Nicolas Cage Interview for Bangkok Dangerous

12 Questions With: Nicolas Cage

What a long, strange trip Nicolas Cage's career has been. His movies run the gamut from Oscar winners ('Leaving Las Vegas') to blockbusters ('National Treasure') to quirky critical darlings ('Adaptation') to just plain odd ('Kiss of the Vampire'). Moviefone chatted with Cage about his latest, 'Bangkok Dangerous,' and why he wouldn't have dinner with his character -- but wouldn't have it any other way. -- Angie Argabrite


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1. What attracted you to this role?

I'm trying to think more internationally in my life and in my work, which means going to foreign countries and working with foreign filmmakers who have an original point of view different from the studio system in America. And [I wanted] to make a movie that was independently spirited in that manner.


Lionsgate

2. How are you thinking more internationally in your life?

I married a Korean lady, and all that that implies in terms of the enchantment of that, but also the bewilderment at times of fitting into a new culture and trying to understand what to say and what not to say, and at times feeling isolation. So when I read this script I thought that I could put those feelings into the movie and that it would be honest on some level.


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3. What else did you see in 'Bangkok Dangerous'?

I like movies that show different cultures, different races, ethnicities interacting. There's always an undeniable dramatic tension to that, and I felt that 'Bangkok Dangerous' would work on all those levels. It's quite experimental. It wasn't like anything I've ever done before. It's about as far away from 'National Treasure' as I could get, and all those elements are interesting to me.


AP

4. Your 'Lord of War' character was also morally ambiguous. Can you speak to that?

I'm looking for that which is both attraction and repulsion. If you do something that is repulsive and attractive, then you're right there at the center of the universe; the characters raise more questions than answers, [they] make you think. That to me is more interesting than being obvious. I don't think I'd want to have dinner with either of those characters. But it keeps it interesting for me. I don't think I'd be happy if I just gave myself and the audience really wholesome clean-cut characters. I can't always paint pretty pictures.


Lion's Gate Films

5. Your career's been very diverse. How do you choose what you end up doing?

If I can play the part in a sincere way or it appeals to me philosophically ... but there are many reasons to make a movie. You may not like the script, but you may think the director is incredible. There's all kind of elements that go into the selection process. But it's true that I try to keep my work eclectic ... I have eclectic taste. I can't just do one thing, even though I probably would have been more successful if I gave people a degree of certainty what I was going to do -- but then I would be bored out of my mind.


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6. Are there any roles you've regretted taking?

No, I can't say that; even the ones that haven't worked ... and very often they don't because filmmaking is very much an alchemical process ... all the elements have to come together for it to connect with an audience. Even the ones that don't connect still are teachers in some way, still are my children in some way, and I have learned from them. I know there will always be something in whatever I do. There will be a scene that will work or two scenes that will work or there will be some aspect that will be just a little bit different than anything else that I've done, and that's what keeps me going.


Warner Bros.

7. Are there any roles that you really wanted and didn't get? Superman would come to mind.

No, no, I mean that was a part that I had, but the movie didn't get made. But, I um... looking at the movie they did make, it was a much more nostalgic direction than I would have wanted to have gone in. I probably would have wanted to do something more outside the box with Tim [Burton]. But that was a long time ago.


Warner Bros.

8. Now you're doing a superhero role, with 'Kick-Ass.'

Well, I did 'Ghost Rider,' which I had a lot of fun with. I'm hoping to do another one of those; the studio seems to have some good ideas about what they want to do with that character. But 'Kick-Ass' with Matthew Vaughn is very interesting because it sort of talks about what's going on with the Zeitgeist. I mean with the obsession of being a superhero in our culture.


Sony

9. Did you do your own stunts for 'Bangkok Dangerous'?

Yeah, I did as many of them as I could do. I was working in a foreign country with an all Thai crew, so it was important for me to bring in a support team that could go over everything with them and try to understand how they do things over there to make sure everything was kept as safe as possible.


Lionsgate