Nicolas Cage arrived at one of Los Angeles’ biggest cultural openings looking noticeably different from the last time fans saw him on a red carpet.
The 62-year-old actor stepped out with wife Riko Shibata for the Sept. 19 opening-night celebration of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, showing off silver hair and a full gray beard. Cage paired the new look with a navy-blue tuxedo jacket, white shirt, black trousers and dark sunglasses, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Shibata, 31, stayed on the opposite end of the color palette in an all-white ensemble with trousers, a matching top and a coat featuring sheer sleeves. The couple held hands as they posed together outside the museum.
The biggest unanswered question was whether Cage’s transformation was personal or professional. He has not publicly explained the gray look.
The Gray Look Was a Major Change From Just a Few Months Ago
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Cage’s hair was still much darker when he attended Mookie Betts’ second annual Smash for Good Pickleball Challenge at the Griffin Club in Los Angeles on June 18. By the Lucas Museum opening three months later, both his hair and beard appeared fully silver.
Cage plays NFL coaching and broadcasting legend John Madden in David O. Russell’s Madden, but that film was completed well before the museum appearance. Variety reports that the movie will arrive on Prime Video on Nov. 18, and previously released images show Cage with darker hair in character.
He is also playing real-life Serbian double agent Duško Popov in Simon West’s World War II espionage film Fortitude. A trailer released in September likewise shows Cage with dark hair.
Another possibility in his pipeline is Lords of War, Andrew Niccol’s sequel to the 2005 crime drama Lord of War. Cage returns as arms dealer Yuri Orlov opposite Bill Skarsgård, with the film currently set for a 2027 theatrical release.
Cage and Shibata Made the Opening a Date Night
The outing also gave Cage and Shibata another public appearance together more than five years into their marriage. The pair met in Japan while Cage was filming Prisoners of the Ghostland and later spent months apart during the pandemic. Cage eventually proposed over FaceTime and sent Shibata a customized black-diamond engagement ring, Page Six reported.
They married in a small ceremony at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas on Feb. 16, 2021. The date was chosen to honor the birthday of Cage’s late father, August Coppola.
The couple welcomed daughter August Francesca Coppola Cage on Sept. 7, 2022. Cage also has two older sons, Weston, whom he shares with former partner Christina Fulton, and Kal-El, whom he shares with ex-wife Alice Kim.
Cage and Shibata have generally kept much of their family life private, although she has joined him at major premieres and awards shows since making their red carpet debut together at the 2021 premiere of Pig.
The Museum Brought Together Hollywood for Its Opening Night
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Cage and Shibata were among the film, art and entertainment figures invited to celebrate George Lucas and Mellody Hobson’s long-awaited new museum.
The Sept. 19 Opening Night was co-chaired by a group that included Tom Cruise, Greta Gerwig, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Pharrell Williams, artist Julie Bell, JR and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang.
The institution is devoted to narrative art across centuries and forms, placing traditional painting alongside illustration, comic art, photography, murals and cinema. Its collection also includes the complete Lucas Archives covering 1971 through 2012. The Lucas Museum confirmed that the Sept. 19 celebration preceded its public opening on Sept. 22.
The museum occupies a 300,000-square-foot building designed by Ma Yansong of MAD with Stantec in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. More than 100,000 square feet is devoted to galleries across more than 30 exhibition spaces, while the building also includes two theaters, a research library and learning spaces.
Outside, the museum sits within a new 13-acre campus designed by Mia Lehrer and Studio-MLA, with more than 300 newly planted trees, gardens, an amphitheater and additional public green space.