Little fact explorers, let me introduce you to Nicolas Kim Coppola, or Nicolas Cage.
He is an American actor and film producer!! 😲!
He has also received many accolades. Those include a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
So, let us discuss some really interesting facts about the life and works of this amazing actor.
19 Interesting Facts About Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage took birth in Long Beach, California.
This famous American actor was born 👶 on January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, California.
His dad, August Coppola, was a professor of literature, and his mom, Joy Vogelsang, was a dancer and choreographer.
Nicolas was raised in a Catholic family. His father was of Italian descent, while his mother was of Polish and German ancestry!
Also, he is the youngest of three sons.
His two brothers are Marc “The Cope” Coppola and director Christopher Coppola.
He changed his name
Have you heard this bizarre fact about Nicolas Cage? No?
In 2012, Nicolas told The Huffington Post that he decided to change his last name after actors on the set of the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) resented him!!
It was the first movie by Nicolas’, and the actors hated him because his uncle is a well-known director Francis Ford Coppola.
Also, most of his in that movie 🎥 ended up getting cut.
To stand out from his relatives, Nicolas chose “Cage.” He took the name after being inspired by the African-American comic book superhero Luke Cage.
At the foot of Cage’s bed, a naked home intruder ate a fudgsicle
While talking about his home invasion thriller Trespass in the year 2011, Cage told reporters that he was once victimized by someone!
He shared that a person had broken into his Orange County home.
He said, “I opened my eyes, and there was a naked man wearing my leather jacket 🧥 eating a Fudgsicle in front of my bed.”
He further added, “I know it sounds funny…but it was horrifying.”
Later, Cage talked to the man and asked him to leave. Also, soon after, the police arrived. While Cage didn’t press charges, he said he never stayed in the house again.
Cage once owned 15 houses, including a haunted house
Little friends, if you are a fan of horror stories like me, then you will surely be thrilled by this horrifying fact!
There are many interesting possessions Cage has accrued throughout his life. Such as shrunken pygmy heads, an octopus, 🐙 and his amazing houses located around the world.
Many of those houses were foreclosed on in the wake of debt, including America’s “Most Haunted House.”
In 2007, Cage bought the LaLaurie House in New Orleans. He claimed that he bought this to get inspiration to write a book!
However, the book was never produced, and two years later, the house was sold.
Cage once slept in Dracula’s castle
While promoting the film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in 2011, popular actor Idris Elba recalled an incident.
She has something on location in Romania that exemplifies Cage’s professionalism and commitment!
One day, noticing Cage tired, Elba asked if they had gotten any rest.
He answered, “Yeah, man, I went up to Dracula’s castle…the ruins up in the mountains, and I stayed the night.”
He further added, “I just had to channel the energy, and it was pretty spooky up there.”
He was probably talking about Bran Castle 🏰 near Transylvania, which may have been Dracula’s residence in the novel of Bram Stoker.
While filming ‘Vampire’s Kiss,’ Cage ate live cockroaches
Eating a live cockroach!!??? Can you imagine it?
While playing Peter Low in the 1988 film Vampire’s Kiss, Cage eats a live cockroach!!
I know it is really cringe-worthy, and Cage himself, said that he did try to “get on the map.”
Eating the cockroach was his idea as a calculated on-screen move! Also, it is something that the director made him do more than once.
According to Bierman, the director, the script actually required the character 🧛 to eat a raw egg. However, Bierman and Cage decided an egg wasn’t extreme enough, so Cage decided to eat a cockroach.
Cage owns a pyramid-shaped Tomb in New Orleans
Cage owns a tomb that is located in St. Louis Cemetery ⚰️ in the French Quarter in New Orleans.
The tomb is ready for him to be placed inside when the time arrives.
The tomb can only be on a licensed tour offered by New Orleans Catholic Church!
Also, it sits among the tombs of notable figures, like Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.
It is not known how much Cage paid for this nine-foot-high pyramid tomb when he bought it in 2010, but according to a report, it took $40,000.
It has the inscription “everything from one” in Latin.
Cage was the victim of a massive comic book heist
In 1997, comic book fan Nicolas Cage bought a copy of Action Comics #1, the highly sought-after issue of 1939!
It was the issue that introduced Superman and even ushered in the superhero genre of the 20th century.
The book, along with some other rare titles, was stolen in January 2000 from Cage’s home!
It was a case that went cold for 11 years before the book showed up in the storage locker of San Fernando Valley.
After a police investigation, Cage got his book 📕, and he sold it for a then-record of $2.1 million!! Really surprising, isn’t it?
Cage once tripped out on Mushrooms with his cat
Have you heard this funny fact about Cage!?
Cage once appeared on David Letterman’s Late Show in 2010. He came armed with a really valuable talk show anecdote!
He said, earlier in his career, he owned a cat called Lewis who enjoyed partaking in Cage’s stash of magic mushrooms!
Later, Cage thought to try some as well.
He said, “I remember lying on my bed for hours, and Lewis was on the desk across from the bed for hours, staring at each other…not moving. But he would stare at me, and I had no doubt that he was my brother.”
Nicolas Cage accidentally bought a skull of a dinosaur
I am really surprised to explore this unique and surprising secret about Cage!! Want to know? Let me explain.
The extravagant spending habits of Cage have been well documented.
However, very few of them can match his grandiose gesture of using up $276,000 at a 2007 auction for a Tyrannosaurus bataar skull!! 🦖!
However, he didn’t know that the skull had been stolen from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
In 2014, contacted by the Department of Homeland Security, Cage agreed to hand it over…so that it could be returned!
A Japanese corn snack used Cage’s likeness without permission
Did you know this unique fact about Cage?
In October 2017, Cage’s fans in Japan were very happy to see the actor’s face emblazoned on a snack package!
It was a crunchy corn snack 🌽 known as Deluxe Umaibou Nicolastick!
While it would be quite nice to think that the actor was compensated for his apparent endorsement of the snack, a representative of Cage told Kotaku that he had not given his permission for this thing.
The snack was intended to promote his movie, Army of One, in a few theaters. However, no one asked him for his consent.
Cage showed up at Nicolas Cage Film Festival
For the past few years, fans of Cage in Austin have gathered at the Alamo Drafthouse. They have gathered for a screening of popular Cage films, like National Treasure and Face Off.
Every time, organizers tried to make a point to invite Cage; however, the actors’ schedule prevented him from attending!
Finally, he made it in January 2017! He surprised an audience of Cagephiles and even sat for a few of his own movies 🎬!
After that, he took questions and even delivered a live reading of The Tell-Tale Heart of Edgar Allan Poe!!
Cage helped Johnny Depp break into acting
Little fact lovers like me, you will be very happy to learn this wonderful fact about Cage!!
Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage were good friends, and during a casual game of Monopoly, actor Cage said
Depp that he should try acting!
Later in 2019, Cage told The New York Times that Depp was actually dismissive of the suggestions and even said that he couldn’t act and wanted to be a musician!
However, Cage pestered and had Johnny Depp meet with his agent. Soon after, Depp was cast in the movie A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Reportedly, Cage is one of those few who had seen Graceland’s restricted areas
While married to Elvis Presley’s daughter, |Lisa Marie Presley, Cage was reported to have been treated to seeing part of the home of the late musician 🎼!!
It is the house that no outsider is allowed to visit.
Supposedly, Cage was given access to the private area of Graceland Mansion, situated in Memphis, TN! It was the place where Elvis lived and perished!
A big Elvis fan, Cage denied the rumors that he married Lisa Marie for her relationship with the King!
Cage insisted in an interview with Barbara Walters that he met Lisa by chance and was instantly “thunderstruck.”
One of Cage’s kids is named after Kal-El, his favorite superhero
Love comics?? Then you will surely love this wonderful fact!
Cage has two sons, Weston, and Kal El. Weston was born in 1990. He is the child of Cage and his long-time girlfriend, Christian Fulton.
Weston is a musician, has entered acting, and even wrote a comic book with his father called Voodoo Child.
Cage’s third wife, Alice Kim, gave birth to the boy Kal-El in 2005. The name of the actor’s younger son is the same moniker given to Superman when he lived on Krypton.
The name is believed to resemble the Hebrew words for “Voice of God.”
After Cage was arrested in 2011, Dog the Bounty Hunter posted his bail
In 2011, Cage was arrested in New Orleans for domestic abuse and disturbing the peace 👮♂️!
He had been fighting with his wife, Alice Kim, according to the police.
Duane “Dog” Chapman, also famous as Dog the Bounty Hunter, came to help Cage, posting the $11,000 bond required to be released.
According to Chapman, he just performed his duties as a bail bondsman!
He further stated that it wasn’t an act done to garner attention for his popular show, which ran between 2003 and 2012, Dog the Bounty Hunter.
Cage has been married five times
In February 2021, Cage walked down the aisle 💒 with Riko Shabata in Las Vegas, NV.
Actually, it was the fifth marriage of the actor, who had previously been married four times already.
He married Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002-2004), Alice Kim (2004-2016), and also Erika Koike (2019).
Cage and Michel Jackson married the same person, Lisa Marie Presley!!!
According to one representative of the actor, the wedding featured the exchange of “traditional Catholic and Shinto vows with poetry…After the wedding, the happy couple was joined for a small celebration” by friends and family!
Cage calls his acting style ‘Nouveau Shamanic’
Nicolas Cage is widely popular for his roles in movies like Face Off, Las Vegas, and the Ghost Rider franchise.
However, his has led to the development of a unique acting style. Cage himself described it with the term “Nouveau Shamanic.”
In the year 2019, Cage described this unique style as “nothing other than trying to augment your imagination to get to the performance without feeling like you’re faking it.”
According to him, to achieve this style, one must find “power objects,” anything from a poem to a historical artifact.
Nicolas Cage worked his way out of $6 million in debt
In an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, this talented actor, Nicolas Cage, revealed that at one point in his life, he was in debt of $6 million 💰!
So, he had to act in different kinds of movies, including a few “crummy movies.” Also, acting in these films was what got him out!
Simultaneously, he didn’t let the limitations of the script or budget keep him from giving every role his all!
Summing up
So, little knowledge lovers, now you know a lot about actor Nicolas Cage! 😲!!
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