Apparently, actor Albert Finney is a major inspiration to Cage, and he had also worked with “Leaving Las Vegas” writer and director Mike Figgus, so Cage asked about Finney’s method for drunk acting. Finney would taste the alcohol and then spit it out, which is what Cage says he did for most of the film, but the big drunken rant needed something more. Cage explained that while he liked the idea of getting drunk for the whole picture, it just wasn’t feasible. Still, he wanted to try to get “a real blackout” on camera for just one scene. He went on to explain that he had a “drinking coach” and that the two of them got wasted together:
“Had a drinking coach named Tony Dingman, family friend, at the time a drunk, a poet. We were drinking Sambuca, and he thought that would be a good choice for this scene. So I was drinking the Sambuca, and I was like, ‘Whatever happens, get it, because this isn’t gonna happen again.'”
Cage believes the performance is one of his very best, and it’s hard to argue with that. He really put himself into the role and embodied the character in a way that’s truly heartbreaking. In the sequence where he’s genuinely drunk out of his mind onscreen and off, he also put in some of his personal life experience, transferring his desire to see his son more into the character’s fight for custody.