Nicolas Cage has been seen on the big screen as his twin, a suicidal alcoholic and an ex-con, but never before as a truffle-hunting hermit. Without a doubt, it is one of his most different roles and, probably for this reason, it has surprised critics, mostly for the better. The actor has been placed under the orders of Michael Sarnoski and premieres Pig, which reaches theaters.
In the film, Cage is a renowned chef who drops everything to isolate himself in the wilds of Oregon. His success and past overwhelms him and he decides to live in the mountains with his sow, who helps him cope with his new lifestyle, as she is one of the best truffle trackers. "It's easier to move to the forest than to face things," Sarnoski explains to La Vanguardia. Everything goes wrong when his beloved animal is stolen one night, forcing him to return to Portland in search of answers.
The filmmaker insists that, far from what it may seem at first, it is not a revenge film, but "a culinary saga that reflects on the pain and sorrow for the loss, as well as on the comings and goings comings in relationships between people” and advances that “the main moral that we can extract is that tragedy and drama, instead of separating us and building walls around us, can make us understand each other. Sharing the darkness keeps us united.”
On the other hand, the director admits that he feels very lucky to have been able to have both Cage and Alex Wolff, in addition to the rest of the team, in his first film. “The experience was incredible and, at the same time, unthinkable, as was working in the city of Portland and with a cast that was mostly local. They are all members of my family now.”
He admits that he was surprised to receive a "curiously quick" response from Cage's agent to participate in the tape. “He read it very quickly. He didn't expect such an immediate yes. I didn't even know if he was going to answer, but the truth is that from the first moment he showed a lot of respect and understanding, which allowed me to lean on him a lot during the shoot."
Despite being surrounded by professionals, he nevertheless recognizes that there were several challenges they had to face. “On the one hand, working with a non-professional pig. On the other, work in a very short time, since all the filming was done in just twenty days. And the climax came when we faced post-production, since the pandemic began and we had to do everything with our tablets and remotely, ”he acknowledges. Still, he concludes, "it all ended with a happy ending."
