, Jr., as Loretta's grandfather

Box office[link]

On its wide release, the film opened at #3 and spent 20 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 and finally grossed $80,640,528. The movie also grossed $34,393,000 in rentals and grossed a total of $115,033,528 in the US alone.^[3]

Awards and honors[link]

In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Moonstruck was acknowledged as the eighth best film in the romantic comedy genre.^[5][6] The film is also number 72 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies," and number 41 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.

American Film Institute recognition

• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - Nominated^[7]
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs - #41
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions - #17
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs:
  • That's Amore - Nominated^[8]
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:
  • "Snap out of it!" - #96
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated^[9]
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - #8 Romantic Comedy

Influential film critic Roger Ebert entered the film to his "Great Movies" collection in June 2003.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Moonstruck

• Moonstruck at the Internet Movie Database
• Moonstruck at Box Office Mojo
• Moonstruck at Rotten Tomatoes

Nicolas Cage
Cage at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International.
Born	Nicolas Kim Coppola (1964-01-07) January 7, 1964 (age 48)[1] Long Beach, California, US
Occupation	Actor, producer, director
Years active	1980–present
Spouse	Patricia Arquette (1995–2001) Lisa Marie Presley (2002–2004) Alice Kim (2004–present)
Children	Weston Coppola Cage Kal-El Cage
Parents	August Coppola (deceased) Joy Vogelsang
Family	Marc Coppola (brother) Christopher Coppola (brother) Francis Ford Coppola (uncle) Eleanor Coppola (aunt)

Nicolas Cage (born Nicolas Kim Coppola; January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award–winning American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona (1987), The Rock (1996), Face/Off (1997), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Adaptation (2002), National Treasure (2004), Lord of War (2005), Ghost Rider (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Kick-Ass (2010), and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012).

Early life[link]

Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola^[2] on January 7, 1964^[1][3][4][5] in Long Beach, California. His father, August Coppola, a professor of literature, and his mother, Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer, divorced in 1976. He was raised in a Catholic family.^[6][7] Cage's mother is of German descent and his father was of Italian descent. His paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata.^[8] Through his father, Cage is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, and the cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert Carmine and Jason Schwartzman. Cage's two brothers are New York radio personality Marc "The Cope" Coppola and director Christopher Coppola. He attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an early age and also attended UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of Golden Boy.

Career[link]

Acting career[link]

To avoid the appearance of nepotism as the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, he changed his name early in his career to Nicolas Cage, inspired in part by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage. Since his minor role in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, with Sean Penn, Cage has appeared in a wide range of films, both mainstream and offbeat. He tried out for the role of Dallas Winston in his uncle's film The Outsiders, based on S.E. Hinton's novel, but lost to Matt Dillon. He was also in Coppola's films Rumble Fish and Peggy Sue Got Married.

Other Cage roles included appearances in the acclaimed 1987 romantic-comedy Moonstruck, also starring Cher; The Coen Brothers cult-classic comedy Raising Arizona; David Lynch's 1990 offbeat film Wild at Heart; a lead role in Martin Scorsese's 1999 New York City paramedic drama Bringing Out the Dead; and Ridley Scott's 2003 quirky drama Matchstick Men, in which he played an agoraphobic, mysophobic, obsessive-compulsive con artist with a tic disorder.

Cage has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, winning once for his performance as a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas. His other nomination was for his portrayal of real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and Kaufman's fictional twin Donald in Adaptation. Despite these successes, most of his lower-profile films have performed poorly at the box office compared to his mainstream action/adventure roles. The suspense thriller 8mm (1999) was not a box office success, but is now considered a cult film. He took the lead role in the 2001 film Captain Corelli's Mandolin and learned to play the mandolin from scratch for the part. He made his directorial debut with 2002's Sonny. In 2005, two offbeat films he headlined, Lord of War and The Weather Man, failed to find a significant audience despite nationwide releases and good reviews for his acting in those roles. Poor reviews for The Wicker Man resulted in low box office sales. The much criticized Ghost Rider (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, fared better, earning more than $45 million (the top earner) during its opening weekend and over $208 million worldwide through the weekend ending on March 25, 2007. Also in 2007, he starred in Next, which shared the concept of a glimpse into an alternate timeline with Cage's film, The Family Man (2000).

Most of Cage's movies that have achieved financial success were in the action/adventure genre. In his second-highest grossing film to date, National Treasure, he plays an eccentric historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Other action hits include The Rock, in which Cage plays a young FBI chemical weapons expert who infiltrates Alcatraz Island in hopes of neutralizing a terrorist threat, Face/Off, a John Woo film where he plays both a hero and a villain, and World Trade Center, director Oliver Stone's film regarding the September 11, 2001 attacks. He had a small but notable role as the Chinese criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu in Rob Zombie's fake trailer Werewolf Women of the S.S. from the B-movie double feature Grindhouse.

Cage made his directorial debut with Sonny, a low-budget drama starring James Franco as a male prostitute whose mother (Brenda Blethyn) serves as his pimp. Cage had a small role in the film, which received poor reviews and a short run in a limited number of theatres. Cage's producing career includes Shadow of the Vampire, the first effort from Saturn Films.

In early December 2006, Cage announced at the Bahamas International Film Festival that he planned to curtail his future acting endeavors to pursue other interests. On The Dresden Files for the Sci-Fi Channel, Cage is listed as the executive producer.

In November 2007, Cage was spotted backstage at a Ring of Honor wrestling show in New York City researching his role for The Wrestler. The role was ultimately played by Mickey Rourke, who received an Academy Award nomination for his performance.^[9] Wrestler Director Darren Aronofsky, in an interview with slashfilm.com, said of Cage's decision to leave the film that: "Nic was a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but ... you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race.^[10]"

Cage at the 66th Venice Film Festival in September 2009

In 2008, Cage appeared as Joe, a contract killer who undergoes a change of heart while on a work outing in Bangkok, in the film Bangkok Dangerous. The film is shot by the Pang Brothers and has a distinct South-East Asian flavor. In 2009, Cage starred in science fiction thriller Knowing, directed by Alex Proyas. In the film, he plays an MIT professor who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions found inside the capsule that have already come true lead him to believe the world is going to end at the close of the week, and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction. The film received mainly negative reviews but was the box office winner on its opening weekend. Also in 2009, Cage starred in the film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, directed by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog. He portrayed a corrupt police officer with gambling, drug and alcohol addictions. The film was very well received by critics, holding a rating of 87% positive reviews on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.^[11] Cage received lauds for his performance, with Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune writing "Herzog has found his ideal interpreter, a performer whose truth lies deep in the artifice of performance: ladies and gentlemen, Nicolas Cage, at his finest."^[12] This film reunited Cage with Eva Mendes, who played his love interest in Ghost Rider. In 2010, Cage starred in the period piece Season of the Witch, playing a 14th-century knight transporting a girl accused of causing the Black Plague to a monastery, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, in which he played the sorcerer.^[13]

Other works[link]

Cage, an avid comic book fan, auctioned a collection of 400 vintage comics through Heritage Auctions for over $1.6 million in 2002.^[14]

In 2007 he created a comic book with his son Weston, called Voodoo Child, which was published by Virgin Comics.

Cage is a fan and collector of painter and underground comic artist Robert Williams. He has written introductions for Juxtapoz magazine and purchased the painting Death On The Boards.^[15]

Acting style[link]

In February 2011, Cage claimed to have created a new method of acting he calls "Nouveau Shamanic". He claims to have used the acting style throughout his career and one day plans to write a book about the method.^[16]

Praise and criticism[link]

Nicolas Cage's acting has been praised by influential film critic Roger Ebert who writes, in his "Great Movies" essay about the film Adaptation, that: "There are often lists of the great living male movie stars: De Niro, Nicholson and Pacino, usually. How often do you see the name of Nicolas Cage? He should always be up there. He's daring and fearless in his choice of roles, and unafraid to crawl out on a limb, saw it off and remain suspended in air. No one else can project inner trembling so effectively.... He always seems so earnest. However improbable his character, he never winks at the audience. He is committed to the character with every atom and plays him as if he were him."^[17] Roger Ebert, in response to mixed reviews of Knowing and their focus on criticizing Cage, wrote an article in which he defends both Cage as an actor and the movie to which, in stark contrast to other critics, Ebert gave 4/4 stars.^[18]

In the 68th Academy Awards, Cage was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas.^[19]

In May 2001, Cage was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Fullerton. He spoke at the commencement ceremony.^[20]

Despite such praise, Cage has his detractors. Cage has been criticized for choosing to star in big-budget, action-adventure movies rather than smaller, character-driven dramas, the type of film that initially garnered him praise.^[21] In 1999, one-time friend Sean Penn expressed that sentiment to the New York Times, declaring Cage "no longer an actor."^[22]

Personal life[link]

Relationships and family[link]

In 1988, Cage began dating actress Christina Fulton, who later bore their son, Weston Coppola Cage (born December 26, 1990). Weston is lead singer of the black metal band Eyes of Noctum, and appeared in Cage's film Lord of War as Vladimir, a young Ukrainian mechanic who quickly disarms a Mil Mi-24 helicopter.

Cage has been married three times. His first wife was actress Patricia Arquette (married on April 8, 1995, divorce finalized on May 18, 2001).

Cage's second marriage was to singer/songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. Cage is an Elvis fan and used the star as the base of his performance in Wild at Heart. Presley and Cage married on August 10, 2002 and filed for divorce on November 25, 2002 which was finalized on May 16, 2004. The divorce proceeding was longer than the marriage.^[23]

Cage met his third and current wife Alice Kim, a former waitress who previously worked at the Los Angeles restaurant Kabuki and at the Los Angeles-based Korean nightclub, Le Privé. She bore their son, Kal-El, (after Superman's birth name^[24]) on October 3, 2005. Cage was once considered for the role of Superman in a film to be directed by Tim Burton. Alice had a minor role in the 2007 film Next, which Cage produced. They were married at a private ranch in Northern California on July 30, 2004.^{[citation needed]}

Real estate and tax problems[link]

Nicolas Cage is one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, earning $40 million in 2009 according to Forbes Magazine.^[25]

Cage had a Malibu home where he and Kim lived, but sold the property in 2005 for $10 million. In 2004 he bought a property on Paradise Island, Bahamas. In May 2006, he bought a 40-acre (160,000 m²) island in the Exuma archipelago, some 85 miles (137 km) southeast of Nassau and close to a similar island owned by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

He once owned the medieval castle of Schloss Neidstein in the Oberpfalz region in Germany, which he bought in 2006 and sold in 2009 for $2.5 million. His grandmother was German, living in Cochem an der Mosel.^[26]

Schloss Neidstein in Bavaria was owned by Cage between 2007 and 2009.

In August 2007, Cage purchased "Grey Craig", a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m²) brick-and-stone country manor in Middletown, Rhode Island. With an estate occupying 26 acres (110,000 m²) the home has 12 bedrooms and 10 full bathrooms and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean as well. It borders the Norman Bird Sanctuary to the west. The sale ranked among the state of Rhode Island's most expensive residential purchases until eclipsed that same year, 2007, by the $17.15 million sale of the Miramar mansion on Bellevue Avenue in Newport.

Also in 2007, the actor purchased Midford Castle in Somerset, England.^[27][28][29] Shortly after selling his German castle, Cage also put homes in Rhode Island, Louisiana, Nevada, and California, as well as a $7 million island in the Bahamas, up for sale.

On July 14, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service filed documents in New Orleans in connection with a federal tax lien against property owned by Cage in Louisiana, concerning unpaid federal taxes. The IRS alleges that Cage failed to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax for the year 2007.^[30] In addition, the Internal Revenue Service has another lien for more than $350,000 in unpaid taxes dating from 2002 to 2004.^[31] Cage filed a $20 million lawsuit on October 16, 2009, against his business manager, Samuel J. Levin, alleging negligence and fraud.^[32] The lawsuit states that Levin "had failed to pay taxes when they were due and had placed [Cage] in speculative and risky real estate investments 'resulting in (the actor) suffering catastrophic losses'."^[32] Cage is also facing separate lawsuits from East West Bank^[33] and Red Curb Investments for unpaid, multimillion dollar loans.

The LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans was purchased anonymously by Cage in 2007 and sold in 2009.

Samuel Levin filed a counter-complaint and responded to the lawsuit in a filing stating that he warned Cage that he was living beyond his means and urged him to spend less. Levin's filing states that "instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Cage (Coppola) spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences", Levin's complaint continued: "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."^[34]

In his filing Levin says that in 2007 Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces); 12 purchases of expensive jewelry; and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items."^[34] One of those exotic items was a dinosaur skull of a Tarbosaurus for which Nicolas Cage paid $276,000 in an auction after winning a bidding contest against Leonardo DiCaprio.^[35]

According to Cage, he owned the "Most Haunted House in America", a home located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.^[36] The home is known as "The LaLaurie house" after its former owner Delphine LaLaurie. The house was foreclosed and sold at auction on November 12, 2009 along with another New Orleans property for a total of $5.5 million, in the wake of his financial problems.^[37]

His Bel Air home, which had six loans totaling $18 million on it, failed to sell at an April 2010 foreclosure auction despite an opening offer of $10.4 million, substantially less than the $35 million that Cage had originally tried to sell it for. The home, built in 1940 for $110,000 had been owned by Dean Martin and singer Tom Jones.^[38] The home eventually sold in November 2010 for $10.5 million.^[39] Another home in Nevada also faces foreclosure auction.^[37]

In November 2011, Cage also sold his Action Comics 1 in an online auction for a record-breaking $2.16 million dollars (the previous record being 1.5), to assist paying his tax liens and other debts. Cage purchased the comic in 1997 for $110,000.^[40]

Legal issues[link]

In December 2009, Christina Fulton sued Cage for $13 million and the house she is living in. The suit was in response to an order that she leave the dwelling that was brought about by Cage's financial difficulties.^[41]

On April 15, 2011, at 11:30 pm, Cage was arrested in New Orleans in the city's famed French Quarter district for suspicion of domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace and public intoxication, after a police officer was flagged down by onlookers after Cage allegedly grabbed his wife's upper arm while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol.^[42] Cage was held in police custody until a bail of $11,000 was posted by Duane "Dog" Chapman.^[43][44] He was later ordered to appear in court on May 31, 2011.^[45] On May 5, 2011, it was announced that the charges against Cage had been dropped.^{[46][47][48][49]}

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

Film portal

• Coppola family tree
• List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nicolas Cage

• Nicolas Cage at the Internet Movie Database
• Nicolas Cage at AllRovi
• World Trade Center Interview with Nicolas Cage From IGN FilmForce