Alex Wolff Reveals His Most Uncomfortable Scene With Nicolas Cage In Pig - Exclusive
Having starred in everything from the "Jumanji" films to the independent horror movie "Hereditary," Alex Wolff has worked with many talented actors over the years, each bringing their own methods to the set. Perhaps everything Wolff has taken away from working with previous co-stars changed, though, after starring opposite Oscar-winning Nicolas Cage in the new indie drama "Pig."
"Pig" stars Cage as Rob, a disheveled recluse living off-grid in the Oregon wilderness whose main function in life is to hunt for truffles with his beloved pig. Rob's life spirals out of control when the pig is kidnapped, so he enlists the help of Amir (Wolff) — an enterprising businessman who purchases the truffles on behalf of restaurants — to drive Rob to his old city haunts in Portland so they can find out who is behind the crime. What Amir uncovers, though, is Rob's mysterious and troubled past, which leads to a startling revelation about the disappearance of the woodsman's prize swine.
In an exclusive interview with Looper, Wolff said he was sincerely enlightened by Cage's acting method.
"I felt like my learning curve was just a perpendicular learning curve, it went straight up with Nic," Wolff enthused. "I'm just owning up to it, it's a little trite when you say that, and it could be maybe perceived as not completely sincere except in this case, it is — and then I really felt like I went from one version of an actor to a completely different version. One that is 1,000 times better because of working with Nic. And I feel like that's maybe why you notice that all his movies, the people around him, I think, do even better with him than they do solo. I think that he brings the best out of everybody. He is a real team artist."
Silence is golden — but uncomfortable if you're an actor, Alex Wolff says
In Wolff's and Cage's first scene together in "Pig," Amir travels out to Rob's remote destination to purchases some freshly-picked truffles. It's a curious scene, considering that Wolff does all the talking while Cage barely acknowledges his presence, much less talks to him. As such, participating in a scene where he was met with silence was something new and uncomfortable for Wolff, especially since it was opposite an actor as esteemed as Cage.
Ultimately, Wolff embraced the challenge, and felt he emerged a better actor because of it.
"You know, it ups your game, but it's very hard. It's hard. It's hard to keep talking and have someone not talk to you, but I think it ends up serving you," Wolff revealed to Looper. "What you feel as an actor, like, 'Oh my God, am I doing okay?' really serves a character. Because anybody who keeps talking and someone's not talking, they usually then start to spiral and get a little nervous, and insecure out of this. There's no one who gives the other person silence. Imagine if you asked me a question and I just looked at you. I think you'd nervously start to rephrase the question. So, I think that's how it was a little bit, but really fun."
Wolff actually had one other co-star who didn't talk in the same scene, but he wasn't as thrown by that because she was the title character in "Pig." Instead, the hog simply ended up bearing the brunt of Amir's ire as he walked up to Rob's doorstep to purchase the prized truffles.
"She starts walking on my nice shoes and I started yelling at her," Wolff said, smiling. "It was all improvised because it was just funny. She was a diva, but we loved her."
"Pig" is playing in select theaters nationwide.