Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on the 1990 semi-autobiographical novel by John O’Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic in Los Angeles who, having lost his family and been recently fired, has decided to move to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. Once there, he develops a romantic relationship with a prostitute (Elisabeth Shue). O’Brien died by suicide after signing away the film rights to the novel.
Cage’s performance as Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas is widely considered the crown jewel of his career. It earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor and transformed him from a quirky character actor into a top-tier Hollywood star. His portrayal is famous for its “nouveau shamanism” (a term Cage coined for his style), blending extreme realism with poetic, operatic tragedy.
To play an alcoholic screenwriter drinking himself to death, Cage went to lengths that became the stuff of Hollywood legend. He hired a family friend and poet, Tony Dingman, to be his “drinking coach.” Cage watched Dingman’s mannerisms and even stole poetic, drunken lines Dingman would ramble, such as: “You do not kick the bar, you lean into the bar.”
Cage spent two weeks binge-drinking in Dublin and had himself videotaped so he could study his own slurred speech and physical movements. While he didn’t drink for most of the film, Cage admitted to being “completely hammered” for specific scenes, like the infamous casino table-flip, to capture a genuine sense of being “out of control.”
Cage’s performance is a masterclass in physical acting. He captures the “DTs” (delirium tremens) with a terrifying accuracy: the shaking hands, the cold sweats, and the desperate, frantic way he handles a bottle. Despite the bleakness, Cage infused Ben with a strange, tragic wit and charm. This prevents the character from being purely a “sullen drunk” and makes his downward spiral more painful to watch. His performance is inseparable from Elisabeth Shue, who played Sera. Critics noted that while Cage is the “set trajectory” (he never intends to stop drinking), Shue is the emotional heart who provides a temporary reprieve from his pain.
The film was shot on 16mm film, which used smaller cameras. Cage noted this was “liberating” because the camera felt less intrusive, allowing him to be more raw and nuanced. “As an actor, having a 16-mm camera in my face was liberating because it’s much smaller, so you don’t feel as intimidated by it,” he said. “It catches those little nuances. Because as soon as that big camera’s in your face, you tense up a little bit. Film acting is a learning experience about how to get over that, but I don’t know that you ever really do.”
Remarkably, Cage (and director Mike Figgis) were never actually paid their $100,000 fees for the film. The production company claimed the movie never made a profit, despite it grossing over $32 million on a $4 million budget. He beat out heavyweights like Anthony Hopkins and Sean Penn to win the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 68th Academy Awards. It remains one of the most respected “dark” wins in Oscar history.
