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There’s a new Nicolas Cage movie coming out next month and the trailer does not disappoint. Per Entertainment Weekly, “Nicolas Cage is John Wick but with a Pig,” but seeing as I’ve never watched any of the John Wick movies all I can say with certainty is that Nic Cage mumble-breathes the phrase “who has my pig” in this trailer.
From what I gather from the trailer, Cage is a recluse truffle hunter in the Pacific Northwest, living on his own in the woods after something bad happens in his life as a professional chef. “I remember every meal I ever cooked,” he mumble-breathes. “I remember every person I ever served. You live your life for them, and they don’t even see you. You don’t even see yourself.” (The trailer seems to hint at some notoriety in Cage’s past life, but a chef who remembers every single customer they served probably didn’t serve that many people???)
No matter. There’s the issue of a kidnapped pig. Truffle-related crimes are actually real and pretty scary — shout out to Ryan Jacob’s amazing book The Truffle Underground — and this one is ~personal~ because it’s Nic Cage’s pig, you know? This pig seems to be the only company Cage has out in the woods, and, as Cage puts it, “somebody stole her.” He’s got to find her, even if it means braving the scary, mean world of fine dining in [checks notes] Portland, Oregon. The film was shot on location in Portland in fall 2019 (per one highly-enthusiastic-about-this-movie Portland resident, the restaurant featured in the trailer likely is a revamped interior of Saucebox, which closed in September 2020; that’s a Bailey’s Taproom sign, which has also closed, across the street.) Other restaurants expected to be featured in the film, at least if the press notes’ “special thanks” section is any indication, include Le Pigeon, Ground Kontrol, and Skyline Tavern.
As Cage’s character insists in the trailer, “We don’t get a lot of things to really care about.” We can care about Pig though, which will be in theaters July 16:
