Nicolas Cage's decision to make 1988's *Vampire's Kiss* came directly out of the success of *Moonstruck*, the 1987 Cher romantic comedy that gave him the leverage and box-office credibility to pursue a far riskier passion project. Cage has said friends and colleagues warned him against making the low-budget black comedy, but he felt compelled to take the gamble rather than settle into safer, more commercial roles.

In *Vampire's Kiss*, Cage plays a narcissistic New York literary agent who becomes convinced he is turning into a vampire after a sexual encounter leaves him psychologically unravelled. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 1988, Cage recalled that "everyone told me not to do it, but the script grabbed me by the collar and screamed, 'If you don't do this movie, you're a coward!'" He said he saw *Moonstruck*'s success as a springboard that let him "roll the dice" on a film with little mass-market appeal, and the performance has since become a widely celebrated cult classic and a defining example of his willingness to commit fully to unconventional roles.