“I think that she’s going to be one of the most luminary stars in cinema,” the Oscar winner says of his costar in “The Carpenter’s Son.”

Nicolas Cage says this is the best actor he’s ever worked with, even surpassing Meryl Streep

"I think that she's going to be one of the most luminary stars in cinema," the Oscar winner says of his costar in "The Carpenter's Son."

By Mike Miller

Mike Miller

Mike Miller is the executive editor on the movies team at . He previously worked as a writer-reporter for PEOPLE and TMZ.

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on November 13, 2025 12:52 p.m. ET

Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep at the 2003 SAG Awards. Credit:

KMazur/WireImage

From Meryl Streep to Nicole Kidman, Nicolas Cage has worked with some of Hollywood's greatest actresses throughout his decades-spanning, Academy Award-winning career.

However, the actor tells ** that his most recent costar, an up-and-coming British actor, may just be the best of the bunch — and that includes the aforementioned three-time Oscar winner, with whom he starred in 2002's *Adaptation*.

"Listen, I can't think of a better actor that I've ever worked with, and I include Meryl Streep in that group," Cage says of Isla Johnston.

In *The Carpenter's Son*, a horror take on the Son of God's teenage years, Cage and FKA Twigs portray Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus (played by Noah Jupe), and Johnston plays Satan.**

Isla Johnston in 'The Carpenter's Son'.

Magnolia Pictures

"I think that she's going to be one of the most luminary stars in cinema," Cage continues, adding, "I know she's playing Joan of Arc, which is perfect."

This summer, it was reported that *Moulin Rouge* and *Elvis* director Baz Luhrmann and Warner Bros. were in early talks with the young actress to lead his *Jehanne d’Arc*. Previously, she portrayed the young version of Anya Taylor-Joy's character in Netflix's limited series *The Queen's Gambit*, and also appeared in Apple TV's sci-fi series *Invasion*.

"She has that thousand-yard stare in her eyes that looks like she's looking right through you and into the epicenter of your creation and your DNA," Cage says with a laugh. "I mean, it's wild."

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The *Longlegs *star also has high praise for Jupe (who also appeared in *Honey Boy*), calling the young rising star "wonderful" to work with. Forming a believable, if troubled, onscreen family with his costars was crucial for Cage, who sees the movie as more of a family drama than a traditional horror story.

"It's no secret that I've been drawn to movies about family, and I couldn't think of a more compelling family dynamic than the Nativity to apply myself to as an actor and to try to tell a story about the Nativity, particularly as it pertains to Joseph, who, in this story, is having an existential crisis," he explains.

"As a parent, the pressure we are under to guide and protect and to help our children achieve their dreams is immense. And then if you look at Joseph's situation, who is called to protect a child that is divine, and has been told that this child is the son of God, you can multiply that pressure by a billion," he adds. "Because if anything goes wrong, it is on him. Failure is just not an option. Meanwhile, there are all these forces at work trying to derail the child that is divine from succeeding in the mission."

Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep in 'Adaptation'.

Columbia/Courtesy Everett Collection

Those dark forces lend the movie some of its horror feel, but Cage assures prospective audiences that, regardless of the genre, everyone involved in making *The Carpenter's Son *treated the project and subject matter with the utmost respect.

"I can tell you that everybody approached this movie as though the material was something sacred, and they were very careful with it," Cage promises. "There was no wink, there was no smirk. It was emotionally raw; it was vulnerable. It was naked, in terms of vulnerability and emotion. And that could be a risk in itself. People may be uncomfortable with that."

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Cage admits he himself was a bit shaken after seeing the film for the first time. "I actually saw it in a cinema with my wife, just the two of us, and I was rattled. It was so intense that I was kind of rattled by it."

Nicolas Cage in 'The Carpenter's Son'.

Magnolia Pictures

So much so, the actor immediately called his director, Lotfy Nathan, to tell him how much the film moved him.

"I said to him, 'This is the same feeling I had when I walked out of Oliver [Stone]'s *Platoon*, but the difference is, you did it without gunfire. You did without bombs going off,'" Cage recalls. "I was equally as rattled watching this and seeing these different characters that are colliding. When Tahliah is embracing Noah, it was just like, *Oh, this is the spark. This is the ringing of the bell. This is the fusion that started the fire, this collision*… It gives me chills, you know?"

*The Carpenter's Son *hits theaters Nov. 14.

*A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the actress Cage was referring to as FKA Twigs instead of Isla Johnston.*

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Source: “AOL Movies”