Meet the Canadian actor who spent 10 years as a stand-in for Nicolas Cage
Marco Kyris lived in the Hollywood actor's shadow from 1994 until 2004
Click the play button above to listen to Tom Power's full conversation with Marco Kyris.
Marco Kyris is a Toronto actor who spent 10 years of his life in the shadow of a very famous celebrity. From 1994 until 2004, he worked as Nicolas Cage's permanent stand-in — the person who substitutes for a star on film sets while the crew sets up cameras and lighting.
Kyris self-produced an 11-minute documentary about his experience as a stand-in for Cage. It's called Uncaged: A Stand-In Story and it was one of the most talked-about films at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which just wrapped up in Toronto.
He joined Tom Power live in the Q studio to tell us more about his documentary and how being a stand-in for Cage changed his life.
"I just want to tell people that it's not the life that you think it is," said Kyris. "Yes, it was very glamorous, and yes I made a lot of money because I worked for Nic Cage, and yes I invested well and I financially retired years ago — but most people don't have that chance. You're gonna miss out on love, you're gonna miss out on friendship, weddings, funerals, family time ... it's not all glamour. I didn't want to be that guy, so I bought myself out of the business."
— Produced by Vanessa Greco and Jesse Kinos-Goodin