DOWN, SET, WHO?

Nicolas Cage, 62, Looks Unrecognizable With New Shaggy Hairpiece

The Oscar-winning actor plays legendary football coach John Madden.

Mario Anzuoni/REUTERS

By Natalie DemareeSep 24, 2026

Nicolas Cage is showing off a new look, including prosthetics and a shaggy hairpiece, for his upcoming film.

The Oscar-winning actor underwent a dramatic transformation for Madden, where he stars as legendary football coach and sports commentator John Madden.

In a trailer released by Amazon MGM on Sept. 24, Cage, 62, trades his short hair and slim figure for a shaggy light-brown wig, fluffy eyebrows, a full-body fat suit, and prosthetics.

Nicolas Cage portrays the late Hall of Fame football coach John Madden in a biopic film about the coach.
Amazon MGM

The film spans Madden’s career as an Oakland Raiders coach and his role in revolutionizing football through modern NFL schemes.

It features actors Kathryn Hahn, Sienna Miller, John Mulaney, Shane Gillis, Joel Murray, and Christian Bale, who also undergoes a significant metamorphosis.

Raiders head coach John Madden and owner Al Davis hold the Super Bowl trophy after the Oakland Raiders defeated the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl 11 on January 9, 1977, in Pasadena, California.
Sporting News Archive/Sporting News via Getty Images

Bale, 52, wears a receding hairline wig, dark sideburns, and bleached eyebrows to portray the late Al Davis, who owned the Raiders from 1972 until his passing in 2011. His family still owns the franchise.

Christian Bale stars as the late Oakland Raiders owner, Al Davis, and Nicolas Cage stars as the late Hall of Fame coach John Madden in the film Madden.
Amazon MGM

The actor, who won an Oscar for his performance in the 2010 film The Fighter, has experienced many real physical transformations for different roles throughout his nearly four-decade-long career.

Actor Christian Bale poses at a special screening for the 2019 movie "Ford v Ferrari" in Los Angeles, California.
MARIO ANZUONI/Mario Anzuoni/REUTERS

Most notably, Bale shed 60 pounds in 2004 to play a very thin insomniac in The Machinist and gained 100 pounds a few months later to play a muscular Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins.

Christian Bale appears unhealthily thin for his role in ‘The Machinist'
Paramount

In 2019, he told CBS Sunday Morning that he was done with the dramatic weight fluctuations.

“I really think I’m done with it,” Bale said.

Riko Shibata and Nicolas Cage attend the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 5, 2025, in Beverly Hills, California.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Earlier this week, Cage stunned fans with his appearance at the opening night of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which he attended in Los Angeles with his much younger wife of five years, Riko Shibata, 31.

The National Treasure star arrived at the event with tousled gray hair and a thick, matching beard—a stark contrast to his look at the June 2026 IndieWire TV Honors event, where he had chestnut-colored hair and no beard.