31 Unbelievable Facts About Nicolas Cage We Bet You Didn’t Know Before

One of the most dedicated actors in the world, who would do almost anything from having teeth pulled out to eating cockroach, just to get into character, is Nicolas Cage. He even forwent his famous surname of “Coppola” to “Cage,” in an effort to stand out from his most successful uncle Francis Ford Coppola. His performances are so memorable that even after decades; audiences still remember every single scene. But, there are still many more things about him that you may not know. Here are some interesting facts that will only make you love him more:

1. Not being interested in playing a villain character, he reportedly turned down his most famous role as Castor Troy in “Face/Off.” However, when he came to know that he would be hero for majority of the movie, he immediately signed on.
2. Between takes while shooting “Con Air,” he lifted weights off camera, in an effort to maintain the physique he had attained for the movie. His workout was captured in a report by Entertainment Tonight, which was about the filming of the movie.
3. In the movie “Next,” in the scene at the cabin, Cage tells a joke, but actually ruins it by messing up the final punch line. He had to say “Make me one with everything,” but instead he said “I’ll have one with everything.” Although it was subtle, it was an extremely important difference.
4. As part of the preparation for his role as Ben Sanderson in “Leaving Las Vegas,” he filmed himself when he was drunk, in order to study his speech patterns. He also researched his character by binge drinking and visiting many hospitalized career alcoholics.
5. During the filming of the “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” he reportedly walked onto the sets in full Baron Samedi make-up, in an effort to burrow into the part using conventional make-up techniques.
6. In preparation for his role as Memphis Raines in “Gone in 60 Seconds,” he attended the Bondurant Driving School in Phoenix, Arizona and the Bobby Ore Stunt Driving School. He has performed most of his stunt driving in the movie by himself.
7. He enjoyed the race car driving school very much, that even after the production of the movie was complete, he continued race car driving as a hobby.
8. It was reported that it was actually Nicolas Cage’s idea to have his character Cris Johnson in the movie “Next,” as Las Vegas magician and Jessica Biel’s character of Liz Cooper to have a job that took her to a Native American reservation at The Grand Canyon.
9. Before the filming of “Face/Off” began, he and his co-star John Travolta spent nearly two weeks learning how to play their respective characters. The duo decided on gestures and vocal cadences for both their characters that can be mimicked.
10. In the 1996 movie “The Rock,” much of his dialogues were reportedly ad-libbed, including the most famous “Zeus’ butthole” line. In fact, Michael Bay was actually not interested in keeping the line, decided to cut it, but Cage insisted on having it in the final cut.
11. During the filming of the movie “211” in Bulgaria, he broke his ankle which resulted in Cage being out of action for two full weeks. He claimed in an interview that he did not like the final cut of the movie.
12. Initially, he was attached to the director chair of the 2017 movie “Vengeance: A Love Story.” But, due to scheduling conflicts, he had to give away the chair to Johnny Martin.
13. He claimed in an interview that he was very much disappointed with his movie “Army of One,” and that the director Larry Charles did not get the final cut. He added that if the director had any say in the final cut, the movie would have been so much better.
14. Jerry Lewis, the famous comedian and actor, known as the “The King of Comedy, reportedly agreed for the cameo for less than one minute in his final movie “The Trust,” at the insistence of Cage. The duo have been close friends for years.
15. For his role as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider in the movie “Ghost Rider, he had to have his Ghost Rider tattoo covered up with make-up. The digitally generated skull of Ghost Rider, was created from a three-dimensional x-ray of his actual skull.
16. A year after the release of his movie “Gone in 60 seconds,” his Porsche convertible was stolen. The Police reportedly recovered the car a few weeks later from the bottom of a lake.
17. During the filming of “Face/Off,” he was interested in seeing the grotesque face makeup, so director John Woo had hid all the reflective surfaces on set.
18. In preparation for his role as Frank in the 2019 movie “A Score to Settle,” he learned to play piano. He is now a very good piano player.
19. He claimed in an interview with GQ magazine that the director Panos Cosmatos of “Mandy” initially wanted him to play the cult leader Jeremiah Sand, but he was more interested in the role of Red.
20. At first, Panos has clearly rejected Cage’s interest saying he was not right to play Red. But, a year later, when they met again and explored the characters more in depth, Panos was confident to have Cage cast as Red.
21. The Ferrari in the movie “The Family Man,” was actually owned by Cage himself. He had reportedly sold it only about a year ago, when the filming of the movie commenced.
22. During the production of “Face/Off,” the crew had been filming on Cage’s birthday, and for one particular scene, director John Woo got Cage too emotionally charged. Just as the scene was shot, the director surprised him with a birthday cake. After the celebration, Cage personally requested Woo to not do anything like that again.
23. In the movie “The Rock,” it was his idea that his character Stanley Goodspeed should never swear, following which his character’s euphemisms including “gee whiz.”
24. Cage is a very big comics fan and is said to have lobbied very furiously to get the part of Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider in the 2007 movie “Ghost Rider.” It was reported that Johnny Depp and Eric Bana were also in heavy contention to play the titular role.
25. As a part of the preparation for his role as Cameron Poe in “Con Air,” he reportedly traveled to Alabama, in order to perfect the required accent for the character.
26. Nicolas is not much fond of heights and till date claims shooting one particular action scene for “Face/Off” to be “one of the most frightening days of his life.”
27. During the filming of the scene from “The Rock,” in which his character Stanley Goodspeed and the Navy S.E.A.L plan the raid on Alcatraz, he reportedly improvised a pratfall. Although Michael Bay found it hilarious and tried to work it into the scene, he finally had to nix it as it became too twisted. However, Nicolas throwing up immediately afterwards was kept in the final cut, as suggested by Cage.
28. For his role as Red Miller in the 2018 movie “Many,” written and directed by Panos Cosmatos, he was required to undergo training with a screaming coach named David Sellers.
29. In one of the bar scenes from the movie “Vengeance: A Love Story,” an extra can be seen sitting on the other side of Nicolas in a booth. This extra is said to have a portrait tattoo of Nicolas, which was autographed by the actor himself, a few months before shooting the scene, when they met in the same bar.
30. The entire inner monologue of his character David Spritz in “The Weather Man,” was recorded by Cage in a local recording studio, even before the shooting began. He was fed the said recordings on set.
31. Nicolas Cage Net Worth: $25 Million