LonglegsStar Kiernan Shipka Reacts to Seeing Nicolas Cage's 'Fearless' Performance: 'Obsessed' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Kiernan Shipka on March 1; Nicolas Cage on July 8.Photo:Michael Buckner/WWD via Getty; JC Olivera/Getty

Michael Buckner/WWD via Getty; JC Olivera/Getty

Kiernan Shipkais “obsessed” withLonglegscostarNicolas Cage.

At theToronto International Film Festivalon Friday, Sept. 6, Shipka, 24, told PEOPLE that she was “in awe” ofCage’s transformationinto the thriller’s titular character. “I love Longlegs — I mean, not really,” quipped the actress of the Satanic serial killer.

“I went to the theater and saw it and was so obsessed with it,” she added. “And then to be in it, it is crazy.”

The Oscar winner, she said, is “fearless as all hell and it’s an amazing performance.”

Nicolas Cage in ‘Longlegs’.NEON

NEON

Perkins, 50, first worked with Shipka in his 2015 horror movieThe Blackcoat’s Daughter. “When he sent meLonglegs, I was like, ‘I will do anything for you, obviously I’m there in a heartbeat,’” she told PEOPLE. “And to see it take off the way that it has… I’m so happy for him and Maika.”

Longlegs, she continued, is “such a beautiful movie so to even be a small part of it feels really surreal.”

Kiernan Shipka in ‘Longlegs’.Neon/Everett

Neon/Everett

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Of course, the hit thriller is only one of Shipka’s buzzy projects to arrive this year. Costarring inTwisterswithDaisy Edgar-JonesandGlen Powell, she said, “I made some of my best friends on that movie and it was an amazing experience.” It’s been “surreal,” she added, “to see both of those things translate and to have people watch them and dig it.”

And in addition to the upcomingRed One(in theaters Nov. 15), she stars alongsidePamela AndersoninThe Last Showgirl, whichpremieredin Toronto on Sept. 6. “I’d always admired her from afar,” Shipka said of Anderson, 57. “Getting to know her took everything to a whole new level because she is truly such a genuine, kind, beautiful person, just a pure soul of a human.”

The formerBaywatchstar is “so unbelievably good” in the Gia Coppola-directed indie, per Shipka. “Every time that she did a scene — I’m in awe of her. She’s amazing.”

Kiernan Shipka at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of ‘The Last Showgirl’ on Sept. 6.Kayla Oaddams/Getty

Kayla Oaddams/Getty

Longlegs, which also costarsBlair Underwood, Michelle Choi-Lee andAlicia Witt, is in theaters now and available digitally on demand.The Last Showgirldoes not yet have a distributor or release date.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sept. 15.

source: people.com