Nicolas Cage Sings Eerie Song as ‘Longlegs’ Character: ‘Before the Voices Took Over’
Nicolas Cage continues to provide nightmare fuel for the promotion of his new horror film, Longlegs.
On Wednesday, July 24, the movie’s official Instagram page shared audio of Cage, 60, singing a song as the titular killer, known also by his real name, Dale Kobble.
“Mr. Downstairs at your door,” Cage croons, using Longlegs’ affectionate nickname for Satan.
The caption described the eerie tune, which is called “Fire Fire Fire, Hiss” as “the last known musical recording by Dale Ferdinand Kobble before the voices took over.”
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The demonic rock song, which was shared alongside a video of a doll’s reflection in a mirror, features fuzzy bass, howling vocals and nonsensical lyrics.
“Like a cannonball, like a volleyball, nice, nice,” Cage sings.
Cage plays a murderous devil-worshiper in Longlegs, which hit theaters on July 12, and his sinister character was inspired, in part, by his mother.
“For some reason, when I read the script, I heard my mother’s voice. And then I met with director Oz Perkins. And the first thing he said to me was, ‘Nic, this is a movie about my mother,'” he told The New Yorker earlier this month. “And I said, ‘Well, that’s very interesting, Oz, because I was just thinking that I want to make this character about my mom.'”
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Cage went on to explain how his mom’s “scary” vocalizations helped him develop Longlegs’ voice.
“She would talk, like, ‘Ooh, Nicky, you looked just like a little bird when you were born.’ And that was just scary,” he explained. “I think my mom did as well as she could with the situation in which she was contending with, but it was still scary. So I thought, ‘OK, I want to make this character as a sort of homage to my mother.’ Not that she was satanic, but her vocalizations, the way she would move.”
Cage underwent quite a transformation for the role with facial prosthetics, thick pale makeup and a wig. To build suspense, Longlegs’ face was not revealed in the trailer or any other promotional materials for the film.
“It’s driving people towards a freak show at a circus tent,” Perkins, 50, said of deciding to preserve the mystery. “We’ve got the thing behind the curtain, and when there’s enough people gathered ‘round, we’re going to pull the curtain.”
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Maika Monroe, who played Lee Harker, the FBI agent hunting Longlegs, didn’t see Cage’s makeover until they filmed their first scene together.
“The first time Maika Monroe saw Nicolas Cage as Longlegs, her heart rate hit 170 bpm,” read a promo for the movie shared via X earlier this month.
The teaser also included a quote from Monroe, 31: “When I walked in and saw Nicolas Cage for the first time as Longlegs, that was a visceral experience I’ll never forget.”