There was a pretty painful to watch moment where he showed up to an opening night at a movie theater[0]. My favourite comment: "There are more seconds to mars than people in attendance."
Correct. This was initially being developed shortly after "Legacy but the failure of "Tomorrowland" canned the whole thing. Leto came on years later, offered to produce it and star in the film and brought the project back from the dead. This is basically his film, it doesn't exist without Leto as the lead
I believe Cage had a massive tax bill to pay at some point which led to him appearing in basically anything he was offered, including what is without doubt the worst film I have ever watched, Left Behind [1]. One review I read said something along the lines of "phoning it in would be too kind a description, Cage is so devoid of effort or emotion in this film he regularly appears to have been photoshopped in afterwards" which really summed it up perfectly.
Having said that, both before and after the money trouble, he made some superb movie choices and put in some outstanding performances - think Wild at Heart, Pig, Unbearable Weight etc. Hats off to you Nick.
Their style of intensity and overacting do have some overlap. They've also both demonstrated that, when they care, they can be excellent and nuanced actors.
But Cage's intensity often comes up as kind of funny or endearing. Leto's overacting is often cringy/edgy or downright unpleasant. Which seems to represent both their personalities too.
