Nicolas Cage says Christopher Nolan 'won't call him back' after he turned down role
Nicolas Cage says several high profile directors, including Sir Christopher Nolan, have never called him back after he ‘hurt their feelings’ by turning down roles.
The Oscar-winning star has a work history as long as your arm, with roles in Ghost Rider, Vampire’s Kiss, Con Air, and National Treasure to name just a few.
However, the 62-year-old says that multiple big name directors now refuse to work with him after he turned down roles.
In an interview with The New York Times, he praised director David O. Russell for being ‘the only director that I ever said no to who actually came back and offered me another movie’.
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“Most of them, they get their feelings hurt and don’t call you back,” he said.
“It’s happened a million times to me. It’s happened with Christopher Nolan, it’s happened with Woody Allen, it’s happened with Paul Thomas Anderson. They don’t call me back."
He went on to reveal that the Nolan film he'd been offered a part in was the 2002 flick Insomnia, and said he was also offered a part in a ‘very early’ movie by Paul Thomas Anderson - both of which he turned down.
Cage is set to star as American NFL coach John Madden in Russell’s upcoming biopic Madden, which will be released in November.
He said it showed a ‘lot of class’ from Russell to reach out again to offer another movie and that he snapped up the role, which will see him starring alongside Christian Bale and John Mulaney.
Despite his decade-spanning career and numerous awards and trophies, Cage was once left on the brink of bankruptcy after getting into a serious amount of debt.
The Hollywood actor was reportedly worth around $150 million, but managed to blow through the cash and land himself in debt.
As well as buying several high-end motors and some unusual exotic pets, Cage also bought up a lot of real estate including a castle in England and a house that was said to be haunted.
But by 2009, Cage ended up owing around $14 million to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and various creditors.
“I was over-invested in real estate. The real estate market crashed, and I couldn’t get out in time,” Cage previously told 60 Minutes.
“I paid them all back, but it was about $6 million. I never filed for bankruptcy.”
Topics: TV and Film
Claire Reid