2014 certainly wasnโt kind to Nicolas Cage. After a string of box office flops and blowing his entire $150 million fortune on questionable real estate + pets + dinosaur fossils + an expensive AF tomb set aside for future use, the man was forced to open a grim chapter of his career. One that involved direct-to-video movies and being chased down for $6.3 million worth of unpaid property taxes by the IRS. But while the more lacklustre entries in his varied oeuvre were (at the time) simply a means of handling debt, Nicolas Cage stands by every single one of them to this very day.
Speaking to GQ for this monthโs cover profile interview, the shamanistic thespian outlined two things he refused to do when it was time to pay the piper: 1. file for bankruptcy (against just about everyoneโs advice), and 2. phone it in for the paycheque.
โIโve got all these creditors and the IRS and Iโm spending $20,000 a month trying to keep my mother out of a mental institution, and I canโt โ it was just all happening at once,โ Nicolas Cage explains of his debt.
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โWhen I was doing four movies a year, back to back to back, I still had to find something in them to be able to give it my all. They didnโt work, all of them. Some of them were terrific, like Mandy, but some of them didnโt work. But I never phoned it in. So if there was a misconception, it was that. That I was just doing it and not caring. I was caring.โ
At this stage, youโre probably wondering why he didnโt just pump out another family-friendly blockbuster for a couple of million as opposed to a staggering procession of 46 flicks in a time frame where your ordinary Hollywood star would struggle to find time for 10. As it turns out, thereโs a limit to how much you can fail in this industry โ shocker, I know โ and when the Academy Award winner reached the threshold, the phone just stopped ringing.
โIt was like, โWhat do you mean weโre not doing National Treasure 3? Itโs been 14 years. Why not?โ Well, Sorcererโs Apprentice didnโt work, and Ghost Rider didnโt really sell tickets. And Drive Angryโฆ that just came and went.โ
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โWhen I talk about fair-weather friends in Hollywood, Iโm not talking about [National Treasure producer] Jerry Bruckheimer. Iโm talking about Disney. Theyโre like an ocean liner. Once they go in a certain direction, youโve got to get a million tugboats to try to swivel it back around.โ
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. According to GQ, Nicolas Cage has officially paid off all his debt as of 18 months ago, shortly after signing on to star in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent โ quite fitting given the man portrays a fictional version of himself who accepts a less-than-conventional gig for a quick buck. Which is why old Cagey has been free to tackle the projects heโs actually interested in recently.
โI enjoy making movies like Pig and Leaving Las Vegas more than I enjoy making movies like National Treasure,โ adds Nicolas Cage.
โIโm just going to focus on being extremely selective, as selective as I can be. I would like to make every movie as if it were my last.โ
