2019 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: ‘Uncaged: A Stand-in Story’
Documentaries about the film industry give viewers a chance to step behind the curtain and see how favorite movies get made. The 2019 Melbourne International Documentary Film Festival presented one such peek with Uncaged: A Stand-in Story, the short film centered on Marco Kyris and his decade as Nicolas Cage’s stand-in.
Kyris worked with Cage from 1994 to 2004. Their projects together included Leaving Las Vegas, Face/Off, Con Air, and National Treasure. Kyris had started as an aspiring actor who landed his first Cage assignment through an extras agency. The job soon became permanent.
For those unfamiliar with the role of a stand-in, Uncaged: A Stand-in Story describes it as a person hired who has a similar look and build to a main actor in order to film minor shots the lead isn’t expressly needed for. For example, in Gone in 60 Seconds, Kyris’s leg is the one seen kicking Christopher Eccleston off the warehouse walkway, not Cage’s. Kyris worked with Cage for the first time on Trapped in Paradise, in which he helped Cage by observing how the shots were set up and giving Cage information about how to position himself better. This tactic led Cage to ask Kyris to be his permanent stand-in. For the next 10 years, Kyris worked with Cage on 19 other films!
In Uncaged: A Stand-in Story, Kyris reflects back on his career as a stand-in and demonstrates what he learned about Cage from working with him. He mimics his mannerisms, shares anecdotes about his time on set, and describes how Cage worked. Kyris worked with Cage during the “Summer of Cage” in the mid-90s when The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off all premiered. Cage had to learn each role quickly, and Kyris shared how amazing it was to watch him quickly develop each character. But Uncaged: A Stand-in Story isn’t just about Nic Cage—it’s about Kyris. Kyris discusses his real-estate business and how he had twelve properties while his double (Cage) was getting into trouble for his real-estate business. By the time Kyris retired from acting in 2004, he had his own business to fall back on.
Legacy and Continued Interest
The short has maintained modest visibility through later podcast and radio appearances, showing enduring niche appeal of Kyris’s story. Kyris appeared on CBC Radio Q in 2022 and Cage Rage podcast in 2023 discussing his stand-in years. Festival screenings continued into 2020 with Q&As at events like Cage-a-rama. Those later conversations kept the film in circulation among Cage enthusiasts and documentary fans who missed the original festival run.
Kyris's Post-Hollywood Life in Toronto
Kyris has focused on property investment and renovation in Toronto and Fort Lauderdale. Recent references note condo living and seasonal travel patterns. His transition from on-set work to real estate proved stable, and the Toronto base has kept him connected to a smaller but loyal circle of industry friends who still ask about the Cage years.
Availability of the Documentary Today
Primarily known through 2019 festival circuit (Hot Docs, MDFF) and select later event pairings, Uncaged: A Stand-in Story has no wide commercial streaming release documented. Viewers still locate it through festival archives, occasional revival programs, and clips shared by Kyris himself. The 11-minute length makes it easy to program alongside Cage features or stand-in career panels.
Kyris's Media Appearances Since 2019
2022 CBC Radio interview revisiting the Hot Docs experience and stand-in role brought fresh attention to the short. The 2023 podcast interview covering the 20 films worked on from 1994-2005 gave listeners a deeper sense of the day-to-day logistics. Both appearances focused on Kyris recounting past experiences rather than new film projects.
The 2019 Q&A with Kyris remains the most direct record of how the short came together. He explained that the idea had sat with him for a decade before he hired two directors to shape it. Production was a two-day shoot in August 2018, with the heavier lift happening in post-production using his own call sheets, set photos, and music choices. The film clips came straight from the Cage titles themselves. Kyris said the timing felt right once the interviews were recorded, even if the story had been waiting for years.
Plans mentioned in that Q&A to expand the short into a feature documentary and a fictional feature film have no records of a released feature version as of 2026. Kyris’s later interviews focus on recounting past experiences rather than new film projects, leaving the original short as the main public artifact of his stand-in years.
The screening at the Melbourne International Documentary Film Festival took place on July 19, 2019 at Cinema Nova as part of the Docs After Dark program. It won Best International Short Documentary at the festival, and the recognition helped the film travel to other events in the following year. Those later pairings kept the story alive without requiring a wide release.
Kyris’s decade on Cage sets offered a rare window into how one of Hollywood’s busiest stars prepared roles under pressure. The short captures that window without overstating its reach, and the subsequent radio and podcast stops show that a niche audience still wants to hear the details. Real estate provided the steady ground after the cameras stopped, and Toronto remains the city where Kyris continues that work today.
