Yes, Nicolas Cage really does love Paddington 2

At one point in the just-released action-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Pedro Pascal's Nicolas Cage super-fan Javi admits to the playing-himself Cage that one of his favorite movies is Paddington 2.

"I cried through the entire thing," explains Javi, who has paid the down-on-his-luck Cage $1 million to attend his birthday party. "It made me want to be a better man."

"Bulls---!" Cage replies, before we cut to the Face/Off star himself weeping as he watches the family-friendly sequel with Javi and then declaring, "Paddington 2 is incredible."

"I love that scene," says the real-life Cage. "I love that scene because I'm coming at it with this sort of avant-garde arthouse [view]; the Nic Cage character is talking about, 'Oh, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, what a brave shocking terrifying movie,' and then Javi saying, 'Well, Paddington 2,' and then my character thinks that's absolutely ridiculous. But what happens is, not only does Javi know about Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is fascinating, he also is right about Paddington 2, and he turns the Nic Cage character on to the joy of Paddington 2."

How did The Unbearable Weight of Massive talent director Tom Gormican and his co-writer Kevin Etten land on Paddington 2 as the perfect choice of film for this bonding moment between the two main characters?

"The movie's incredible," says Gormican. "It's a perfect movie. There's no 'landing' on it. It's just that good. We were big fans. One of the things we said is that this film is sort of a celebration of Nic's catalog and incredible roles in different genres, a celebration of his career. But we also wanted it to be a fun celebration of making things, of creating, making movies, and other movies that we love and we think are great, and that was one that stood out to us as an incredible movie. They have a very child-like relationship in the film and it was fun for them to be watching what's essentially a kids' movie and bonding with each other."

"I did have a good friend of mine who had seen Paddington 2," explains Etten. "He said to me, 'It made me cry and made me want to be a better man,' which we stole for the film. We are obviously huge fans as well."

So, too, are the leads of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

"This script made me watch Paddington 2 and I understand why it's in the movie," says Pascal. "It's a great movie."

"It is actually quite wonderful," agrees Cage. "It is a good movie."

Additional reporting by Gerrad Hall.

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