In an interview with Screen Anarchy, Stanley explained that as Cage was “a huge Lovecraft fan,” the production company behind “Color Out of Space,” SpectreVision, hooked him up with Stanley’s script. The characterization of Nathan Gardner, who goes from a level-headed, practical patriarch to an incensed, tortured man who wants to euthanize his own family, owes a lot to Cage’s approach to the role. Stanley claims that Cage based a lot of Nathan’s character on his own father, August Coppola, something he had already done before in “Vampire’s Kiss.” The director said:
“When Nic puts on this strange, whiny, almost British accent, he’s imitating his dad, who’s the same person he was parodying in Vampire’s Kiss. It’s very much a turn to his Auggie [August Coppola] characterization from Vampire’s Kiss.”
Cage’s drawling, whiny way of speaking in “Vampire’s Kiss” adds greatly to his character in the 1988 black comedy horror film. A good example would be this scene, in which Loew lectures his therapist about the simplicity of filing documents in alphabetical order. The hilarity of the scene aside, it establishes the outlandish nature of Cage’s character, highlighting his narcissistic tendencies and penchant for theatrics. As Leow becomes more isolated and irritated as the film progresses, it makes sense for him to lean heavily into his delusions that he is a vampire on the prowl. Per Stanley’s statement above, Cage parodied his father’s mannerisms in “Vampire’s Kiss” — something he turned to once again while portraying a family man on the edge of sanity.
