The 10 craziest Nicolas Cage stories ever, from being stalked by a mime to brushing with his cat

WOMENicolas Cage doesn’t just star in movies National Treasure-he is one.

For more than 40 years as an actor, Cage, grandson of legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, has been known for his breathtaking performances in every genre imaginable, from horror (Mandy) and comedy (Raise Arizona) to act (Face / Off, Stone) and TV series (Leaving Las Vegas, which earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor). The 58-year-old has also grown into a cult hero for his off-screen exploits, including blowing his $150 million fortune on a castle, rare artwork, a two-headed snake rare T-Rex head and skull, among other things, sentenced him to a decade of direct-to-video fare, much of it beneath his considerable talent (he eventually settled its debts last year).

The unbearable weight of mass talent is the death of Cage’s cultural capital. In the film, which is currently in theaters, he plays a more downtrodden version of himself, largely estranged from his teenage daughter and heavily in debt. To pay his $600,000 hotel bill, Cage agrees to a $1 million offer to attend the birthday party of one of his die-hard fans (Pedro Pascal) in Spain. Dental. When the CIA learns of the trip, they convince Cage to track down his admirer, who may or may not be the powerful drug lord behind a political coup.

It’s a fun — and downright hilarious — celebration of all things Cage, and as good a time as any to take a little walk in the memory stream.

And so, needless to say, here are 10 of Nicolas Cage’s wildest stories ever told.

He is followed by a Mime in New York City

While filming the horror film Martin Scorsese Bring the dead outin which he plays a New York City paramedic who suffers from hallucinations caused by insomnia and trauma, Cage realizes he is being watched by a pantomime.

“I guess it would more or less fall into the stalker category,” he said Parade magazine in 2009. “I was followed by a pantomime—silent, but possibly deadly. Somehow, this pantomime will appear on set Bring the dead out and started doing weird things… I don’t know how it got past the security. In the end, the producers took some action, and I haven’t watched the pantomime since. But it is definitely something to worry about.”

He woke up a naked guy eating a bull at the foot of his bed

While promoting the 2011 movie ViolateA thriller in which he and Nicole Kidman are victims of a home invasion, Cage has shared his own incredibly bizarre home invasion story.

“It’s two o’clock in the morning. I was living in Orange County at the time and was sleeping with my wife. My 2-year-old was in another room at the time. I opened my eyes and there was a naked man in my leather jacket eating a Fudgsicle in front of my bed,” he said at the Toronto International Film Festival while promoting the film, adding, “I know that sounds funny… but it’s horrifying. ”

Then Cage sold the house and moved to the Bahamas.

He once almost bought a cave to have sex with his wife in it

On Jimmy Kimmel Live! Appearing this week, Cage’s first late-night show in over a decade, the nimble actor tackles a rumor—none other than him that went viral. National Treasure co-star Diane Kruger — that he literally bought a bat cave.

“I had [diving] certification of the Great Barrier Reef; I have been exploring the element of water. No, I didn’t really get as far as I wanted to. I want to be a hovercraft; It didn’t happen,” Cage explained. “Fire, I feel like Ghost Rider, I discovered the element of fire. Then I want to explore Earth.”

Cage was in North Dakota’s Black Hills during filming National Treasure: Book of Secrets, when he got the wind of a cave for sale, so he decided to check it out. According to Cage, the cave is filled with “stalactites,” “opaque quartz,” and “crystal walls,” much like Superman’s Fortress of Loneliness.

“At the time, I was married,” Cage further explained, referring to his previous marriage to Alice Kim. “[I thought] I want to buy this and just go down to the bottom of the cave, get completely naked with my wife and have a drink. “Sadly, he didn’t buy the cave. And no bats.

He has a pet crow that curses him

As any Nic Cage fan knows, our guy has a bit of a crush on exotic pets (and once spent $276,000 on a stolen Tyrannosaurus skull that he later had to pay for. give back). In an interview with LA time Earlier this year, Cage said he has a crow, named Hoover, who lives in a geodesic dome inside the actor’s Las Vegas home.

“He called me by my first name… which was funny, at least, to me,” Cage said. “When I left the room, he would say, ‘Goodbye,’ and then go on, ‘Bastard.’ Crows are very intelligent. And I like the look of them, the Edgar Allan Poe aspect. I like the goth element. I am a fool”.

He was released from prison by Dog the Bounty Hunter

In April 2011, a “drunk” Cage was arrested in New Orleans following a family dispute with his ex-wife, Alice Kim. (In the end, no charges were brought.) And Cage had an interesting character bail him out of prison: Duane Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Chapman, who worked as a bailiff and bounty hunter, raked in $11,000 and says he’s doing it for his Cage fans.

Chapman said: “I am a truly devoted fan of Mr. “I performed my duties as a bail and was not involved in our program. This is what I do for a living.”

He’ll “F*cking Die For Honor”

While filming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in Bucharest, Romania, in 2010, Cage was videotaped during a heated argument while exiting a nightclub.

“I will get in that car and walk. If you don’t want to kill me, then go, brothers! ” he shouted. “I’m damned for honor. I’m damn right now. ”

He starts to walk away, only to turn around and scream, “Respect him like you respect me!”

It’s unclear what frustrated Cage or exactly who he was yelling at.

Ethan Miller / Getty

He combs with his cat

Like Kimmel’s turn, Cage was in fine form when he found himself on David Letterman’s couch in 2010. The actor told a story about how his cat, Lewis, admired a bag magic mushrooms that he keeps in his fridge — and then one day go to town on them.

“He ate them voraciously,” Cage said. “It was like a cat-nip to him. So I thought what the hell, I better do it with him. “It turned out to be a profound experience for the actor. “I remember lying in my bed hourly“He continued,” and Lewis was on the table across from the bed hourly, staring at each other … not moving. But he would stare at me, and I have no doubt that he is my brother.”

He hijacked a plane’s PA system mid-flight with Charlie Sheen smuggling cocaine

Fun fact: the inspiration for Charlie Sheen to call his girlfriend a “goddess” came from none other than Nicolas Cage, whom Sheen witnessed calling a flight attendant a “goddess” ” during a flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco in the ’80s. But that wasn’t the strangest thing that happened during the short trip, as Cage told Letterman in 2012.

“I didn’t know that Charlie had eight cocaine balls wrapped around his ankles, nor did he know that he was halfway flying — and remember, this was over 20 years ago, and that was about the same time period. much more naive — that I would have grabbed the PA and informed the passengers that I was the pilot, and I was unwell, and that I was losing control of the plane. ”

He continued: “And then when we landed, the pilot came out and understandably got angry. And he said, ‘It’s not cool – it’s not cool,’ and he angrily pointed his finger in my face, at which point the plane door flew open like a nuclear gate leading into a bank vault to reveal six fully armed policemen. And the first thing I did was say, ‘First of all, he nothing to do with anything,’ and I pointed towards Charlie, and then I was just very cautious, very polite, very tactful, talking please get me out of jail at the airport. “

He embarked on a quest to find the Holy Grail

After filming National Treasurea 2004 film saw his treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates steal the Declaration of Independence while on a mission to find the Templars’ buried treasure, Cage revealed to New York Times that he embarked on a mission of his own: to find the Holy Grail.

“That was the point where I almost moved on — you could call it a dish mission,” Cage said. “I started following mythology, and I’m looking for attributes that match that. It’s almost like National Treasure. Of course, that did not sustain. ”

Cage explains that he was determined to find the Grail, and that his journey led him to the Grail in Glastonbury, where “legend has it that there is a holy grail, or rather, a holy grail. two vessels, one of blood and one of sweat.” According to Cage, the water actually tasted like blood, as the legend said, but admittedly, “I guess it really was because there was a lot of iron in the water. “

His Holy Grail quest then took him to Rhode Island, where he managed to buy a house. “I don’t know if I would say that’s why I bought the property in Rhode Island. But I will say that is why I came to Rhode Island, and I came across this beautiful place. But yes, this has caused me to search all over the different areas, mainly in the UK, but possibly some places in the US as well. What I finally found was: What is the Holy Grail other than Earth? ”

He bought a giant pyramid tomb in New Orleans for his burial

Cage will be remembered long after he’s gone — not only for his fearless superb performances and eccentric personality, but also for his future mausoleum, where the Cage fans can visit (though without a guide). The actor bought two plots of land in St. Louis of New Orleans in 2010, used one of them to build a 9-foot-tall pyramid mausoleum inscribed with the Latin inscription “Omnia Ab Uno,” which translates to: “Everything from One . ”