Nicolas Cage to cut back on acting

BY: Actress Archives   |   Sunday, December 10, 2006

Nicolas Cage has been a Hollywood mainstay for decades, having taken leading roles in some of the biggest films of the 1990s and 2000s, including The Rock, Con Air, Gone in 60 Seconds, National Treasure, Lord of War, the Oliver Stone movie World Trade Center and the upcoming Ghost Rider. Now, reports have surfaced that Nicolas Cage intends to take a step back from acting in order to pursue other interests.

At the third annual Bahamas International Film Festival, Nicolas Cage spoke to the press where he said he's going to scale back his acting roles in order to pursue interests, such as helping to develop independent cinema projects in the small Caribbean nation Cage now calls home. Nicolas Cage told the Associated Press that "I'm thinking about taking more time in between movies." Nicolas Cage, born Nicolas Kim Coppola, continued by saying "I feel I've made a lot of movies already and I want to start exploring other opportunities that I can apply myself to, whether it's writing or other interests that I may develop."

Nicolas Cage, nephew of acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola and cousin of director Sofia Coppola, recently moved to the Bahamas and was in attendance at the Bahamas International Film Festival, which took place at the Atlantis Theater in Paradise Island in Nassau, to accept the Chopard Award for career achievement. To present the Chopard Award, the Bahamas International Film Festival recruited Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage's co-star from the 1996 action thriller The Rock. Connery was quoted by the AP as expressing "Nic is a professional and brings to the table all the stuff that makes it a real joy."

After buying a house on Paradise Island, as well as buying an undeveloped private island in the Exuma Cays earlier this year, Nicolas Cage has said he wants to give back to the country that has welcomed him. Of his new home nation's film festival, Nicolas Cage said "My hope for the festival is that it continues to grow and ... that will allow me to bring in the people I know in the industry and hopefully that will stimulate conversations between the older, seasoned talent with the young, hungry talent that's displayed here." The talent which Nicolas Cage talks about is being displayed at the Bahamas International Film Festival through the roughly 50 narratives, documentaries and short films from around the world which are being showcased at the four-day event.

Nicolas Cage has held an esteemed acting career since his debut opposite Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. With his many film roles, Nicolas Cage has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Actor: his first nomination, for Leaving Las Vegas resulted in a win, while his work as both Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman in Adaptation saw Cage lose out to Adrien Brody for Brody's work in The Pianist. While Nicolas Cage has found most of his success in the action-adventure genre, with films such as National Treasure, The Rock, Con Air and World Trade Center, Cage has begun to branch out in the world of film. 2002 saw him direct James Franco in Sonny, though the film failed to capture an audience.

Cage has been married three times: first, to Patricia Arquette, second, to Lisa Marie Presley, and third, to Alice Kim, a former sushi waitress, to whom Nicolas Cage is still married. As for his future acting roles, IMDb lists nine projects for Cage from now until 2008. While comic book adaptation Ghost Rider and sequel National Treasure II: Book of Secrets both promises big box office returns, Time to Kill, Next, Crazy Dog, Amarillo Slim, Electric Dog, The Dance and Time Share have yet to generate big press.

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