Nicolas Cage’s New Apocalyptic Film Arcadian Reveals Trailer Ahead of SXSW

Nicolas Cage has long been embraced by fans who thrive on the actor’s truly unique swagger and craft, and lately, he’s been keeping himself plenty busy with several new projects. One of them is a new apocalyptic survival thriller called Arcadian, which is getting its its World Premiere at SXSW Festival on March 11th and opens exclusively in theaters on April 12th. You can check out the trailer above and more information about the film below:

Arcadian, previously titled Sand and Stones, is directed by Benjamin Brewer, who also led visual effects on the award-juggernaut Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). That alone entails a high degree of promise for this project. Michael Nilon, who has worked with Cage on multiple other films, wrote the script. Starring alongside Cage in this new film are Jaeden Martell (It, Knives Out), Maxwell Jenkins (Reacher), Sadie Soverall (Saltburn), Samantha Coughlan (Kingsman: The Golden Circle), and Joel Gillman (The Frankenstein Chronicles). The official synopsis reads as follows:

“In a near future, normal life on Earth has been decimated. Paul and his two sons, Thomas and Joseph, have been living a half-life – tranquility by day and torment by night. Every night, after the sun sets, they face the unrelenting attacks of a mysterious and violent evil. One day, when Thomas doesn’t return home before sundown, Paul must leave the safety of their fortified farm to find him. A nightmarish battle ensues that forces the family to execute a desperate plan to survive.”

Nicolas Cage Is Thriving More Than Ever On Screen

Nicolas Cage is an actor who has had one of the more unique careers in the modern era of Hollywood. Born into the renowned Coppola family, who, of course, is known for their vast accolades in the film industry, Cage still opted for a different working name to avoid any nepotistic conflicts. His early career consisted mostly of smaller cult films, and eventually, he found his niche in the action/adventure genres.

He truly began to take off with movies like Con Air (1997), Martin Scorsese’s drama Bringing Out the Dead (1999), and Ridley Scott’s black comedy Matchstick Men (2003). Audiences and directors alike were drawn to Cage’s one-of-a-kind acting style, perhaps best described by The Guardian’s Luke Buckmaster in 2018.

“In Cage’s hands, cartoonish moments are imbued with real emotion and real emotions become cartoons. Everything – from individual scenes down to single lines of dialogue – feel like they have been embraced as opportunities for creation. Cage is usually interesting even when his films are not. He is erratic and unpredictable; he is captivating and he is capricious. He is a performer. He is a troubadour. He is a jazz musician.”

After a relatively quiet downturn in his career and a number of direct-to-video projects that made no waves, Cage has suddenly surged back up even stronger than before. In 2021, Cage surprised audiences and critics with his performance in the drama film Pig, which won him several Best Actor awards. Cage himself called it his favorite performance to date. After that came an eccentric comedy film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), which saw Cage play himself and served as an entertaining homage to the actor alongside co-star Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us).

He’s followed that up with delightfully wild turns in Renfield and Sympathy for the Devil, and is set to be truly disturbing in Longlegs, which will see Cage play an elusive serial killer.