Nicolas Cage has played his share of quirky characters. In last year?s hit "Adaptation," Cage played twin brothers who had their own bizarre idiosyncrasies. As a con artist (with emphasis on the ?artist?) in "Matchstick Men," Cage puts his gift of creating memorable characters to full use.
In what some critics are calling one of Nicolas Cage?s best performances to date, Cage stars as Roy, the obsessive-compulsive, chain-smoking, agoraphobic who discovers after 14 years that he has a daughter, Angela (Alison Lohman).

Roy?s got a whole catalogue of nervous tics and according to director Ridley Scott, when it came to casting the role, choosing Nicolas Cage was a foregone conclusion. Scott recalls, "I?ve been aware of his work for years ? left, right, center, he does it all. He?s an amazingly versatile actor. He always brings so much dimension to his characters, such sympathy and pathos, and such strength."

Cage cites the script and the chance to work with Ridley Scott as the reasons he chose this project. "I feel that the script was excellent and was full of surprises. And then Ridley, of course, was a director that I admired and wanted to work with. His connection to actors is a good one. He helps you be free as an actor. His rehearsal is an important process for him. We had about two or three weeks where we could work out and map out the characters together, so that everyone was on the same page," says Cage.

In "Matchstick Men," Cage as Roy plays mentor to Sam Rockwell as Frank. Cage explains their onscreen relationship this way: "If you look at their relationship, Roy?s the teacher and Sam?s the student.

And together there?s like an older brother/younger brother thing happening. There?s a lot of love there. And they get into the con almost as an art form, or at least they try to justify it that way. Certainly Roy tries to feel better about what he?s doing with that idea of it being an art form. I think ultimately he has a lot of guilt about what he?s doing and realizes he?s basically just ripping people off."

Cage goes on to describe Roy as a lonely guy who?s not exactly happy. "He has a very hard condition to live with and he doesn?t go out very much. [He?s] shutting doors all the time, very symbolic. Then in walks this 14 year-old daughter. He had an idea that maybe there was a kid, but he wasn?t sure. And there she is. It opens up his life, opens up the doors, and he goes through a transformation."

With twists and turns, comedy, drama, an unusual coming-of-age story, and even a tiny bit of romance, "Matchstick Men" is an extremely tough movie to classify. "I think Ridley always saw it as a comedy. I recently just heard he referred to it as an ?elegant comedy,? however I don?t that I really want to label the movie as anything, and let people discover it on their own," says Cage.

More on "Matchstick Men" - Alison Lohman on Playing 14 and Working with Nicolas Cage