Tiffany Haddish has taken the world along with her on her rise from a young up-start to starring in the Oscar-buzz worthy Paul Schrader film The Card Counter opposite Oscar Isaac. She is also starring opposite Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent&which is being lauded by critics from just viewing the trailer shown at CinemaCon. Tiffany Haddish openly spoke about her bumpy start on the first days of both films.
It was obvious that she was struggling, and she says Nicolas Cage took her aside and gave her some advice that’s going to stick for her. She had this to say to Insider, “It’s not my best day. And the role in this movie, I’m not funny at all. People should know this. There is no comedy coming from me. So I remember I was shitty that day and Nic comes up to me and says (in her best Nicolas Cage voice) ‘Tiffany, it’s going to be OK. You’re going to be alright. Just relax. You got this.'”
She also had her own method to create spontaneity in her The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent performance by just concentrating on her role. Cage proved her wrong with his technique. “He knew everything about the movie; every single thing that was going on. Sometimes I do movies and I just want to know my character and then be surprised by everything else…I always felt in that surprise there may be some magic that comes from spontaneity. But after working with him, I realized I should know everything and then in my mind find room for surprises.”
She also shared an intimate story with Cage on her first unique sexual experience watching Face/Off. “And you may have heard that story I told about my connection with Nicolas Cage. Right. So once I told him the story then I fell right into things and got comfortable. And later in the day, he was like, “In the future when you got something you want to tell somebody just tell them.” And I was like, “I didn’t know what type of crazy you were!” Oh, to have been on the set of that movie!
After working with the undeniably seasoned director, Paul Schrader, then working with the relatively green Tom Gormican in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, she sees the need to go straight to a master to learn the craft of directing.”There’s a lot of legendary directors I want to work with…I would love to work with [Quentin Tarantino], but maybe not be in his movie but shadow him and learn from him. Or play a small role, but be his AD. I always wanted to be an assistant director. I just want to say, “Picture’s up! Quiet on the set!” Reiterating that that’s the direction she’s going, “Yeah, I got some control issues.”
Maybe she’ll get her chance with Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 3 that’s in development. Until then, catch her in The Card Counter, in theaters on September 10.