Around 2014, after Nicolas Cage Having had a string of failed films at the box office with the likes of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance”, the actor began to become a direct face to-VOD Action movies. Those roles accumulated in dozens like Reports appeared That Cage blew up his $150 million fortune, owed the IRS $6.3 million in property taxes and was doing every acting role he could in order to get out of debt. The actor recently explained this period of his life in an interview with GQ magazine.
“I have all these creditors and the IRS, and I’m spending $20,000 a month trying to get my mom out of a mental institution, and I just can’t,” Cage said of his debts. “It was all happening at once.”
Cage said he refused to get to the point where he would have to file for bankruptcy, even if the people in his life were telling him it was necessary. That’s where the endless series of VOD movies starring Cage came in handy, even though the Oscar winner maintained he never took on a role he didn’t believe in — even if the role helps him avoid bankruptcy.
“When I was shooting four films a year, back-to-back, I still had to find something in them to be able to give my all,” Cage said. “They didn’t work, all of them. Some were great, like Mandy, but some didn’t. But I never called him. So if there’s a misconception, it is. I was just doing it and I didn’t care. I cared.”
According to GQ, Cage “officially finished paying all of his debts” a year and a half ago after he signed up to participate in “The unbearable weight of talent. This film, which starred Cage as a fictional version of himself, debuted to strong reviews at the SXSW Film Festival. Cage said he had to switch to video-on-demand films because “the phone stopped ringing” with screenings of studio films.
“It was like, ‘What do you mean we don’t do National Treasure 3?'” It’s been 14 years. Cage said. “Well, ‘Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ didn’t work, ‘Ghost Rider’ didn’t really sell tickets. And ‘Drive Angry’, which just came and went.”
Cage said “National Treasure 3” is still a long way off, but the actor enjoys staying on his independent path. He said, “I enjoy making films like Pig and Leaving Las Vegas more than I enjoy making films like National Treasure.” Although Cage didn’t go into details, he hinted that Disney left him in the dust during the decline of his career as one of the reasons The absence of a third film entitled “National Treasure”.
“When I talk about friends in a mild manner in Hollywood, I don’t talk about them [‘National Treasure’ producer] “Jerry Bruckheimer,” Cage said. “I’m talking about Disney. They’re like an ocean liner. Once they go in a certain direction, you have to get a million tugboats to try and spin it again.”
head over to GQ’s site To read Cage’s entire profile. The show “The Unbearable Weight of Huge Talent” begins on April 22nd.
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