[ Nicolas Cage has always been cinema royalty to Morphizm, and not just because he's a tall, crazy branch of the Coppola dynasty. But whether he's eating a cockroach and losin' his freakin' mind in the strange, underrated Vampire's Kiss, or chasing babies in Raising Arizona, or going schizo trying to find himself in Adaptation, Cage has always taken the risks other actors are too coddled to consider. As he says below, he's happiest when he's making you "uncomfortable." That's what the truly Wild at Heart do, after all.
Which is why we're proud to have him on board for our second installment of In Their Own Words in honor of his new film, National Treasure. Without further ado.]
I've always maintained that I see myself as a student and there is always something to learn and be challenged by and hopefully to grow from.
I think that the very thing that made me nervous about National Treasure was the same thing that intrigued me -- the idea of a man going in and stealing the Declaration of Independence. I thought it didn't seem plausible. How can this actually be pulled off? Then I met with Jon Turteltaub and he said, "But well, that's interesting, he's audacious, he's bold." And Jerry Bruckheimer brings in a great group of technical advisors who do the research and try to figure out exactly how to make it within the context of the film seem as believable as possible. And I got to do it in a tuxedo, so that was interesting for me as well.
Without going into too much detail, I have had my obsessions and this character is certainly one who is obsessed with the marvelous Templar treasure and has devoted his entire life and groomed himself to figure out exactly what he needs to do to find it in the face of great ridicule. I think that I have been obsessed over the years with where I can go with acting or how I can challenge myself.
I think you have to give yourself over to the premise of this movie and go along for the ride. Which is what I did. I saw it for the first time the other night and was very happy with the way it seem to work logically within the woeful suspension of disbelief. National Treasure has a certain spirit reminiscent of Indiana Jones, but it parts company in that there is nothing supernatural about it. There is enough there to wonder about. We can think about it in terms of, does this treasure really exist? And indeed several highly intelligent people who believe it exists have risked their life looking for this very treasure.
I don't want to take any political grandstand here, but I do feel that some of those issues that are touched upon in this movie -- which isn't by any means a historical one, but an adventure film in that spirit. But it's nice to remember what the founding fathers did. They were geniuses, and its amazing that they were alive at the same time and knew one another and debated and shook hands and created philosophies and rules by which we still live today. I still think we can learn from that.
I am still in talks about Ghost Rider. It's not a definite at this point. But comic books were one of the ways I learned as a young man how to read. There were others, but I was always fascinated by the mythology of comics. I used to read Greek myths and discovered a kindred spirit in the minds of Stan Lee and also DC comics. I always felt that they would be successful films even before they became successful. I knew that the big three would be Batman, Superman and Spiderman. I respond to them because they have the fantasy of the child's mind, and are a wonderful alternative world to sort of lose yourself in. It's true that I was involved with Ghost Rider over three years ago and was trying to develop it with another film director. But these things are very sensitive; you have to hit it on the bull'seye, or it may not work. Its best for everyone to be cautious.
Contrary to rumours, I was never going to do Spiderman. They talked to me about playing the Green Goblin, but at the same time I was offered Adaptation. I wanted to play twins, so that's why I opted for Adaptation. I also like Spike Jonze's work quite a bit. And I also like Sam Raimi as well, but Adaptation gave me more of an opportunity to learn something. As for. Superman, yeah, I did that -- I went pretty far down the road with Tim Burton on that one. But, at the time Warner Brothers wasn't ready to pull the trigger on the script, so to speak, because it was getting expensive and they had to be cautious with their money.
At a very early age, maybe six or seven, I would watch TV and see Charles Bronson or Clint Eastwood or Sean Connery and be fascinated by the magic of filmmaking. I would walk to school and actually have crane shots in my mind, where the crane would be pulling up and looking down at me. It was something that was very pure and organic in me that wanted to be a film actor. I loved movies more than comic books. I loved getting lost in anything that stimulated my imagination because, in those early years, it's what inspired and protected me.
I don't look at myself as a successful person. I have a difficult time looking at the glass as half-full. Instead, I tend to look at it as half-empty.
I took almost a year off after Matchstick Men to find my next picture, which ended up becoming National Treasure. I just hit a spurt where the screenplays were interesting and diverse enough for me to keep working. I have an eclectic taste when it comes to the movies that I want to do. I don't want to be on any type of movie diet, because it's dangerous to get trapped in any one identity. It may work because the audience knows what they are getting, but for me it's boring -- I like to keep myself guessing. I don't want to do just independent or adventure films, because I enjoy both. I am the first to admit to liking Clint Eastwood, James Bond, Charles Bronson and Bruce Lee, but I like to keep me and my audience guessing. Bruce Lee was a huge inspiration for me. When I was a kid I was Bruce Lee in my mind.
It makes me happy -- and I think it makes people happy -- to go to the movies and not think of today's problems, to get lost in a fantasy. I want to find the next script that fits that description, so I suppose, in that regard, maybe I am trying to find my identity. My father loves classical music. I didn't want to offend him by playing rock n' roll, so I would listen to classical music. I was a late bloomer when it came to rock n' roll. But when I did, it was The Beatles and "A Day in the Life" that hooked me. That song blew the door off, and still does.
At the end of the day, its hard to look at certain moments in my life and say, "I'm still here in the backyard, like a treasure hunter. It's the same spirit children have. It's great way not to have to grow up.
DVDs are tricky. Unto themselves, they're great because people can rediscover the movie, see what wasn't in there the first time out. But it's dangerous when you can see how movies are made, what goes on behind the scenes. Sure, it's helpful to young filmmakers and actors, but it's also the man behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz -- it destroys the illusion and the magic. Who really wants to see everything? I want to lose myself in the illusion. Too much of that gives away all of your secrets.
Sometimes, I really don't want to entertain you. I want to make you uncomfortable, I want to make myself uncomfortable. Unless, of course, the goal is to entertain you. There are different movies for different needs.
I was watching Unusual Animals on the Discovery Channel. Some really believe in things like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. Well, some scientists have got together and believe that they've found a short, red headed ape-man. They saw it and they're trying to capture it. I want to meet this ape-man and say hi.
