Washington: American actor Nicolas Cage says he took music lessons to understand his character in the thriller ‘A Score to Settle.’
The actor who plays the role of Frank Carver, a low-level gangster in the film, features a rare sight of him singing, and playing the piano, in a scene where he performs the vaudeville song, ‘I’m Always Chasing Rainbows.’
“I didn’t learn piano prior to that,” said Cage.
“I had to really get a teacher to teach me how to play that song, and it wasn’t the easiest song. My day job is to act, it’s not really to sing, but I have sung in other movies, like Wild at Heart. But this song was not the easiest song.
“So, to me, it didn’t matter that it was a little bit of a straining because the character is not a professional singer, he’s just someone who plays around with the piano and likes that song because it meant something to his wife, who’s no longer alive in the movie. So, I didn’t think it had to be pitch-perfect,” he said.
Adding he said, “Well, I appreciate that I do, actually sing. I know The New York Times, they didn’t seem to like my singing too much. But that’s okay, I don’t take it personally. But thank you. Because I do like music.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, the story revolves around gangster Carver (Cage), who tries to take revenge on his fellow mobsters after serving 19 years for a crime he did not commit. Apart from this, his biggest revenge is his chronic insomnia, which is both threatening his life and making it difficult for the ex-convict to separate fantasy from reality.