Deborah Foreman, best known for playing Julie Richman in the 1983 cult classic Valley Girl, is looking back at the instant chemistry she shared with Nicolas Cage while making the film. She says their natural connection helped bring out the best in their performances.
Deborah Foreman says she and Nicolas Cage inspired each other while making Valley Girl
Foreman played Julie, a popular girl who starts questioning her relationship with boyfriend Tommy after meeting Randy, a punk played by Cage. According to Foreman, she and Cage quickly developed an easy creative rhythm on set.
“The chemistry, it was already there. And when you have that kind of chemistry, creativity is just on fire,” she tells PEOPLE.
Their performances also inspired each other. She continues, “I mean, you pull creativity from the field anyway. And so, when he would do something, and then it would inspire something in me, or I would do something, and it would inspire something in him.”
Foreman recalls that she and Cage even created a playful nose-to-nose signal that made it into the film. “We just came up with it. So, if you see us doing that, that’s because he was giving me his nose, and I was giving him mine.”
The 63-year-old actress also admired what Cage brought to his character. “He had his little bag of goodies that he brought to that character, too. So, it was wonderful,” she notes.
Looking back at the film, Foreman says some of their most natural moments were never rehearsed. “I noticed when I look at it now, how I would initiate certain things, and it was just organic, that I felt very comfortable with Nick. I organically would hold him, or I would just… certain things I noticed in the film, we didn’t rehearse any of that.”
Foreman, who retired from acting in 1991, still considers her experience with Cage an extraordinary part of her career. She declares, “I’ve said this before out loud, and I’ll say it again, Nicholas Cage will be the love of my life between the words action and cut.”
