Zach Schonfeld

ABOUT

Zach Schonfeld was a senior writer for Newsweek, where he covers culture for the print magazine. Previously, he was an editorial fellow for The Atlantic Wire and an editor for PopMatters.com. He's a graduate of Wesleyan University, where he was editor-in-chief of the campus blog Wesleying and a recipient of an Olin Fellowship to study historic preservation. He has also written for The AV Club, Rolling Stone, The Nation, Pitchfork, The Atlantic, The Rumpus, Noisey, and other publications. He is currently finishing a book for Bloomsbury 33 ½ series.

BOOKS

 Birth of the Cage: Wild Tales from the Early Career of Nicolas Cage

A short description of the book: 

I am proposing to write a book that gives the definitive and immensely entertaining account of Nicolas Cage’s early career. Birth of the Cage will take readers behind the scenes of the beloved films that turned Cage into an eccentric and uncompromising screen icon, with a deep talent for portraying outsiders, weirdos, sleazeballs, and generally disturbed characters. The scope of the book will span from 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High—his debut film role—all the way up to Leaving Las Vegas, the astonishing dramatic role that won him an Academy Award 14 years later. 

 The book will be rooted in extensive original reporting—in particular, interviews with the directors, producers, and actors who worked with Cage during this period (as well as Cage himself, to whatever extent he is willing to participate). But this is not a staid biography. Birth of the Cage will trace Cage’s onscreen self-discovery and the development of his rebellious and aggressively surrealistic approach towards acting, which takes cues from such unlikely sources as silent cinema and German expressionistic. It will reveal how he transformed from the goofy teenager of Valley Girl to the wild-eyed practitioner of what he calls “Nouveau Shamanic” performance, capable of lighting up the screen and bending the boundaries of good taste in outlandish cult films like Raising Arizona and Vampire’s Kiss..