Do Go On - 384 - Nicolas Cage

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

This week we look at the man, the myth, the legend... Nicolas Cage. We talk about his family, his many movie roles and the time he blew a 150 million dollar fortune.This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 07:06 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodLive show tickets: https://dogoonpod.com/live-shows/ Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/suggest-a-topic/Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present.  REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jul/20/nicolas-cage-frozen-groundhttps://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/nicolas-cage-1999-cover-story-832684/https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-10-wildest-craziest-nicolas-cage-stories-ever-from-being-stalked-by-a-mime-to-shrooming-with-his-cat?ref=scroll https://nymag.com/arts/articles/09/11/nymag-nicholascage091116.pdf https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/08/31/the-wild-and-weird-nicolas-cage/214dd456-5317-4186-9c81-6b1e2c64ccbe/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/530681/9-bizarre-facts-about-nicolas-cage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just jumping in really quickly at the start of today's episode to tell you about some upcoming opportunities to see us live in the flesh. And you can see us live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024. We are doing three live podcasts on Sundays at 3.30 at Basement Comedy Club, April 7, 14 and 21. You can get tickets at dogo1pod.com. Matt, you're also doing some shows around the country. That's right. I'm doing shows with Saren Jayamana, who's been on the show before. We're going to be in Perth in January, Adelaide in February, Melbourne through the festival in April, and then Brisbane after that. I'm also doing Who Knew It's in Perth and Adelaide. Details for all that stuff at mattstuartcomedy.com.

We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On.

My name is Dave Warnke and as always, I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart. It's me, Jess Perkins. Just quickly, how good is it to be alive? Check out my special live at Superdoll Studios online for free right now. Matt Stewart. You didn't sing your name, so I didn't know who you were. Matt Stewart, I was like, what? Oh my God, I'm Matt Stewart. You didn't sing your name, so I didn't know who you were. I'm Matt Stewart. I was like, what?

Oh, my God, I'm Matt Stewart. Jess, are you okay? I'm all right. You heard someone say your name and you're like, oh, got to plug something. Got to plug something. It's like the idea of just always being plug in. Always be plug in.

Always be plug in. ABP, baby. ABP. Always be plug in. I feel like we're in relax mode Matt and I are on the couch Jess you're in your sort of office chair But Matt and I we're on the couch A couple therapy

And you guys are not going to make it Oh no Nah I reckon you will You just have to meet each other half way You know You've got to put in the work You've got to be the partner you want the other person to be.

Oh, this asshole won't put out the bins. And he won't put out at all. You've been out and I'll put myself out, okay? All right. Deal. The therapy over, Matt. What is this show

all about? When we're not having our issues. What it is about is it's basically a podcast, right? Oh, God. I thought you were going to say like history show. It's a word. I'm like, Jess hates it when I say that. It's like a show where one of us researches a topic,

usually suggested by a listener. We bring back that information in the form of basically like a school report and we do a little oral presentation, bring it back to the class and the other two interrupt incessantly with dog shit riffs and tedious tangents. And let's not forget plugs. And plugs. Because A-B-P. Always be plugging, baby. If you just look it up on the stupid old channel on YouTube, you can see my, yeah.

It's a great special. Our special. See the master at work. You can listen out for Dave's laugh. People have said in the comments that they've heard your laugh, Jess. I'm like, well, she was not there. Was not there. That's incredible.

I was at work that night. I did a great impression that day. Yeah. Which is impressive. You've been working on that for years and you finally nailed it just that one time. And I'm going to do your laugh right now. One, two, three. Here's incredible. I was at work that night. I did a great impression that day. Yeah. Which is impressive. You've been working on that for years and you finally nailed it just that one time. And I'm going to do your laugh right now. One, two, three. Here's my laugh. Holy moly. That was

good. Good, wasn't it? That was very good. That's not what I laughed. Is that how I sound? Well, according to me. Jesus Christ. Best laugh in the biz, they say. That's insufferable. When I say they, I mean me. And everyone else. Anyway, Dave, we get on a topic with a question. You're doing the report this week.

Yes, I am. Do you have a question? My question is, hands on buzzers, which actor has starred in the following films? Ooh, okay. I love these games. Stop me when you've got a guess. Okay. And do you, what are you locked out once you have a guess?

No, you can keep going, I reckon. Okay. Great. We'll go forever. Trapped in paradise. Drive angry. The ant bully. The ant bully.

Kiss of death. Seeking justice. Any early guesses? Steven Seagal. I wish. Gosh, that would have been great. Dying of the light dog eat dog uh jackie chan uh nicholas cage i'm trying to think of someone interesting that you would have done a report about you are correct it is nicholas cage you joking. I'm doing a report on Nicolas Cage. Oh, my God.

Don't tell me you started one. Yes. No. Oh, thank God. I was so worried because I've been writing for a couple of weeks and two weeks ago at the end of the pod, Jess, you were going home to watch a Nicolas Cage film, The Rock, with your partner who suggested a Nicolas Cage marathon

and I was thinking, I'm already doing one right now. I cannot believe that. Yeah, because we did watch The Rock. Because you're right, I was like, I'm already doing one right now. I cannot believe that. Yeah, because we did watch The Rock. Because you're right, I was like, can we watch The Rock? And he said, yes, we can have a Nicolas Cage marathon. I said, oh, not what I asked. But we just watched The Rock like last week. I love it so much. I hadn't seen

it before, so for the first time. Oh, opinions? Thoughts, feelings, love. It's, there's some scenes that are batshit. Truly. It was great. A a great film what a romp nicholas cage an unhinged incredible strange man and i'm so excited for you to talk about him for like an hour and a half these are the other movies i would have said uh which one made you think it matt or are you just thinking any actor that i like i was thinking of actors have done a lot of

movies that and he sort of famously just does a lot of movies right, and some of them are just, you never hear about. Definitely, that was more obscure getting less. I hadn't heard of any of those. You didn't go face off. It was going to go, Peggy Sue got married, Captain Corelli's mandolin, Ghost Rider.

I thought you'd get it from there, but then we had Connor. Have I told you my dad was on the set one day? Of? Of Ghost Rider. I thought you'd get it from there, but then we had Conner. Did I ever tell you my dad was on the set one day? Of? Of Ghost Rider. Let's talk about that right now. He loves to tell that story. He'll be screaming at his iPod right now as he listens.

John, what were you doing there? He was, it was like, it was a work thing, I'm pretty sure. I'll butcher this, Dad. I'm sorry. A work thing. Like, Dad's a, he was a salesman and he was, he at the time was working, like, selling racking for big warehouses and stuff. So, like, shel, was working like selling racking for big warehouses and stuff. So, like shelving storage, that sort of stuff for big warehouses.

And he went to like a job in Docklands and they were filming Ghost Rider. And he's just like, that's Nicolas Cage on a motorbike over there. Oh, my God. Wild. It seems like Melbourne every few years just has a Hollywood star in town and it's news for a bit for this like- And the movie's always pretty obscure by hollywood standards like we've got john cena here at the moment i know and zach efron yes

doing i'm not sure what and i saw john cena but it'll be on the street it'll be on the news every now and then yeah didn't he like almost run into your car yeah he almost stepped out in front of my car because he was looking the wrong way Wow And then he turned and waved He was very nice He like he waved thank you And I was like that's John fucking Cena Your car would come off second best Yeah big time

Wow did he say you can't see me And I said One of his classic lines Yeah okay As when he was a wrestler From the wrestling yeah That's right Yeah you shot around the corner

You can't see me I mean didn't you fucking see me Yeah It's a great line Bit of fun there WWF love it WWE whatever You try around the corner. You can't see me. I mean, didn't you fucking see me? It's a great bit of fun there. WWF. Love it. WWE. Whatever.

This topic, Nicolas Cage, has been suggested by one person officially. That's Warren Vaughn Genders from Lincoln. Thank you so much. Oh, my God. That's a great name. Are you kidding me? Warren Vaughn Genders. That's a fantastic name. And also, there was a kind of Cage-esque topic.

Thank you from Kieran Foster in Leic there was a kind of Cage-esque topic, thank you, from Kieran Foster in Leicester that I kind of cover within the report. Great. So, shout out to you too. Thanks so much. Exciting. Do you know much about the man, the myth, the legend? Oh, bits and pieces.

Emphasis on myth there. Right. A lot of this is based on he's given dozens of long-form interviews over the years promoting films. That's usually how he seems to promote his films. Does a few TV interviews, but for not that many. And for ages, it felt like he would sit down with Vanity Fair or The Guardian or something. And he just tells stories about his life.

So, most of this is coming from the man's mouth himself. Right. I'm taking it at face-off value. Yeah, right. So, let's mouth himself. Right. I'm taking it at face-off value. Yeah, right. So, let's dig in. Nicolas Cage was born, that's not his real name, Nicolas Kim Coppola on January 7, 1964. That's right. I think Americans say Coppola.

Coppola, yeah. Coppola, Coppola. I apologize if I'm saying the wrong one. He comes from the famous Coppola family and their family tree and list of achievements is quite simply incredible. It's wild. So, does he count as a Nepo baby? Yeah.

Absolutely. 100%. A Nepo grandbaby, a Nepo nephew. Nepo cousin. Yes. He's Nepo everything. It all starts with Nick's grandparents, Grandma Italia Coppola, born 1912, known in the family as Mamarella.

She's also known for her Italian cooking. She published a cookbook called Mama Coppola's Pasta Book and put out a line of sauces called Mamarella. Oh, my God. Yum. To her, though, she wouldn't call it Italian cooking. She'd just call it cooking. Yeah. You're absolutely right.

Matt, you are absolutely right. Spot on there, actually. No, actually, bang on. Actually, Matt, that is spot on there. What an astute observation. Good shout. Good shout, Matt. Her father was a composer of popular Italian songs and also owned a motion picture

theatre very early on. So, cinema was even in Mamorella's blood. So, that's the matriarch, Mamorella. Her husband, Carmine Coppola, was a flautist, flute player born 1910. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score with BAFTA Award and Grammy Award nominations for his music. Wow. He won the Oscar for a song he wrote for his son, Francis Ford, Coppola's film, The Godfather Part Two. Francis Ford himself has won five Academy Awards and directed some of the most acclaimed films of the 20th century, including The Godfather Trilogy and Apocalypse Now.

So he's Nick's uncle. including the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now. So, he's Nick's uncle. And just following down Francis Ford's descendants, his daughter is Sophia Coppola, who is also an acclaimed filmmaker, having won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation. Her brother is Roman Coppola, who's also a filmmaker and has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Grammy and a BAFTA.

Far out. Wow. So, that's one side of the family. Part of the reason for this is their family makes up a third of the judges. I think once you win, you do become part of the voting for sure. The Academy is, yeah, nearly all coppers. So, that's one side of the family. Talia and Carmine also had a daughter named Talia Rose Shire,

Nii Coppola, who appeared in the Godfather and Rocky films, for which she was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress. Wow. Her husband, Jack Schwartzman, was a film producer and produced the James Vaughan film, Never Say Never Again, which is the one where Sean Connery came back and they remade Thunderball. They had two sons, Robert Schwartzman, who has directed three films and plays in the band Rooney. Do you know that band?

Yep. No. What kind of band is Rooney? It's a pop rock. The one song I know is When or Where Did Your Heart Go Missing? It's good stuff. Sounds like a good song. Named after the principal from Ferris Bueller or Wayne? Oh, Wayne Rooney. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's Wayne stuff sounds like a good song named after the principal from ferris bueller

or wayne oh wayne rooney yeah absolutely i think it's wayne it's wayne what the big fountains of wayne also named after wayne rooney fountains of wayne rooney the original name he was also in the princess diaries really who did he play he's the love interest in the princess diaries across from anne hathaway I can't even remember him doing that. Great film, though. Great film. Great film. And if you can't remember it, that means you're due for a rewatch.

Turn off the podcast. I'll put the TV on. I'll make some popcorn. Let's go. And enjoy. This is a wild family tree. And then his brother is Jason Schwartzman. Great actor, co-writer of a bunch of Wes Anderson films.

And also, most importantly, the former drummer of Phantom Planet that performed the OC theme song. California. He played on and co-wrote that track. Yeah, right. Okay, I did not know that about Jason Schwartzman. That's wild. It's not wild. It's such an insane family.

He left the band basically to be an actor. He plays drums in A Very Murray Christmas. I think he plays drums for Phoenix maybe or something. Awesome. He's still got it. Still got it. The final child. So, that's Nick's cousins and uncle and auntie.

The final child of Italia and Carmine Dimension is their oldest son, August Floyd Coppola, who is the father of one Nicholas Cage. August Floyd? August Floyd. I love, who was the father of one Nicholas Cage. August Floyd? August Floyd. I love that. Great. August. You on board?

Yeah. Got a listener named August, or we used to. We do, yeah, yeah. Great name. Haven't heard from August for a while. That's why you say we used to. We don't know if August listens still or not, and that's okay. Can I say August?

Great name. Great month. Agreed. Because, you know the the overused months for names like may may yeah april june yeah november not enough october kids yeah oki oki novi novi dicky oh yeah beautiful beautiful names Beautiful names. Febby. Febby. Because Matt can't say that. That's a nightmare name. This is my daughter, Feb-ra-ray-ry.

Feb-ra-ray-ry. Febby. Febby. Febby for short. So, Nick's dad, August Floyd, was an author and academic and had a PhD and was dean, crusty old dean, at San Francisco State University. So, he went quite different from the rest of the family. Yeah, so he did write some stuff too, but he was mostly an academic.

Do you think you'd be a bit disappointed that his son, spoiler alert, went into acting as well? Showbiz. Yeah. Jess, don't get ahead here. Sorry, I said spoiler alert. I'm talking about the famous academic, Nichols Cage. Professor. And his thesis, and I'm going to read it to you now. So, with his wife, Joy Vogelsang, who was a-

She's a great name, that's Nick's mum. What? Joy Vogelsang, who was a dancer and choreographer. He had Vogelsang up for grabs and he went for a cage. He could have been Nick Vogelsang. Disappointing. They had three sons. They've got DJ Mark the Cope Coppola.

Yuck. Nickname of the Cope. Sorry, yuck the Cope Coppola. Yuck. Nickname The Cope. Sorry. Yuck. Sorry. It keeps happening. Yuck. Sorry.

He still hosts radio shows. Oh, Jess is spewing up. Oh, he's a- He's like a disc jockey rather than a live party DJ. I heard that as they have DJ, that's one son, Mike the Cope Coppola. And I was like, oh. So, he's DJ- Yeah, that's one son, Mike the Cope. And I was like, oh. So, he's DJ. Yeah, that's fine for a radio DJ.

It's like, you know, afternoons with the Cope. Yeah. I'm pretty sure it is like that. Yeah. Now that you know that he's one of you. He's one of mine, one of my peers. Yeah, you're claiming him? Yes.

That was a real 180. Yeah. Oh, no, wonderful. Love him. Big fan. The middle son is Christopher, who's a film director. He's directed a few movies. I hadn't heard of any of them, but he's still in the biz.

And the youngest boy was Nicholas. So, he comes from an incredibly prolific family. The lineal descendants of Carmine and Atelier have been nominated for 23 Academy Awards, winning nine Oscars in categories including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. And two more family members, including Nick himself, married people that have also won Oscars. Wow.

So, brought in, you know, other Oscar-worthy blood into the family. Yeah. It's like a royal family. It's kind of amazing. Is there much inbreeding? That's why they had to bring in outsiders. Yeah. So, Nick Cage was born in Long Beach in California in 1964.

His family moved to San Francisco where his dad was the dean, but came back to LA for Cage's high school years when he went to Beverly Hills High School. 90210. Did you know I had- I had to use a postcode to watch a recent episode of a Brendan Fraser film, but it wasn't available here. So, Matt and I whacked on the US VPN so we could stream it from YouTube, but it said, what is your US postcode?

The only one I know. Yeah, exactly. That's so good. I wouldn't even thought, I would have Googled something. Damn it, not a 2.0, of course. I couldn't believe it worked. Yeah. I was so stoked.

So good. So Beverly Hills High School, it's a school with many notable alumni from the media and film industry. It's quite a famous school over there. At school, Cage became good friends with Crispin Glover. Ah. Another actor known for his eccentricities.

Back to the future. Let's call back to episode eight or something. Charlie's Angels for our generation. That's how we know him. He's a creepy thin man. I just know him as the only man I've ever heard of being called Crispin. He sounds delicious. Yeah.

I think of Crispy M&M pastor crispin glover he also had a famous appearance on letterman where it was oh did he have a meltdown or it was a meltdown and it's sort of like i think maybe dave was in in on it a little bit but it was pretty wild to watch incredible so nick's uncle francis made the godfather when cage was eight years old. And according to the Washington Post, he grew up with envy in his adolescent years as he watched his cousins become very wealthy. Oh, it's about the cash. And also the fact that their dad was super duper famous. He said-

My dad's just a crusty old dean. Just a crusty old dean. To crusty old Dean. To crusty old Dean. Nick himself said, I was always in these weird circumstances, like going to Beverly Hills High School, but living on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and La Senega. And then basically having these football players throw their Porsches in my face and taking girls out on dates when I was riding the bus to school. Because my father thought it was such a good school.

And it was. Okay. He did later say that. I love it. He's like, He takes it as Being thrown in his face As people are getting around Going on dates

In my Throwing it in my face Driving a car Right in my face No matter what It's about him Yeah Look at this guy

Look at this guy Driving his car Just to get at me He's like No he's just driving a car Oh look at this woman Walking her dog. Yes, a very nice dog right in my face.

Picking up that shit in my face. You are unbelievable, lady. So, from that, you kind of think, oh, maybe, you know, girl's uninterested in him and he's worried about that. He also said, I took the most beautiful girl in the world to my prom. After kissing her, I was so excited I threw up on her and the sidewalk. I've never been able to forget that. I guess that she's never forgotten it either.

Threw up on her and the sidewalk because he was so nervous. I get that. So, basically, I'm trying to paint he was a really cool dude. He was a jock, is what I'm hearing. Cage took his first acting lessons in both comedy and juggling.

Yes. His acting classes. Oh, yeah. Mime juggling. Yeah. I'm not actually juggling. I'm only pretending to juggle. We can superimpose in the juggling balls later.

He was 14 and he took the lessons to pass the summer, but his real inspiration to pursue acting was seeing James Dean on screen. When he saw James Dean, that's when he knew that he wanted to be an actor. The exact opposite of a crusty old Dean, am I right? He's a hot young Dean. The least crusty of all Deans. James. Nick didn't last long at school. According to the Washington Post again, Cage quit in his junior year, miffed over getting only a tiny part in the school production of West Side Story. Yeah, that'll do it. He decided he'd go out and get real work.

Love that. You're not good enough to get cast in the school plays. Like, I'll show these guys. Fine. I'm going to Hollywood. I'm going to go ask my uncle for a role. I'm going to go out alone. Okay, fine. You don't think I'm good enough for this school play? Fine. I'm going to go be a huge star. Yeah, see you later. And I can do that go out alone. Okay, fine. You don't think I'm good enough for this school play? Fine.

I'm going to go be a huge star. Yeah, see you later. And I can do that easily and comfortably. Thank you, Frank. But the most embarrassing thing was- Uncle Frank, don't let me be in the play. Uncle Frank was directing the play. Just didn't put him in. That one probably was right in his face, actually.

Yeah, that one felt personal. When he was 15 years old, whilst driving in the car with his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, who at this stage had already directed great actors, including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and Robert De Niro, he said to his uncle at 15, give me a screen test. I'll show you

acting. Yeah. Great. Cage said that he was met with silence. It is. I love that. And I say Cage said that he was met with silence. Fair. It is. I love that. And I say Cage- Francis Ford just leads down and turns up the volume on the radio. I say Cage, but at the time he was still known as Nicholas Coppola,

which is what he was credited as in his first feature film role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Ah. Released in 1982. It stars Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Judge Reinhold. One of the only few judges. It's Crispin and Judge really taking up their categories. Yeah.

Yeah. I've seen that, I reckon, at one point. It's just like an early teen movie. Yeah. But quite out there for the time. Right. In terms of them trying to hook up and stuff. Do you believe it?

Scandalous. Oh, my God. Dave, I don't think we can talk about that on this podcast. Sorry, can we beep that in post? That's naughty. Cage played a guy who didn't do any of that, but they were just doing it in his face. The role he was born to play. Apparently, he was supposed to play a larger role,

but because he was only 17 legally, he couldn't work as many hours as overage actors. So his role had no lines in the end and his character was billed as Brad's Bud. Nice. Nice. The young Nick Cage did not enjoy his time on the film. He said that he was basically bullied

for being a Coppola by the others in the film. He said, quote, young actors at 16 can be very cruel. I worked with people like Eric Stoltz, who would just not let up, you know, on Fast Times, hanging outside my trailer, constantly quoting lines from Apocalypse Now. Godfather, it was just like, come on, let me do my work. Get off my back. Let me do my work. I off my back. Let me do my work. I'm 17.

I'm 17. I've got to be a guy that flips burgers and has no lines. Yeah. Let me concentrate. I'm Brad's bud. Right. Okay. Unless you're Brad, get out of my face.

I'm trying to get in the head of Brad's bud. He's another Back to the Future guy, Eric Stoltz. He was the original Marty McFly. Ah. Right. You'd remember. Yes. The story I told.

Yeah. About seven years ago. Was it that he wasn't- They didn't like him? He just was so serious. He was like a method guy and they're like, it's just not working. They wanted- They always wanted Michael J.

They always wanted Michael J. Fox, but he wasn't available. And they'd filmed a bunch. So, I reckon there's scenes in the movies like the back of Eric Stoltz's head or his arm or something. Can I please get some praise for remembering that? Yes. Good girl. He bailed so quickly on that. I would have been fine with that if you'd committed.

Okay. Now it feels sarcastic. Hey, good girl good girl apparently he told wire that people like stoltz and the others would say stuff like and this is horrific bullying i think they'd say things like hey nick good morning nick what nice to see you all sorts of awful bullying in his face they would say stuff like i love the smell of nicholas in the morning awful horrendous the smell of Nicholas in the morning. Awful, horrendous. How do they?

The smell of napalm from Apocalypse Now. But that's, I love the smell of Nicholas in the morning. Yeah, they, I'd be like, it's sort of embarrassing bullying, sort of, you know. Like, you guys are. Just beat me up. Yeah. You know, what is this? What is this? This is embarrassing, guys. Just beat me up. Yeah. You know, what is this? What is this?

This is embarrassing, guys. Just beat me up. Good one. Shove me in a locker or something. Come on. He wouldn't have been the only- Like, isn't all Hollywood's, like, family connections as well? Yeah, let me look up who Eric Stoltz's parents are.

Who's he got? Okay. All right, a violinist and school teacher. This is dad. All right, he's legit. Okay. His mom was an Academy Award winner, but the dad was a violinist and a school teacher. I love the smell of violins in the morning.

Got him. Got him. Well, that is ruthless bullying that I'm sorry he had to endure. And because of that, he decided to separate himself from the family name and rebranded as Nicholas Cage. Sure, but we still know who your family is. Yeah. But okay. Eric Stoltz, he was tricked.

He's like, oh. He's like, what? He's a different guy. Hello, I'm Eric Stoltz. Hello, nice to meet you. Nicholas Cage, was it? Fantastic name, by the way. Well, I can't wait to work with you, colleague.

So, he named himself Cage in honor of avant-garde composer John Cage, whose most famous piece is called Four Minutes... Of Silence. ...33 Seconds. Do you know this? Yeah. Which he composed in 1952 for any instrument or combination of instruments, and the score simply instructs performers to not play the instruments during the entire duration of the piece.

Oh, that's so funny. They just stay silent for exactly four minutes and 33 seconds. Do people take that seriously at all? I mean, it's sort of infamous. I guess if you're the first one to do it, people go, all right. Because Tism released an album a couple of years ago that was full silence on both sides. The vinyl sold out real quick. A full album.

Yeah. Love them. So, that's one half of his inspiration, he claims. The other Cage he named himself after is Luke Cage from Marvel Comics, aka Power Man. Oh, okay. Interesting that Power Man hasn't quite made it into the cinematic universe just yet. But I think Luke Cage had a TV show. He had a TV show.

Did he play Power Man in that? I'm not sure. But I think- Don't you think- Power Man. Once you say it's named after two different cages, it starts to feel like you've picked the name and then are working backwards. Totally.

Reverse engineering. And it's also about factory hens. Yeah, and about zoos. Yeah. The old school zoos. And Zeus, the Greek god. And my protest of them. Zeus.

Yes. Who probably had a cage at one point. At one point. And my pet bird, Archie, who lived in a cage. Yes. Archie Cage. Not everyone was a fan of the name change. Nick's grandmother, Mummerella, thought he was being stupid.

Not disrespectful to the family. Stupid. Nicholas, that's stupid. That's very funny. I was sure you were going to say, you know, disrespecting the family and your heritage. You're being stupid. Oh, Nicholas.

That's so stupid. I'm embarrassed for you, you dummy. Oh, dear. Thanks, Nan. Can I have another piece of cake, please? Thanks, Mamarella. Can you teach me how to make pasta, please, Mamarella? His next film role came the very next year in 1983

when the man now known as Nicolas Cage played one of the two leads in Valley Girl. Loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, Cage starred opposite Deborah Foreman. It was a low-budget movie but became a box office hit. Made many times its budget back. Around the same time in 1983, Cage was introduced to a young aspiring musician named Johnny Depp, who had moved to LA to pursue a career in music.

Depp was applying for all sorts of jobs and Cage convinced him to give acting a try, introducing him to his agent and Depp was quickly cast in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Oh, right in Nick Cage's face. That's my manager that I introduced you to. So, there you go. A bit of Hollywood history there. The same year Cage appeared in his uncle Francis Ford Coppola's film Rumble Fish. You know that film?

Which sadly was not a box office hit. Cage was in another one of his uncle's films the next year in 1984. So, he got a couple of jobs in with Francis called The Cotton Club, which although not a commercial success, was met with good reviews. Cage played a gangster called Mad Dog Dwyer and lived his character even

off set, talking trash to everyone and one day he trashed his trailer, which people were not happy with. What a mad dog. It's one of the great nicknames, Mad Dog. Mad Dog Dwyer. I think that was actually the name of the bad guy in Back to the Future 3. Really?

I think so, yeah. The connections to Back to the Future are incredible in this episode. Mad Dog Tanner, I'm pretty sure. Wow. Biff's ancestor. Oh, yep. Wow. And offstage, Michael J. Fox was living and sleeping in a trailer.

Yeah. So, the connections are endless. A film that was a commercial success, and as far as I'm aware, didn't involve any trailer trashing, was 1986's Peggy Sue Got Married, also starring Cage and directed by his uncle Francis. So, it's three in a row. Cage plays Peggy Sue's husband and said he never wanted to play the role, but was asked multiple times by his uncle.

He only agreed to take part if he could play it in an over-the-top manner. Really? Classic Cage. Apparently, his uncle almost fired him when he refused to give up his high voice that sounded, people have described as like being, like sounding like Pokey from Gumby. Oh, yeah. What a turnaround in the power dynamics between those two. It starts with him going, let me test for you.

And Francis Ford Coppola didn't even answer. And now he's going, please be in my movie. Please. And then he's like, please don't do that accent in my movie. And then he hasn't worked with him since. So, come on, Unc. It's really, there's one, I haven't seen this movie, but I watched a few clips to hear this voice.

And there's like an infamous sort of sex scene where, like he's making out with someone that like feeling him up and he goes, you mean my wang? It's just so incredible. And this is a hit film? Uh, yes, it was a commercial success. It was. But he hasn't worked with his uncle since. But, you know, never say never again.

Other movies of this early Cage era include Raising Arizona and Moonstruck with Cher, which was a huge box office hit. It won a bunch of Oscars, including the Best Actress for Cher. I haven't seen- I would like to watch Moonstruck. I say this every time we talk about anything and I never do, so- I haven't seen any of these apart from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Yeah. I haven't seen any of his Cage era films so far.

I think I've seen bits of Raising Arizona. I don't think I've watched the whole thing. That's a comedy, that one. Yeah, yeah. Is that where he's got a kid called Arizona or he's like raising the state of Arizona to the ground? You got it the first time. Okay. And it's an early Coen Brothers one.

I think one of them directs it. He next starred in the black comedy horror film Vampire's Kiss, where he took a surrealist approach to his acting and his performance was described as outrageously unbridled. Wow. It included chewing on a real cockroach. Why? to his acting and his performance was described as outrageously unbridled. Wow. It included chewing on a real cockroach. Why? Why, though? To shock the audience, Jess.

Yeah, it could be a fake one and it would have the same effect for the audience. Yeah, I'd assume it was a fake one. Yeah. According to the Washington Post, it was Cage's idea and he did two takes. Why? Again. He said- I was hungry. Originally, I was supposed to eat raw eggs. thought well but that's been done we saw stallone do that i wanted to come

up with something that would work with the vampire mythology and also create a visceral experience for the audience where it almost broke the fourth wall down and people would go oh man that's really happening no one's doing that No one's doing that. No one's doing that. People understand how movies work. Yeah. And it's like, I'm a celebrity, get me out of here, does worse than that. Yeah.

I guess that was a while ago. But is eating a cockroach shocking? I would watch the same. There's a whole industry now, isn't there, where they're trying to make that as an alternative to red meat. Oh, yeah. Is it cockroaches? I think so.

Or crickets, maybe. Crickets. Some sort of bugs. Yeah. I would see somebody in a film take a bite of a cockroach and I'd go, ugh. But I would assume it was a fake cockroach. I think you would assume that with nearly any other actor. True.

I reckon it should have been bigger. It needed to be like a possum or something. He bit the throat out of a possum. That's where I needed it to be. To be shocked. That would make me have a visceral reaction. You'd have to film that in New Zealand. I think that would be a crime

in Australia. We're very protective of our possums. They'd get away with anything. Over in New Zealand, they'd be high-fiving him. Yeah. They'd be throwing him another one. He's a freshie. Over here, it'd have to be a cane toad.

He would be rushed to the hospital. Apparently, he washed his mouth out with vodka before and after, and he still couldn't eat for three days. I couldn't sleep very well either, he says. Oh. So, why'd you do it? Is it more full on than I'm thinking? I hate cockroaches. They're one of my few really, really gross things.

You mean people from New South Wales? Yes, and also, I don't like snakes either. Yeah, I'm not a big fan. No, I hate them. Are you a fan of the cockroach? I don't know. They're just like a little black bug, right?

Or not a little bug, but they're, you know, like a couple inches long or something. Yeah, but they're kind of a symbol of dirty. I don't know if it's true, but you see them as a gross thing. Yeah, they survive. You know, they'll survive a nuclear holocaust. Yeah, this one survived a Nicolas Cage bit in an eye. That's disgusting. It's actually, yeah, it's lived on.

It's had a lot of kids. They're big in the, yeah, it's a real big empire in the Hollywood cockroach fraternity. So, he was in a bunch of movies in the early 90s. Honestly, I can't mention them all and I'm sorry if I miss your favourite because the man is so prolific. He's been in at least one feature film every year since 1986. And in some years, he's done seven films. Wow. There's two years where he's done seven movies.

What? Quality and quantity. If you're doing that many, statistically, some are going to be duds, but some are going to be great. So, that's actually quite smart. Yep. Rather than being one of those actors who's like, no, I wait for the perfect project and everything you do is really good.

Yeah. Okay, whatever. Hopefully. But if your one movie that year is bad. Your one movie that seven years. Yeah. What if it's a bomb? Yeah.

I reckon take the cage method. I would. Work yourself to the bone. I'm thinking about doing seven feature films this year. Okay. What have we got? Ten months left? Let's do this. Easy. Get me in there. So he's doing

a bunch of movies, but in 1995 he received critical acclaim for his role in Leaving Las Vegas, where he played Ben Sanderson, a down-and-out screenwriter who's taken himself to Vegas to drink himself to death. Cades received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, which he

won. Whoa! He's an Academy Award winner. I Actor, which he won. Whoa. He's an Academy Award winner. Whoa. I'm not going to ever take that away from him. And I've tried. So, he's like looking at his famous family being like, huh? I did it. Huh?

Am I good enough for you now? I didn't even use the Coppola name. Exactly. To get here. I didn't use any of those connections. No, not at all. Despite being in three of my very famous uncle's movies. Very early on.

In a row. He beat his friend, Sean Penn, who was nominated for Dead Man Walking, who he'd also co-starred with in a few early films. Cage said in his acceptance speech, which I watched, I know it's not hip to say it, but I just love acting. That is so unhip. That is so unhip. Most people get up there and they say, this sucks.

Yeah. Hate acting. Play it really cool. I fell into this. That's so embarrassing. Actually, that's what Johnny Depp does. I wanted to be a musician. Yeah.

I didn't know that about Johnny Depp. There you go. So, he's won an Oscar, which is obviously almost the pinnacle for their industry. And no one can ever take that away from him. Why do you keep saying that? Is somebody going to try and take it away from him? But I think we can all agree that nick's supreme achievement in acting started the following year when in 1996 he started a run of

near perfect films and when i say near i mean so perfect they're perfect i'm not sure if any other actor could compete with a run of three movies this good i'd be interested to see if anyone can come up with a run of three movies from any other actor this good. 1996, The Rock. 1997, Con Air. 1997, Face Off. Whoa, that's a big three. Three of my favourite all-time films, especially the first

two. So, I'm going to talk about each of them now. Yeah, those first two are the same. They are two of the absolute greats. I saw Con Air for the first time in ages last year again, and it was so good. I'm like, oh, my God, it holds up. It's so- I rewatched it for this too.

I'm lolling hard. It's so fun. Yeah. It's so fun. Bloody love it. So, I'm going to talk about each of them. First of all is The Rock, directed by visionary director Michael Bay. His second movie, co-starring sean connery

this film rules nick cage later said he specifically took the role to prove wrong those who'd called him too quirky for a mainstream blockbuster he's pretty quirky in it he's pretty quirky okay but it kind of works and when i say kind of i mean it definitely works but he still put his mark On the role In the film he plays FBI chemical weapons specialist Dr. Stanley Goodspeed

Goodspeed Dr. Goodspeed Who along with Connery Must try and stop A group of rogue marines Who have stolen Chemical weapons And taken hostages

On Alcatraz Island I don't know how accurate It is to real Chemical weapons Or whatever But it's such a beautiful design, those grape-like things. Those little green balls. Yeah, so good. Beautiful. You know how this shit

works? When he puts one in one of the mercenaries' mouth. Yeah, that's good stuff. I think I was on my phone. What do you mean? I'm allowed to experience things in different ways, and I'm not shitting on it.

Just saying I don't remember that exact bit. Please, go on. I was about to ask you to list other things you don't remember about it, but that would be impossible. I'll get you up to speed. Good speed. Cage insisted on such eccentricities, such as Goodspeed's aversion to swearing.

Doesn't like to swear. And the early scene in which he sits naked in his apartment playing guitar. According to IMDB's trivia section, Nicholas Cage and Michael Bay differ as to the reason behind the early scene of why he's naked with a guitar. Bay says it's because he knew Cage wanted to show off his body. So they decided just to get it out of the way up front. But Cage says he simply wanted to establish that the character was at home. Yeah.

As we're all naked at home. Yeah. Jeff's in your home right now and- I'm naked. Correct. Thank you for coming to my home. Dave and I are obviously not comfortable enough for that. As is not at home.

You're not at home. So, you're fully clothed, tuxedos. Yeah. I, naked in my home. I'm glad you're a little bit covered with that big guitar. Cage also. Oh. Oh.

You're going to have a little strum there. Sorry. Inspiration struck. He also ad-libbed the bulk of his lines, including the incredible. The bulk of his lines? That's what it says. Wow. Including the line, how in the lines? That's what it says. Wow. Including the line,

how in the name of Zeus's butthole? That's classic Cage. It's so good, which Michael Bay wanted to cut, but Cage demanded he keep. Oh, so he had a bit of creative control here. Yeah, had a lot of input. According to IMDB, Nicolas Cage was concerned that he, quote, looked like a little Japanese schoolboy,

you know what that means, in his scuba gear, while the other actors all playing Navy SEALs looked super cool. I don't know why the ethnicity has to play a part. Isn't that a weird thing to say? I look like a Japanese schoolboy and you all look cool. What are you talking about? That's what he said.

Yeah, was it his scuba gear made out to look like a school uniform? Well, Michael Bay later admitted that he intentionally wanted him to look ridiculous, but he doesn't look like a schoolboy in any way. He just doesn't look as cool. He does look Japanese, though. Yes. Well, they're all Navy SEALs, and he's like a, you know, a scientist.

Yeah. He's like a- he's slightly fish out of water who has to rise to the occasion. Yeah. So, you can't look cool in every shot, Cage. No. He's- but I looked cool when I was eating that cockroach, right? When I was having a nude fiddle on the guitar. Most of the film is shot on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, and I didn't know this,

but as it's governed by the National Park Service, it was not possible to close down Alcatraz, and much of the filming had to accommodate tour parties milling around. Imagine looking over like your dad. Hey, there's Nick Cage. Yeah. A flaming motorcycle man. That's Nicolas Cage over there. The world premiere of the film also took place on Alcatraz.

They set up a cinema screen in what was once the prisoners exercise courtyard. Oh, that's kind of cool. 500 people were invited. That's kind of sick. 500 people were invited. That's kind of sick. That's sick. According to the Disney fan club D23, Nicolas Cage summed up the event perfectly when he stated, it's a beautiful place to have a premiere,

but this is really weird. Yeah. If it's weird for Cage. Yeah, you've gone too far. Then came Con Air, directed by Simon West, and his directorial debut. Oh, my God. Wow.

But he had done a bunch of commercials and Rick Astley's video for Never Gonna Give You Up. Whoa. So, he was prolific. So, that's a training ground. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Never gonna give you up. Do you know when he directed Rick Astley to do those sort of, like, moves with his arms

where he's sort of, like, gyrating in the air? What else does a director do if not direct your movements? Con Air co-starred John Malkovich, John Cusack, and of course, Steve Buscemi. This film rules. In the movie, Cage plays Cameron Poe, a man who was about to be paroled from prison when the plane carrying him and other convicts is taken over by the inmates. Why are they on a plane? Why are they on the plane?

They're being transferred to a new Supermax facility, and on the way, they're dropping off Nicolas Cage. And then he's gonna be Oh, I see. But he doesn't he doesn't let on that he's he's not like them. Yeah, because what you have to understand, Jess, is he's gonna save the fucking day. Yep. Quote unquote. Okay, great.

And he did most of his own stunts. Wow. In a making of TV special, Cage said, whether I wanted to or not, I did most of my own stunts in this movie In a making of TV special, Cage said, whether I wanted to or not, I did most of my own stunts in this movie. There were explosions five feet behind me, flaming helicopters dropping right behind me, ball bearing bullets over my head. So, there was a level of intensity, fear, you might say. Yeah, that's funny how much I didn't expect him to be sort of like so needy to let people know he's cool. So, I thought he was sort of, like, a bit weird and just sort of cool because he's a weirdo.

But he sounds like in interviews, he's like, actually, yeah, I did some really cool things. Let me list them for you. Pretty rad. What do you think? He's just constantly leaning in for a high five. Yeah. Am I right? Am I right?

Up top. Down low? Come on. Give me some praise. Was that- Can I ask, was the mullet authentic? Was it real? I believe that was a real mullet. Oh, my God.

Do you know that famous, he gets out of prison towards the start of the film and the sunshine hits his face and he's just taking it all in? Oh, yes, yes, yes. That is- That's, yeah. That's a gif that I've seen. That's some of the best face acting you'll ever see. Yeah, that's right.

I've seen that meme. God, he looks good. Such a great movie. I absolutely love it. Incredibly, production on Con Air ran late and overlapped with Face Off, so Cage immediately went off and started filming that. Back to back. Con Air and Face Off were released to cinemas in June 1997

within three weeks of one another. Wow. It's a busy time. Do they do that anymore when people are just like a lead actor in two blockbusters at the same time? Cage on Cage. Compete against each other? Amazing.

Face Off was directed by John Woo. In the film, John Travolta plays an FBI agent who has a facial transplant surgery to assume the identity of the criminal mastermind who murdered his only son. And the face he adopts is Nicolas Cage. Cage's character then has the surgery to look like John Travolta, so they're playing each other. Nicholas Cage and John Travolta spent two weeks together before filming to learn how to play each other. They decided on specific gestures and vocal cadences for each character that could be mimicked. It's absolutely batshit. This film rules. According to IMDB, again, the crew shot on Nicholas Cage's birthday. John Woo,

the director, let Cage get emotionally charged up for a scene, then surprised him with a birthday cake. Afterwards, Cage asked Woo not to do that again. If we ever make a film on my birthday again. Don't ever do that again. Next year, don't do that. Don't let me get emotionally charged for a scene. And then everyone starts singing happy birthday.

And then celebrate my day of birth. That's amazing. So, all three films came out very close to each other and they were all huge hits. The Rock grossed $335 million. Con Air did $225 million and Face Off took in $245 million. Not bad for the mid-90s. But not everyone was on board.

Sean Penn, who was an old friend of Cage's and had starred with him in a few films in the 80s and early 90s, thought Cage had sold out and famously declared, quote, Nick Cage is no longer an actor. He's more like a performer. And to that, I say, fuck you, Sean Penn. He got an Oscar before you and you just couldn't handle it. Yeah, fuck off. Nick Cage responded in a 1999 interview. He said, a sellout.

I've heard that word. It's only a sellout if you're being paid to do something you don't want to do. I want to make these movies. Yeah, great. He also went on to say, after I shed my skin of wanting to be the rebellious, angst-ridden, broody actor, which I think is a very adolescent state of mind. Oh, that's so good. So good.

I realised- You'll grow up one day, Sean. Yeah, that's okay, little buddy. He said, I realised I didn't have to be that guy to be cool. And suddenly, I enjoyed my life more. I became free. Which is a great response for that naming

Sean Penn. I became free. I believe they've since made up, but it's very funny. And Sean Penn has won two Oscars. Damn it, he's in the lead now. Oh, spoiler. No more for Cagey boy. Well, we'll find out. The truth is it could have almost been four- I think we just did.

Trying to keep some suspense here. Okay. The truth is it could have almost been four incredible action films in a row. I'm sure that Nick Mason mentioned it on our Superman episode, but around 1996, Nicholas Cage was due to star in Superman Lives, directed by Tim Burton, who had previously done the Batman movies. But just to quickly recap, because people would freak out if I didn't at least mention it, Nicholas Cage was going to play Superman, a comic book character he absolutely loves.

Yes. Like, loves. Yes. Another comic book nerd, Kevin Smith, from Jane Silent Bob and Mallrats and Clerks, wrote a script. And then Wesley Strick, who wrote Batman Returns, was brought on to write a new one. So, the script written by some very acclaimed people. Despite millions being spent on sets, it was pulled by Warner Brothers just weeks before

principal photography began. Years later, some footage and photos of Nicolas Cage in the Superman costume were revealed, leaving people to wonder what could have been. Wow. They made a big mistake there. They absolutely did. Should have followed through. Imagine that.

They would have been the fourth film in that quadrilogy. I don't think- I've never- I don't know if I've ever watched a Superman film. For some reason, I just feel- I don't know. I think it's because he's so invincible and everything. I think I the same it just doesn't really appeal to me the character he seems just a bit too buttoned up and invincible yeah but um but maybe i'd love it you superman fan no i haven't watched a lot of superman either i think um yeah i'm not sure but the he ended up playing a the spider-man noir guy in Into the Spider-Verse or whatever that was called.

And he also, we got a glimpse of what could have been in 2018 when Cage voiced Superman in the animated film Teen Titans Go to the Movies. Oh, that's fun.

So, he played Superman in like a sort of a kid's movie. Oh, that's great. That's cute. And I watched a clip of it on YouTube. He's just speaking like Nicolas Cage. Yeah. Which I guess could have worked. Yep, that makes sense.

What were you expecting him to do? Hello, I'm Superman. Can I hear his high voice again? Hey, touch my wang! I'm popping away! Yeah, I don't know

what I was expecting, but there you go. He finally, he got to at least voice the character. But Adam, have you seen the photos of him as Superman? No. With the long hair? He looks awesome. Was he- was the long hair because he was filming Con Air? It really could have been, yeah.

Maybe. I don't know if they were planning to have him have long hair or just because they had to have him, you know, get into the suit. There's such a, like, a distinctive Clark Kent look through every movie clip or whatever that I've seen. Yeah. I used to actually- I did watch Lois and Clark on TV when I was a kid. Oh, there you go. So, that was a bit of fun.

Because there is the whole journalist storyline as well, I guess. I should really give him a try. But it's- Yeah. He looks like such an unlikely Superman. Got a photo of Nick Cage in the suit. He's muscular. It's bright blue. That's, I don't know how I feel about that. It's like, you know, one of the 90s Batman muscle

suit style. Yeah. It's different. I love it. Yeah, it would have been interesting. I definitely would have watched it. I feel like it would have been my first Superman feature film to watch. Yeah. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water.

We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from Indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca

slash write the future. Yeah. Off screen, Nicolas Cage has been married five times like all the great actors. Yeah,

you gotta collect them all. Collect those wives. Before his first marriage, he had a son with actor Christina Fulton. She lived with Cage for three years and said, laughing in an interview, being with him is like being in a movie, a constantly surreal movie. If you're not on stage with him, go play somewhere else. I think he would be very difficult to live with. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Their son, Weston, is a fully grown man himself. He's got two children of his own. So, Nick Cage is also a grandfather. There you go. That's nice. But Cage married his first wife, Patricia Arquette, in 1995. She's one of the partners that went on to win an Oscar for the family's trophy cabinet. Ah.

Another big acting family. The Arquettes, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. She won it for boyhood, I believe. Okay. So, she wasn't- I don't think- They weren't married anymore, but still, it counts. It counts.

The pair met at Cantor's Deli, an LA hotspot that's been dishing out corned beef sandwiches to celebrities for years, apparently. All the celebs love a corned beef sandwich. Danny Jr. goes wild for a corned beef. He loves a corned beef. What do you have to do to beef to make it corned? I- Oh, it's not a niceed beef. He loves a corned beef. What do you have to do to beef to make it corned? It's not a nice looking process.

My mum used to make corned beef. Is corned silver side the same thing? Yeah. The phrase silver side makes me feel ill. Silver side, yeah. The only thing that makes me feel worse is I discovered a couple of years ago a product called Seafood Extender. What? Yeah, I think-

Oh, my. Hamburger Extender. Oh, my God. Because I've been watching Yellowstone and in it there was one of the characters said that they'd used Hamburger Extender to make this tuna thing and her partner was like, why didn't you use the tuna extender? What a fun bit of dialogue. It sounds like there's so many different kinds of extenders over there. What's an extender? I'm looking up Seafood Extender. What a fun bit of dialogue. It sounds like there's so many different kinds of extenders over there.

What's an extender? I'm looking up seafood extender. It's made from inexpensive fish, typically pollock or hake, pounded into a thick paste, then shaped and cooked. So, it's just making it so you've got more seafood. It's quite cheap, but it just sounds cheap. I think it's the name's the worst bit of it. Less like corn silverside.

It just sounds horrible. Yeah. Extender. Seafood extender. It just makes you think it's all the bits that they bit of it. It's like corn silverside. It just sounds horrible. Yeah. Extender. Seafood extender. It just makes you think it's all the bits that they didn't want to do anything else with. It's like you get a good bit of fish, but you want to make it last a bit longer. Yeah, you've got to make this stew a bit harder. Mix it with some terrible fish.

Yeah, you're sort of watering it down. Yeah, with fish. With fish. Fishing it down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yuck. Sorry to share that with everyone. I haven't had corned beef in a very long time.

I imagine in America that is just the standard thing, though, that everyone would have all the time. Right. And, like, that would be weird to Americans. It sounds gross, I bet you. It's just extender. Yeah. The word, something about it.

Because if it was just called, like, minced fish, which is, you know, sort of what it probably is. Yeah. Fish paste even isn't, I mean, it's not great, but that's probably a better extent for sure. So, they met at this deli with the corned beef sandwiches. The 23-year-old Cage reportedly proposed to the 18-year-old Arquette within hours of meeting her. Yeah. He said-

That's happened to me. For real? When people have met me. Yeah. At the corned beef sandwich shop? Yeah. Have you accepted? They've proposed within hours. No. Never accepted. Never accepted. Jeez beef sandwich shop? Yeah. Have you accepted? They've proposed within hours.

No. Never accepted. Never accepted. Jeez, you're a bitch. She said no and Matt just couldn't get over it. Why would you bring it up on the podcast? Come on. Come on. Come on.

It was years ago. Let it go. I love that you're like, and just to confirm, what did you say? Was it yes or no? I can't remember. I mean, whoever it was, they went to all that effort to ask a question. The least you could do is marry them. That's true.

I feel bad. She said no, but Nick had a bit of a strange response. He said, give me a quest. Okay. I guess to, like, prove himself or something. Yeah. Patricia thought he was joking and gave him a list of all these things to find. On the list was a black orchid from the jungles of Peru,

an autograph from the famously reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, a wedding dress from the Lisu tribe in Southeast Asia, and a Bob's big boy statue from a fast food place. She didn't think that Nick Cage would actually do it, but he started trying to get the things. The first was a J.D. Salinger autograph, which he turned up at her house with the next day. Wow. Very rare. That would be worth a lot of money. Was he alive? Did he go around to his place to get it or?

He didn't say how he got it. He was alive at the time, but I don't think that he was given an amount. He may have gone to an autograph shop or something and paid a ridiculous amount for it. I don't know. Forgery. Or forgery. Yeah, I mean, how hard could it be? I mean, there's-

I could write down J.D. Salinger. There's so few. I'm not even going to look up how to spell Salinger. I'll just do it. Just go for it. Yeah. Yeah, you do the S and then sort of becomes a squiggle. J-D-S, squiggle.

Somewhere in there, I guess. It's not a J, I don't think. A few loops. There you go. $4 million, please. Done. I'm actually going to be rich. Yeah.

And then, of course, you know, you have the certificate of authenticity, which you also forged. You forged that? I never thought about that. Why can't he just forge that, too? I mean, even for a penny? Yeah. Forged it all.

Forged it all. In fact, I forged the check that you gave me to pay for this. Easy. Done. So, that was day one. Day two, he returned with a flower and a can of spray paint representing the black orchid. Okay. Well, that's killed the flower.

She said, I peeked out the window and there he is with a purple orchid and a black spray paint can and he's just spraying it. Like, do it before you get there, mate. Yeah, don't- I think you're busted now. You're getting black spray paint all over her driveway now. It's all over her car. Why have you done that?

All over her and the sidewalk. He's got form, this guy. She soon stopped him because they were supposed to get married when he was done and it looked like the madman might actually follow through and try and do all the tasks. Eventually, the pair were married many years later in 1995. According to Rolling Stone, they married two weeks after Arquette called Cage on the phone and said, I'm ready to get married now. At that point, they hadn't seen each other in eight years. There's just something about the guy. That's, yeah, that's an interesting way of doing it. Yeah. He obviously treats marriage as a, you know, sacred bond.

Yes, they reportedly separated after nine months of marriage. That's according to Hello Magazine. However, they continued to appear together in public and didn't officially finalize the divorce until 2001. And he sounds like he would have been a nightmare to deal with back then. Something he acknowledged in a 1999 interview with Rolling Stone saying, quote, Back then, I was living out my fantasies of what I thought an exciting man should be. I wanted to be unpredictable and frightening.

I jumped out from around corners and spooked her. Boo. Patricia, boo. Hey, Patricia, look over here. Yes? Boo. Boo. Got you.

Thrilling. I'm an exciting man. I'm an exciting man. I'm an exciting man. You're lucky to be wed to me. Is this your car? Can you just do the dishes, Nick, please? He could have brought his juggling back. Yeah.

His mime juggling. Ooh, these are chainsaws. Watch out. He said, I wanted to be predictable and frightening, and I guess I was. I mean, Patricia says at the time, I was pure testosterone. I can't really imagine myself getting that angry now. I haven't punched a wall in years, so I don't really know what happened. I mean, here Cage halts for a moment of seemingly sincere self-inquiry.

Should I be punching walls? Cage, no, you shouldn't be. No. Yeah, that one. Is that you or the interviewer saying that? No, no, you shouldn't be. No. Yeah, that one- Is that you or the interviewer saying that? No, that's me answering him. I mean, yeah, it makes you think like, should I be punching walls? Help me, somebody.

That's such a profound moment for him. Is that what's going wrong with my life? It all fell apart once I stopped punching walls. What did the wall do though? What didn't the wall do? Jeez, that does make you think. How did the wall let me down? So didn't the wall do? Jeez, that does make you think. How did the wall let me down? So, I think it would have been very hard to live with at that time.

Yeah. Cage's second wife was Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis and Priscilla. They married in Hawaii on August 10, 2002, and filed for divorce 107 days later on November 25, 2002. Cage was a big fan of her father, Elvis, and based his performance in the David Lynch film, Wild at Heart on The King. And they married almost exactly, it's only a few days apart,

25 years after her father died. I'm not sure if he planned that, but... Do you reckon he planned to marry almost exactly 25 years after he died? Probably. Yeah. That's the kind of after he died. Probably. Yeah. That's the kind of thing he'd probably do. You say it like you don't believe it, but I do. I do. But why wouldn't you have done

it 25 years exactly then? Probably wasn't a Saturday. You're not going to get your friends out on a Wednesday. That's ridiculous. Yeah. He's the kind of guy who definitely- Or your Hollywood friends with their 9 to 5s. Cade said they both came from very famous families and that's what connected them. Oh, she's a Presley. I'm a Cade Coppola.

I think you need a bit more than that. That's enough for me. He said they had a habit of breaking up and then getting back together. One time, she apparently threw his $65,000 engagement ring off a yacht. $65,000. Fuck you. And she threw it off a yacht. He hired divers to search for it, but apparently it was lost.

Oh, no, they found it. They definitely found it, didn't they? Yeah. Oh, I didn't find anything down there. What's in my mouth? I have to go. I've recently bought a boat. For $64,999.

Told them to keep the change. It's wild that he even attempted it. Like, I imagine in the ocean, a tiny little ring would be pretty hard to find. It'd be so hard. Tiny little ring for $65,000? Please. That thing, that rock is sinking to the bottom of the ocean instantly. That ring inspired one of his biggest hit films, Face Off.

I mean, The Rock. I have read that in the years after their divorce, him and Lisa Marie became friends. Oh, in the years after they were married. Yeah, good. That's the right sort of timing to do that. I think when you meet someone and marry them straight away, you're like, oh, maybe we should have got to know each other first.

We don't have time to be friends. Work it out in reverse. Cage married his third wife, Alice Kim, in 2004, and together they have a son named Kel-El, which is Superman's birth name on his home planet of Krypton. That is a brutal burden to give a child. Kel-El Cage. I imagine Kel-El goes by a different name if he's still alive.

I don't know. If you just call him Cal. Cal Cage. He gets bullied on these film sets. I love the smell of Callal in the morning. That one works. I like that one. Callal.

Yeah, so Callal. I told you he was a fan of Superman. Maybe too much. I would have called him Superman Cage. Yeah, wow. Yeah, Callal middle name have called him Superman Cage. Yeah, wow. Yeah, Kal-El middle name. Superman Kal-El Cage. That's it.

Lex Luthor Kal-El Cage. Okay. I thought that was beautiful. Comic book Cage. What do you mean they're going to call him a nerd? Why? Why? So, his third wife, Alice, he met working as a waitress at a cocktail bar no actually

it was at a restaurant but uh i thought it was funny to say that much is true i'm afraid it was a restaurant they remained married until 2015 so 11 years that's his longest marriage in march 2019 cage married his fourth wife makeup artist erica quick In March 2019, Cage married his fourth wife, makeup artist Erica Coyke. This is in 2019. This is his fourth wife and he's had five. Yeah. Okay. They married in Las Vegas again, only to file for annulment four days later.

Right. So, that's his shortest marriage. Okay. The divorce came through three months later. Four days. Four days. Don't get married. I know.

Then in Feb 2021- Nah, fuck it. Do days. Four days. Don't get married. I know. Then in Feb 2021. Nah, fuck it. Do whatever. Who cares? Well, he's gone again. Feb 2021. Nick Cage married his fifth and current wife at the time of recording, Rico Shibata. Again marrying-

Oh my God. Rico Shibata. That's a great name. Wow. Again marrying in Vegas. Their daughter, August Francesca, was born in September 2022. Oh, wow. Is that another August or is that the same August that you mentioned before? No, August was his

dad. No? Yeah, that's what I mean. Is this the same? Is the dad his daughter? Yes. Yes, that is his dad. It is a complicated family tree, isn't it? We just don't understand Hollywood families. So, that's named after his... That's named after

The baby And I guess Francesca Named after Yeah Frances That's the name of the family I guess That's nice So really set her up to be a nepo baby

August Francesca Cage So how old is Nicholas Cage? He is 60 What is he 66? How old is he? And his swimmer's still got it He's still got it He'll never stop

He'll never stop. He'll never stop. Oh, sorry. He's not that old. He's 59. Sorry, everyone. Oh, really? But... I thought he was older.

Okay. 59. He's got three kids. Three kids in total. And two grandchildren. So, good for him. But back to the movies, everyone. The stuff we're really here to talk about.

Cage made a bunch of other films in the 90s and 2000s that were hits. Gone in 60 Seconds. Yep. Adaptation where he got another Oscar nomination. World Trade Center. And the National Treasure films that I hadn't seen until last week. And everyone told me I would love them. And they were absolutely right.

Those films rule. Yeah, that felt right up your alley. I am a little surprised you hadn't seen that one. I hadn't got to them. But in my marathon over the last two weeks, I included both of those. It sounds like The Mummy with Nicolas Cage sort of. Is that kind of the vibe? It's so good.

But it's, you know, set in more recent times. But so good. I haven't seen it in mine. I'll watch that. Oh, yeah. I love a romp. Yeah, they're just good fun. Yeah.

A few puzzles in there, Matt. You're a fan of puzzles in movies? You love puzzles. Puzzles. Notorious. Interactive, like pause the movie and you get to do a puzzle. All right, here's 20 seconds to do a puzzle. All right. Here's 20 seconds to solve this puzzle.

Can you do it? Like the old Where's Wally cartoon. Yeah. Where is he? Can you find him? Time's almost up. Can you see him, huh? Where's Wally?

Where? Where? Where? There he is. That just unlocked something in my brain. Yeah. I loved those cartoons so much. Oh, where's Wally?

Oh, where? Where, where, where, where's Wally? Oh, where's Wally? Yeah. Oh, there he is. Man, I love that one. There were a couple of episodes in particular that I really remember and just absolutely loved. Where's Wally?

Has anyone suggested that for a topic? I think so. It's got to be in the hat somewhere. Surely. It's huge. Good luck, Vaughn. That's good stuff. That's good stuff.

That is good stuff. He also, this is Nick Cage again, not Wally, made his directorial debut in 2002 directing a film called Sunny starring James Franco. It was not well received. However, Tommy Wiseau, visionary creator of The Room, was a big fan of the movie. And Franco's performance in it gave Wiseau faith in Franco's ability to portray him respectfully in the film The Disaster Artist. He's like- Important movie then.

It's great. If he gets the Tommy Wiseau seal of approval, you know it's good stuff. Yeah. Cage was also in the Ghost Rider films where he was annoyed that no one believed his abs were real god he's weird did your dad see the abs yeah yeah that's the first thing dad mentioned so i saw nicholas cage's abs on his body of course they didn't even look real they were incredible i haven't seen ghost rider i'd like to but i did look up the image of i typed typed in Nicolas Cage Ghost Rider absent. They are something.

They're quite something. He was also in The Wicker Man where he yelled about the bees. The bees. The bees. Which apparently he's come out and said, because that's become a real joke. The film didn't do that well and it's become memed. People laugh at it. He's come out since and said, me and the director were in on the joke.

We knew it was funny. Yeah, yeah. tony martin uses it a lot in in his podcast any any like they'll work up to any reference to bees or honey or something and then play that clip oh that's great so naturally being a big-time actor in leading roles and hit films he made a lot of money for a while there he was one was one of Hollywood's biggest stars, most bankable actors, and commanded up to $20 million per film. Wow. And he was in a lot of movies, remember. In 2009, Forbes estimated that he made $40 million US that year alone. The problem was he made a ridiculous amount of money, yes.

But he spent an even larger and even more ridiculous amount of money, yes, but he spent an even larger and even more ridiculous amount of money. It's estimated that he blew through a $150 million plus fortune and then found himself owing the IRS millions in federal income tax. And you're thinking, how could he possibly spend that much money? Well, these are some of the things that he bought. Okay. Starting with a Gulfstream jet that he was advised against purchasing by everyone. He bought it anyway. I'm Nick Cage. I need a jet. Wait, so what's a Gulfstream jet? Just like a private plane. Private plane, one of those. It goes very fast. What's a Gulfstream? Let me go. Cost. And it's got a nine-hole golf course inside of it. They cost between-

18. 18. Whoa. Right now, between 21 million and 59 million US. One to two films. Wow. Yeah, that's right. Up to three films.

Easy. It's good to save for these things. Is it G6? That's a golf stream. Is that the one that they sing about in rap videos? Like, where's Wally? Did you see him, huh? In rap videos.

Let me hear you. He also spent $192,000 on an octopus. Sure. He told the LA Times he found the creature restful. What does that mean? I find this octopus to be restful. Like looking at it swimming around me? Like it was calming or something

Yeah Restful Restful I don't think that, nah Use it as a body pillow to get to sleep Yeah, that's nice Octopuses have memory foam in their tentacles Very supportive

I would agree maybe with jellyfish I don't know if you've been to the Melbourne Aquarium lately But they've got this whole sort of like section around jellyfish And they're like in this sort of mood lighting and it's sort of dark, but neon and they kind of hypnotize you. Yeah, right. And then they sting you. Yeah, that's how they get you.

That's how they get you. That's how they get you. That's how they get you. Won't be falling for that again. He owned a lot of strange animals. He had two albino king cobras that cost $276,000, as well as an antidote serum on the wall so that if you got bit by a snake, you could save yourself.

They kept trying to attack him, and then his neighbours complained when they heard him talking about owning the venomous snakes on Letterman, and then he had to give them up. They're like, hey, I live next door to that guy. I don't want him owning two snakes. He's crazy. Other exotic animals owned by Cage include a shark, a talking crow, and a two-headed snake.

Okay. Which he said he had to feed at the same time, and he had to keep them apart with a stick because they would attack each other to try and get the food. I heard him talking about it in an interview. I think it's Fel and asked him, he was like, how do you get a two-headed snake? Like, do people just come to you with that?

And he goes, yeah, people just call me, used to call me up with stuff and go, hey, I've got a two-headed snake. They call my agent and say, I've got a two-headed snake. Would Nick be interested? And he was like, yeah, I'm interested. So, he'd just buy shit. He had Action Comics number one that first introduced Superman, which we've talked about before.

It was famously stolen, and then he got the insurance money, and then it came back. I'm not sure if he had to pay that back, but he actually sold that for a profit. So we can put that in the pro column. That's clever. He had a huge comic book collection. He spent $276,000 on a dinosaur skull, which he won in a bidding war with Leonardo DiCaprio. Fucking hell. Only to find out it was

stolen and he returned it to mongolia where it came from he never got his money back he said so somebody at the auction house should be in jail whoa so he just lost that money that's such a you wouldn't you stop yourself and go hang on what am i, I guess- I'm in a bidding war over a- Over a dinosaur skull. With Leonardo DiCaprio. What is their life? Yeah. I mean, I think money was meaningless until they said, actually, this money means something and you owe a lot of it.

Yeah. And this is all beyond the time where he was- he was- didn't want to be a crazy guy anymore. This is when he'd settled down. This is the settled down. Yeah. I've just got a two-headed snake and a talking crow. A snake's got two heads. What do you need for a two-headed snake?

You need not one. Two little hats. Okay. But they need to live somewhere. Do they need matching hats or do they need different hats? Because I know like twins often are frustrated when people sort of, you know, refer to them as one unit. Yeah.

So, maybe you would want to encourage them- I'm different. Yeah, to create their own sort of, you know, find their own interests and personalities and acknowledge that you see them as two individuals. So, I think one would have a little cowboy hat and the other maybe a- like a- I'm thinking like a headband with a unicorn thing on it. I like it. A horn.

That's what I'm thinking, but I'm open to other hat ideas. Yeah. No, I think you to other hat ideas. Yeah. No, I think you've nailed it in one there. Just by the vibe of those two individuals who share a body. The only third option I would posit would be one of those hats with the little propeller on the top. Oh, shit. That'd be cute.

It's a spin around on a snake. I do like those. Yeah. Maybe like a little tiny little one. Yeah. And it goes, who-woo in the wind. I think, so which one? I think we're replacing the unicorn horn. I think that's for a party

I reckon, but like you need to be sun smart for this snake. Yeah. Obviously they hate the sun snakes. They hate it. So yeah, you're right. Okay, yeah, great. Well, I'm glad we figured that out. You just killed that snake. I killed half that snake. It's still a one-headed snake. Usually that's enough. What's the problem? Why are people complaining?

Not for Nick. Not for Nick. Get out of here, you one-headed snake. So, two-headed snake. He bought not one, but two $10 million plus castles in Europe. Why? One in Germany and one which was Midford Castle in Somerset. Somerset.

It's just nice to have. Yeah. Two $10 million castles. That'serset. It's just nice to have. Yeah. Two $10 million castles. That's why I got them. Just nice to have. Nice to have. Nice to know they're there. Nice to tell people you've got them.

Do you visit? Do you summer in the castle? No, but I do spend a lot on a top keep. You are exactly right. This is what Nick Cage did as well. He spent even more renovating them and apparently never spent a single night in either of them. Yeah. What the fuck are you doing then? You got two castles.

What else do you need? You need two yachts. Yeah, no, that one makes more sense. One called Westent and one called Sarita. He named one after his son or named his son after the boat? I don't know which came first. Apparently, the Sarita cost $20 million and

had 12 master bedrooms You gotta pick a master Yeah I don't Yeah Isn't a master You can't have multiple masters No

Why do you think so 12 master bedrooms Does that boat have one or 12 captains What does it mean to be a master bedroom Yeah How can they all be master bedroom I don't think they can Are they all the same size with an en suite

And a walk in row I think each room is better than the last. You're like, oh, that must be the master. Oh, this must... No, this... Oh, my God, this... Wow. This is the master.

That's too much. And you're pointing at Nicolas Cage when you say that. Yeah, that's right. And he likes that. This is the master. Thank you, yes. He had 50 cars, including a fleet of nine Rolls Royces. I think most Rolls Royces, they cost like a million bucks.

Crazy. As well as Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Ferraris. According to HowStuffWorks, at one point, he was reportedly buying one luxury vehicle a month and had even employed a full-time mechanic just to service them all. But you can't possibly be using them all enough that they need regular servicing. You could drive a different car every week.

Yeah. That's fucked. It's too many, Nick. It's too much. I should point out, he's also given quite a bit to charity. It's not heaps compared to everything else, but he donated $1 million for disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina. At another time, gave $2 million to Amnesty International.

Sure, but he makes 20 mil per film. Okay, no, I'm changing my tone here because you know why I'm getting angry? It's because I'm thinking of like the maintenance and how overwhelmed I would be owning two castles and 50 cars. But if he's handling it, hell yeah, go off, King. I think he's really Just showing it To those jocks Who were driving

Their Porsches around In his face In his face You're in my face Well now I've got Nine Rolls Royces In your face And they're like

I don't remember Going to school with you Yeah In your face He had not one But two islands In the Bahamas Sure

Yes He does everything In twos Yeah He's a bloody Modern day Noah Two by two I love that one not one but two islands in the Bahamas? Sure, yes. He does everything in twos. Yeah. He's a bloody modern day Noah. Two by two. I love that one and that one, those islands. Apparently, one cost at least seven million bucks.

Is that it? For an island? Yeah, it didn't- What was the thing he paid 10 million for? A castle. A castle. And he paid $20 million for a yacht. What's that about a floating island?

Yeah. How does a yacht cost more than an island? That seems cheap for an island. I guess an island i guess an island could be anything yeah it was the size of a dinner plate okay a beautiful island i can i can dine on that plate anytime i want gorgeous just swims up to his island there's a chef there with a cloth or whatever they call covering his island dinner is served. Dinner is served. Your island is served. In 2007, he bought 1800 serial killer Delphine LaLaurie's house in New Orleans that he described as the most haunted house in America.

He later said, I bought it in 2007, figuring it would be a good place in which to write the great American horror novel. Sure. I didn't get too far with the novel. He bought a house to write a novel in. Step one, buy the house to write it. The perfect house to write the novel in. I'll do step two later.

I didn't get that far. That's so funny. In New Orleans, he also purchased two plots in the St. Louis Cemetery, home to the grave of previous report topic, Marie Laveau. Ah, yes. Yes, I've been, I'm sure I've been to that graveyard. The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Yeah. Would you, you would remember if you had seen this,

I think you have to, you can only see his plots with a tour, they've got to take you to them, but you can do that. On top of the plots, he has put a nine foot tall white pyramid. I think you can probably see that. Would that be on the tour, I reckon? Yeah, I remember there was like people were talking about,

oh, you're going to go see, you know, stand at the hostel there. It's a thing that people are going to see. I'm like, all right, we'll go see. All right. And you saw it. I'm sure I did. But you say you would remember, but give me some, give me a break. There was an Irish pub there.

Yeah, that's right. Did you see it from the pub? No there was I was there it was Halloween week so I was down on the you know they just have pub crawls everywhere drinking on the streets you can take drinks from bar to bar. Right so you the world was your Irish pub. Yeah

Cemetery became your pub. So it's a nine foot tall white pyramid with the inscription Omnia Ab Uno which translates from Latin to everything from one. That's nice. So, everyone knows he owns it right, but it doesn't say his name or anything on it, and

he refuses to speak about it in interviews. So, it's a bit mysterious. If he plans to put himself there or bury someone else there, no one knows. That's so strange. It's also pretty funny like cemeteries are very interesting places you get like a lot of history and a lot of interesting stories and stuff come out of there but it's pretty funny to be like on it paid to go on a tour to see a plot that nicholas cage still alive owns and may one day be buried here maybe and when you look it look it up, it's one of those ones where, like,

you know, Oscar Wilde's one in Dublin. It's covered in kisses. People kissed it. Yeah. But, like, will the Oscar Wilde, it kind of makes sense. He's there. Yeah. But this is.

He's not there. Nicholas Cage isn't there. He just owns that. This is just a white pyramid in a cemetery and people kiss it. That's so funny. For good luck, I guess. We're getting to the end of his purchases, but he owned an $18 million Bel Air home,

previously owned by Dean Martin and also Tom Jones at different times. Whoa. It's not unusual. Also a mansion in Las Vegas, another in Rhode Island, apparently also a chalet in Aspen, Colorado, and homes in San Francisco, New York, Newport Beach, and Venice Beach. All up, he owned 15 homes around the world, of which he said, I had to put the money somewhere, and I was a big believer in real estate, and I got caught up in that bubble that exploded.

I thought it was real. I didn't trust stocks, and I didn't just trust leaving it all at the bank. I believed in real estate. So now I'm working through all that. Right. There's no way they all just tanked in value completely. No. When did the bubble burst?

Well, around the GFC 2008 in America, things did go down a lot, actually. I've been saying, like, they've been talking about that in Australia for so long. Yeah, but I think in America there was lots of foreclosures, which maybe did push the market down. But, you know, did your island of the Bahamas drop that much? Yeah. Yeah, the castles. Well, he did. He lost his his fortune that's basically what happened having to sell a lot of the houses and cars and

other exotic purchases and he worked harder than ever to pay off his debt a lot of the films weren't widely released or big budget movies but he did a lot and this is the time when he was doing seven films a year in the 2010s he made 29 direct-to-DVD or limited-release movies. Whoa. Cage was criticized for some of these roles, but he defended himself. He said, when I was doing four movies a year back-to-back, I still had to find something in them to be able to give it my all. They didn't work, all of them. Some of them were terrific, like Mandy, but some of them didn't 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. Yeah, that was definitely the, you know, the idea that he was doing a repay of debts and he was phoning them all in. But yeah, it's interesting that he wasn't. Yeah, he says, I still gave it my all every time. By doing so many movies and so many of them direct to DVD, was that also like hurting his asking price? So, in the end, meaning he has to do way more movies to get back to just having 20 million a year or whatever? Yeah, he basically said that the phones stopped ringing for the bigger budget movies.

And I guess part of that might be because it's like, man, you're in eight movies this month. Yeah, yeah. We can't have you in our big movie. So, but he never stopped working. And in 2020, he revealed that he'd paid off all his debts. So, he did lots and lots of movies. But, you know, he put the money back into paying off those debts. I love it when millionaires get through tough times.

Bounce back. Yeah. Sell their two-headed snake and their octopus, their shark tank. It's really inspiring. Well, since then, the actor has made a resurgence, starring in critically acclaimed films like Pig, which he called his favourite film he's really inspiring. Well, since then, the actor has made a resurgence, starring in critically acclaimed films like Pig, which he called his favourite film he's ever done, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,

where he plays a fictionalised version of himself. Yeah, I've heard that's really good. I should check it out. I watched it in my cage-a-thon. It's good fun. My cage-a-thon. I think I'm going to start offering that as advice to friends who hit hard times.

It's like, just do more movies. Sell your octopus. Yeah. And be like, okay, sit down. I've got- I'm going to give you the hard truth. Yeah. You're going to sell that octopus. I'm sorry.

It's got to go in the castles. You're going to sell one head of the two-headed snakes, a minimum. Yeah. One of each. Get rid of one of the castles, one of the yachts. Yeah. And just do more films. More films. And you'll get Get rid of one of the castles, one of the yachts. Yeah. And just do more films. More films.

And you'll get yourself out of this surprisingly quick. That's why you buy two, though. So, that way, if you fall on tough times, you can sell one and still have one. Yeah. You got a spare. That's why you have two kids. Yeah. Second ones are always shitter.

Oh, no. That actually hurts. Does it? Yeah. It hurts all of us. It hurts all of us. Yeah. Hurts because it Does it? Yeah. It hurts all of us. It hurts all of us. Hurts because it's true. Yeah.

In 2022, Nick Cage said, I'm 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. So maybe doing seven films in a year is behind him. Right now, he's slated to play Count Dracula in Reinfeld, a film released later this year. That feels right.

Yeah, that makes sense. That feels right. That's a role he was born to play. He won't even have to act. No. So, in many ways, Nick Cage is back on top, although some would say he never went away. After all, he's been in over 100 films.

What? The majority of which he played the lead. It is kind of amazing. That is wild. That's so many films. that's so many films it's so many films that sort of rivals like some of the early hollywood film you know they they would they were prolific but movies were like half an hour and they were like on a contract to do that totally chosen to do this yeah wow and he's giving every role everything he's got everything wow when does he have a holiday well that's why he can't visit the islands of the role everything he's got. Everything. Wow. When does he have a holiday?

Well, that's why he can't visit the islands of the Bahamas. He's always working to it. Exactly. Why did he have all these houses? You can't possibly go to them, Nick. No. Why not? Well, he explained that he didn't trust banks and he didn't trust stocks, Dave. Did you not even listen to what you were saying?

I never listened. He believed in real estate. But he should have said, he should have said some of the films in the castles. I love that I believed in real estate I also believed in octopuses I also believed in super yachts Golf stream jets

That people told me not to buy Which was right Because he sold that one At a profit Yeah The one savvy thing he did Which he probably only did Because it was stolen

And then it came back to him And it had been years And it had gone up in value But to finish I thought I would read What I've written here as batshit stories about Nick Cage that I couldn't fit elsewhere in the report. Great.

Love standalone batshit stories. Starting with, he was once stalked by a mime. Just the best headline ever. Jeez, the mimes would be the best stalkers too. So, in 2009, whilst filming the Martin Scorsese thriller Bringing Out the Dead, where he plays a paramedic, he was stalked by a mime artist. He told Parade magazine in 2009,

I guess it would fall into the stalker category more or less. I was being stalked by a mime, silent, but maybe deadly. Somehow this mime would appear on the set of Bringing Out the Dead and start doing strange things. I have no idea how it got past security. Finally, the producers took some action and I haven't seen the mime since, but it was definitely unsettling. Whoa.

If you unsettle the cage. I think he's kind of loving it. Silent and maybe deadly. Yeah, they shook that cage. He was shooketh. It's not the first incident to happen to him. This is from The Daily Beast. Quote, it was two in the morning.

I was living in Orange County at the time and was asleep with my wife. My two-year-old at the time was in another room. I opened my eyes and there was a naked man wearing my leather jacket, eating a fudgesicle in front of my bed. I know it sounds funny, but it was horrifying. You wake up, there's a man in your room naked wearing your leather jacket eating a fudgesicle in front of my bed i know it sounds funny but it was horrifying you wake up there's a man in your room wearing naked wearing your leather jacket eating an ice yeah it's funny because that's something that he would do but yeah yeah the guy's like hey this is a tribute to you yeah my hero nick cage what what are you doing? Fudgesicle. Fantastic. Fantastic. That's a beautiful touch.

Whilst promoting Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance in 2011, actor Idris Elba recalled an incident on location in Romania and Elba noticed that Cage was looking a little tired. Cage said, yeah, man, I went up to Dracula's castle, the ruins up in the mountains, and I stayed the night. I just had to channel the energy and it was pretty spooky up there. You just went and stayed up in some ruins on the mountain. Yeah, and then just came back and started filming Ghost Rider. You've got work tomorrow.

That's right. You need a good eight hours. Come on. Sounds like some of his life feels like he's living- I haven't seen it, but that national treasure or whatever it's called. Like that pyramid gravestone feels like a really a clue in a movie like that yes i a story i haven't mentioned here is that he spent a good few years of his life where he was actually on a search for the holy grail

just to buy the bar and he ended up finding a well it was supposed to be like you know the well of the fountain of youth and he's like and i drank from it and it tasted like blood but then i realized that there's a lot of iron old iron stuff in the water and that water just that blood tastes a bit like iron and that's probably why and then i gave up on the quest so he really went on a quest wow in in a break between his seven films seven films five wives i've got about 20 minutes here. I might try and find the Holy Grail. Have we wrapped early today? Great. Well, I'll go find the Holy Grail.

I'll see you tomorrow. Yeah, I'm on the way to have a look at a three-headed gopher. So, Idris, I'll catch you in the morning. Hey, Ruth. Good night. And bright and early. Finally, from 2014, the Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas held an annual festival called Caged. They played five back-to-back Cage films in a row, but they didn't tell people beforehand what the films were going to be. You buy the ticket, you take the ride.

Great. Every year, they invited Nicolas Cage to attend, and in 2017, he actually turned up. Sick. to attend and in 2017 he actually turned up. According to Cracked, he walked on stage right as they were singing happy birthday to the absent Cage over a cake. It wasn't actually his birthday. He probably should have said, don't do that to me again. So why were they-

I think every year as part of the festival, as a joke, they brought out a Nicolas Cage themed cake and sang happy birthday to him. And he walks out. He walks in and they're like, holy- Based on the John Woo story? I don't know. Or if it's just like a funny thing to sing happy birthday to their hero. Wow.

And he walked on stage and they're like, holy shit. Well, didn't one of our Patreons recently at like a mummy screening, Brendan Fraser, was there? Yeah. Yes, I love that so much. I love that so much. My dream. I would lose my freaking mind. Oh my God. I would die. Dave, you should that so much. I love that so much. My dream. I would lose my freaking mind.

Oh, my God. I would die. Dave, you should totally do that, you know, when you know that the accounting ad you're in is going to play before a movie. Like when they play movies. You go on there and you stand up before I go, hey, I'm going to do a quick Q&A. You guys want to throw some balls at me just like I got thrown at me in the- That's a fantastic idea.

In the commercial for H&R Block or- Or I just get up there and say, all right, who's done their tax? All right. That's good stuff. Like they'll recognize me. Yeah. And then they're confused. But Nick Hachey got up.

He answered questions from the audience. Presided over a wedding proposal. What? Preside. You don't need someone to preside over that. No, you do. Oh, do you? If you don't need someone to preside over that. No, you do. Oh, do you? If you don't have someone to preside, you're doing it wrong.

Oh, my God. Is that what I did wrong? No. Well, he goes, I've done five of these. I know what I'm doing. Yeah. Let me, I'll take it from here. I'll propose for you.

What's her name? He then performed a live reading of Edgar Allan Poe's The Telltale Heart. Sure. He said, it's my way of saying thank you, explaining that the poem influenced his work. And you can watch the full video of him reading it on YouTube. And it's safe to say he goes full cage. He starts screaming at the end. Wow.

It's in here! The beating of that hideous heart! And he really screams it. Oh, he's unhinged. Absolutely. He then stayed to watch all five films that they showed of his. Okay, what do we have? He just sat in a cinema with people.

I wouldn't be able to focus on the film. Nick Cage is right there. I'd be watching Nick Cage watching Nick Cage. You know what I mean? I'd be like, what's he chuckling at? What lines does he find fun? That's wild. Or whispering to him.

I love this bit. Yeah. Or he'd be whispering. Maybe he'd be annoying. He'd be giving you like the director's commentary. Shut up. I haven't seen this. Shut up.

I've paid good money to be here. Shut up. But that's it. Love him or hate him. That's the weird and wonderful world of Nicolas Cage. Fantastic. So good to have learnt more about the man, the myth, the legend. The Cage.

The Cage. Sorry, The Cage. Yeah, there he is. I'm tempted. I'm not going to watch all his films. No? There's so many, but I'm going to watch many of them now. Actually, I'll watch them all.

I'll do it. I think you should. I think it's cowardly not to. My way. Well, that brings us to everyone's favourite section of the show where we get to thank some of our fantastic supporters. Without these people, this show doesn't exist. They keep the lights on, as they say,

by supporting us at patreon.com. And, yeah, we thank them in a bunch of different ways uh we give some shout outs uh we answer some questions that sort of stuff the first thing we like to do is a section called fact quote or question which has a jingle go something like this that's right oh he always remembers the ding she always remembers the sing and uh the way this works is for people who sign up on the sydney schoenberg level or above uh they get to give us a fact a quote or a question or a brag or a suggestion or a recipe or a joke or really whatever they like anything

they like and uh just not an insult no i can't take it i'm very fragile yeah i think that's fair but you can insult matt yeah as long as you Soften the blow By complimenting Jess That's right So They're gonna Someone's gonna do that And I'll be reading it out In two months time

With no memory of this Yeah And just be like Oh that's so mean That's so mean Oh thanks So maybe don't do that They also get to give themselves

A title And I don't read them out Until I read them out Which is me just Giving myself an excuse For stuffing up Pronunciations You're giving yourself So, maybe don't do that. They also get to give themselves a title and I don't read them out until I read them out, which is me just giving myself an excuse for stuffing up pronunciations or something. You're giving yourself permission to shine. Thank you. The first one this week comes from Jacoby Dangel. Dave, you always correct me on the pronunciation here.

Is that- Am I close? Yeah, I love Jacoby. And Dangel? Dangel. Dangel's his middle name. No, sorry, surname. And Jacoby has given himself the title of co-director of the Dugon movie, currently stuck in development hell.

Oh, come on. We need Cage in there. We need Cage. Oh, he could play like our wacky manager or something. Release the Cage. All right. So, Jacoby's offering us a brag. Love this.

Love a brag. Yeah, great one. Writing, hey Matt, Jess and Dave. It's been a while. I finally caught up on the pod after being behind for well over a year. I wanted to submit a fact, quote or question for a long time now, but forgot if I had done so since the last time we read one out. So, I finally committed to getting up to date.

I've shot through probably 50 episodes in the last couple of months. Hopefully now I'll be a bit more consistent with my fact quotes and questions. Anyway, that's not even my actual brag. All right. Oh, my God. That wasn't it? That was very brag worthy. It was thrilling.

Listening to a bunch of podcasts pretty quickly. So, here's the brag. Dave is not the only one who got married last year. Who else? That's right. I'm married, bitch. Congratulations. I met the love of my life, Margaret Mumba.

Holy fuck, that's a great name. At school where we both were studying film. It lined up that we were able to graduate with the same associate degree in May, get engaged in June and get married in July. Oh my God. It was quite a big year filled with all sorts of highs and lows. Hopefully the low wasn't the wedding. Honestly, I'm just glad to finally have someone I love to share in the adventure with. Oh, this is so nice. I'm surprised she agreed to a second date, seeing as how I'm a big nerd and a total virgin.

Something Dave would understand. By now, she's well used to my love of music, books, comics, useless trivia and Australian podcasts, and even enjoys some of it. For instance, we are currently reading through The Lord of the Rings together. Consider this an unofficial request for Dave to cover them on Book Cheat. Oh, my God.

You've already read them. Yeah, the point of Book Cheat is he reads the book, so you don't have to. That's right. Everyone's read The Lord of the Rings. Or seen the movies. Yeah. Marriage really has been wonderful so far, and I look forward to spending a lifetime with my love. Oh, my God.

I mean, I'm assuming the actual intended tone is quite different to the tone you've hit, but it's still fun. Yeah. That's so nice. I love love, don't get me wrong. You love love. I also cringe at love. I've got a complicated relationship with love.

You've got a love-hate relationship with love. Sincerity. Yeah. I just find it tricky, but i love it when other people are doing it but now that i'm involved yeah it's disgusting you're seeing how i'm i can't even read it right yeah no it's beautiful that's so nice thank you for that life update too uh so cheers from your co directors jacoby and margaret p..S. Margaret is from Zambia. I'm wondering if Dave has been there on any of his adventures. May hit you guys some Zambia facts in the future if you're interested. I'd love to hear more about Zambia.

It's on my list. Love to go there. I haven't been to Southern Africa in any way and I am going to do it. Yes, I'm very keen. We're going to go together, aren't we? Maybe. Samper the Great's Zambian. I think that's my main knowledge of Zambia.

Is that Samp of the Great is from there? Yes. Fair. And touring Australia, coming up for the first time with a Zambian band. Oh, sick. Yeah. That sounds cool. All right, we'll go there and that'll be our first foray, Matt, into Zambia.

Yep. Zambian culture and then we'll go to Zambia. Yes, okay. Which is an even bigger foray. Yes. Somewhat argue. A 5A. All right, so the next one comes from Claire Norris. Oh, sorry, Jacoby, happy wedding.

Happy marriage. Happy marriage. Great to hear from you. Claire Norris, aka Doctor of Solitude. Holy shit. Okay. I love that.K.A. Doctor of Solitude. Holy shit. Okay. I love that. Yeah.

And Claire's offering a fact, writing, Hi all, I hope you're doing well. I wanted just to be able to add more left-handed members to her list. Yes. Princesses Tiana and Mulan from Disney are both left-handed. Tiana was even purposefully made left-handed, so the character was more like the voice actor. Oh, that's nice.

Otherwise, you couldn't get it to character. That's right. She's like, I just can't relate to this person walking around writing with their right hand. What is that like? It's just wrong. Disgusting. I can't inhibit that body, that character. I've been vomiting on this vocal mic for an all morning.

That's how I feel about right-handers. You're all disgusting. Mutual feeling. We're really star-crossed lovers. You and I? Yeah. That's a really one-sided thing. Like, I'm indifferent to you.

Well, I guess that's where the stars are crossing us. Unrequited love. Requited? He gets itquited love. Requited? He gets it wrong every time. Requited? Requited. Requited. Unrequited.

Unrequited. There's no N. That's like bicep all over again. Jeez, I'd love to add a letter into a word. And what month is this? February. Jeez, I'd love to add a letter into a word. And what month is this? February. And Claire says, thanks for giving me lots to listen to each week.

P.S. Matt, I'm loving Who Knew It. Oh, my God. Thank you so much, Claire. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Claire. Thank you, Claire. Love that little bit of Who Knew It love at the end. Yeah, love that.

Love that way more than the whole Jacoby marriage. Yeah. One little compliment to me. Gobble, gobble, gobble. I'm on team Jacoby. Of course you are. All you married pricks are all the same. We get together and we talk about how great it is to be married. Smart married pricks.

That's right. How does your life change once you're married? Completely. Really? I didn't think it would change that much, but is so different you got more money now yeah a color's different now yeah things taste better really you know you just taste marriage okay okay i don't that's the thing you can't even imagine i can't imagine how because i'm not married you can't imagine living with your partner no you can't imagine how because I'm not married. You can't imagine living with your partner. No. You can't imagine going on holiday with your partner, for example. No, no. Now I'm allowed to do that.

What? You're allowed to be seen holding hands in public? Yeah. Wow. And if people come up and try and like karate chop our hands together, I say slap them across the face and then show them my ring and they apologize and give me $50 cash. Dave, what does love feel like?

Dave, what does other people hand feel like? Next one comes from Siraj Piras, whose title is Dennis. Dennis. And Siraj is offering a suggestion, writing, Average Bear. It's on Paramount+. But do yourself a favour and see it live if you can london is getting some live shows in march she was on a plane yesterday we are talking about

michelle brazier michelle brazier this is her show average bear um she's i got six shows in london coming up like by the time this comes out it's like this week or something at the soho theater yeah and it is a it's a phenomenal show a tour de force it's an incredible show it's so good so you should absolutely go check it out fair agree very biased she's a good friend of mine march 6 to march 11 at the soho theater fantastic go for michelle stay for tim oh my god my favorite part of the show is Tim. I love to watch Tim watch Michelle on stage. It's a show they've done 400 times.

If you like love, just go and watch Tim. Oh, watch Tim love Michelle. And he sits there and he, like, laughs at the jokes. And I'm like, Tim, you see this every night and he's loving it. Great guy. Love Tim. So, go to Tim Lancaster's show. That feels right. Thank you for that suggestion, Siraj.

Finally this week from Nick Fidian. What a fantastic name. Okay. The junior senior vice president of making this up as I go along. Oh, I nailed that, Nick. And Nick is asking a question. So, we got a brag, a fact, a suggestion and a question. We've got it all. Nick writes, what's your

favourite type of topic to learn about, either when researching or when one of the others is giving a report? Mine's a scientist. I don't think I like learning from you guys. I don't learn anything from your reports. It's more just that I persevere through

them. So, which do you prefer persevere through them. Uh-huh. So, which do you prefer persevering through the most? So, it's which type of topic, is it? Yes. Yeah. I love it. Like a mystery is fun. Mystery.

I like an adventure. Yeah. Adventures can be fun. When they're out on the high seas or they're surviving. Yep. It's gripping. I like, you know what I say? I like one that I've never heard of because I don't know where it's going and I'm learning something the whole way.

I kind of like one where I know the name of the topic, but nothing else. Because that always makes me feel like if I know of this, I should know about it, but I don't. And it makes me feel bad, like a naughty little idiot. So, I like to learn about that because then I feel smart. You know what I mean? Yeah. Obviously, I retain everything.

So, yeah, I love a mystery or an adventure or fun. Yeah. Some of them are a bit of- a few twists and turns. Yeah, I love a twist. A few moments where you're like, wait, what? I love a moment. I love one that feels like a mystery, but the mystery is solved. Yeah.

That is such a great feeling, isn't it? So satisfying. When you're not expecting it to be solved and hang on, they got the Golden State Killer? Yeah. I like- To research, I like to have one where I can reveal late that it's a mystery.

I do like to do that. I like to build the suspense and then go, we still don't know. That's fun. Love it. That's fun. I like Nicolas Cage't know. Yeah, yeah. That's fun. Love it. That's fun. I like Nicolas Cage, for example. Yes, yeah. Well, Nick Fidian, he also actually answers the question saying,

on a more serious note. Okay. I really enjoy the biographies, especially of people I've heard of but know very little about. Yeah. Appropriate you on this episode. This is a bio. Bio-ep.

Haven't done one in ages. Love all of the reports, though. Even if it's on a subject I wouldn't normally be that interested in. Keep up the great work you do every week. Oh, thank you so much, Nick. That's very nice. I reckon, because the biographies are sort of, I reckon that that would be a lot of people's least favourite, maybe.

Yeah. But I love that it's someone's favourite, because it's, I enjoy them. I love the variety. I think that's the fun thing about this podcast is that it can be anything, basically. And I really like doing biographies because it's usually somebody I'm interested in and I like, yeah, learning a bit more about, you know, I've sort of like, oh, yeah, Dolly Parton, big hair, nine to five, cool, whatever. And then you learn more about them and you're like, oh, shit, this is really interesting.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like, for example, this week, because my last two reports were on a terrorist attack it was quite heavy and full-on to research and do so this one i was like i'm gonna watch the movies learn about nicholas cage who seems like an eccentric character i don't know much about so i want you know for me it was just a little break from the darkness totally and from a writing perspective as well more often than not a biography is quite a linear story. So, it makes it a bit easier to put information in order.

Sometimes it can be hard when a report, you can start it at many different points and you could bring in information at many different points. It's hard to structure it sometimes. Sometimes it's nice to have something that's nice and clear where you're like, okay, great, I start here, this is the middle, that's the end, done. And this was a free choice for you? So, at any one time, one of us is just doing a free choice and the other two are doing Patreon votes?

Yep. So, this was your choice? Yeah, I did this. It came, Nicolas Cage came second. I put four Hollywood topics up when we did our show in Sydney in the cinema for the Ritz. And he came second. And I was kind of happy because i think it was the live shows often

were you know we're doing about an hour or a bit longer and i felt like this was yeah a bit more time a bit more breathing talk about him yeah save it thank you very much nick for that question uh the next thing we'd like to do is uh shout out a few of our other great patreon supporters are on the shout out level or above. Bob, you normally have a game based on the topic that week to play. That's true. I always feel like it's a stretch calling it a game, but... Okay. What do you think?

Would you call this a game? Yeah, it's a game. Okay. That's really fun. I'm ready to play. Some of us love to play. Well, I love playing games if I can win. Very competitive.

I can't think of... Oh, maybe... Okay. Yes, I love playing games if I can win. Very competitive. I can't think of- Oh, maybe- Okay. Yes, I've got it. It's the- We're going to assign each of these people a lavish purchase they've made. Oh, yeah. Nick Cage style.

Nick Cage style purchase. Yep. Fantastic. May I kick us off this week? Yes. Please. I'd love to thank from Ashford in the United States, in Washington I believe. It's Brendan.

Brendan has bought the oldest tree in the world. Wow. And had it taken out. Whoa. Put in a very big pot. Yeah. And delivered to his apartment, put on a balcony. Kate would do that. One of those fossil ones

in Scotland. Yeah. Didn't we go see some- Oh, yeah, thousands of years old. We were near some fossil trees. Not sure we ever found them. I don't think we found them either. We were near them. We went to that park.

We knew we were in the vicinity of Growness. Wow. Brandon, that's a fantastic purchase. I think that'll appreciate in value. From Rochdale South in Queensland, Australia. I'd love to thank Katie. Oh, Katie has bought Big Ben. Whoa. The clock tower.

It's actually the bell. It's actually called Elizabeth Tower, if you want to be specific. They renamed it after the Queen of the Jubilee. So, anyway, but she's bought the, actually, not the tower, the bell. The bell. So, good luck ringing midnight now. So, Katie has had the bell shipped to Queensland. Her apartment.

Okay, great. Great, love that. She lives inside it now. Beautiful spot. Imagine if you turned it upside down, it'd be a nice jacuzzi. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. It'd be so big that you couldn't swim to the bottom.

Do you reckon? That's a big bell. How big is it? I'll look it up. Okay, great. You thank another person. We're going to look up how big this been. It really is.

I would also love to thank from Kangasala in perhaps Finland, it's Sanda Rabane. Sanda Rabane from Finland? F-I is the country code. Let me see. Yes, in Finland. Wow, cool. Very cool.

Sanda is a great name as well. And Sanda has actually purchased the Northern Lights. Wow. Yeah, and had them shipped to his apartment. And it's embarrassing actually, Sanda, because you can just buy like galaxy lights that do precisely that. Yeah, but why not get the real thing at this time of year? Yeah, you can do it anytime. Specific to-

I got one in my bedroom right now. To Santa's apartment? To Santa's apartment. It's pretty cool. That is so cool. Big Ben, the bell, measures 2.7 meters in diameter, 2.2 meters in height. So, you could dive and jump into that. You could do a bomb into the Big Ben pool.

You could also- Two meters deep. A large bong. I can't stand that. You could do a bomb. Yeah. Into the Big Bend pool. You could also do- Two meters deep. A large bong. I can't stand in that. Bong. There you go. Can I thank some people?

Please. I would love it if you did. I would love to thank, from Mount Coolum in Queensland, Angela. Angela. Angela. I think what Angela purchased was edition two of Action Comics. Whoa. Wow.

People don't think about Action Comics number two. No one does. And that's where Angela is ahead of the game. You know what comes after number one? Number two. Yes. Oh, does it? Yes.

Is it right? So, there you go. That's exactly what Angela said. You two are in sync. Wow. There you go. I would also love to thank from, I'm going to say this wrong, but Ruska in Poland, Sandra Anita. Sandra Anita.

Two first names. Oh, that's so good. Anita is a surname. It's fantastic. Sandra Anita has bought a two-headed car. Wow. It's a Lamborghini with two-headed car. Wow. It's a Lamborghini with two front. Yep.

Two bonnets. Yep. Welded together. Two steering wheels. And they both wheels work. Great. So, you have to drive it with a friend and get them. We're turning left now.

We're turning left. Because they start turning right and you're turning left. You'll end up just going straight. Pretty sure that's how that would work. and you're turning left, you'll end up just going straight. Pretty sure that's how that would work. That's so the two-headed car. That's confusing.

Yeah, what's the benefit of having two heads on a car? What's the benefit of having two heads on a snake? It's cage just buys wild stuff. Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I shouldn't ask questions. Also, Sandra finds it soothing and relaxing. Fair enough. Did you know that. Sorry, I shouldn't ask questions. Also, Sandra finds it soothing and relaxing. Fair enough. Did you know that, sorry, just quickly,

I've just looked up who first appeared in Volume 2, the one-eyed Gora. Wow. Yeah. And also Doroka, his servant. Okay, there you go. Yeah. I would also love to thank, from Dublin in Ireland, Paula Corcoran.

Paula Corcoran from Dublin. Did you know this? Paula Corcoran bought issue four Action Comics. Wow. Yeah. Who first appeared in that? How much did that go for? I've got number 2 here Yeah, what have you got? Well the most recent one I can find

Was 2012 Sold for $13,000 And this is how they describe it The superhero who started it all Superman Sold for $13,000. And this is how they describe it. The superhero who started it all, Superman, makes his second ever appearance. That's so good. That's perfect. So maybe in four, which Paul has just purchased,

Superman makes his fourth ever appearance. Probably. Anything about that? Probably worth $150,000 to $200,000. 200 000 okay oh that's pretty good yeah well that's that's what she purchased it for but imagine how much it's going to be worth you know in two three ten years oh years um yeah so it's pretty impressive dave do you want to thank some people i'd love to thank some of the people first First of all, I'd like to thank from Western Australia in Wellard, it's Peter Hanson.

Peter Hanson, keep it handsome. Oh, warming up early. That's good. Keep it handsome. I really hope there's some- That's Peter's catchphrase. Hopefully there's some Hansons coming into the Triptych Club in a second, but Peter Hanson has bought, Jess, Peter's largest purchase.

Has bought a very big horse. Wow. Like, you think Clydesdale big. Yeah. This is like a double Clydesdale. Two-headed Clydesdale. It's a two-headed Clydesdale. We're turning left.

We're turning left. And a two-anest Clydesdale. Holy moly. Which means more fertilizer. Double the poop. Double the poop, which a lot of people would see as a negative, but not Peter. Peter sees it as a poop. Are we talking like Megatrotts level big?

Real big. Wow. That's so big. That's sick. And it flies. Yes, that's right. And again, it has two heads and two arses and it flies and it's very big. Two wings.

Two wings. Otherwise, it couldn't fly. Or it has a little propeller. Yeah. Wow. A little propeller hat. Hey, good on you very big. Two wings. Two wings. Otherwise, it couldn't fly. Or it has a little propeller. Yeah. Wow. A little propeller hat. Hey, good on you, Pete. Enjoy it.

I'd like to thank now from Plainsborough Township in New Jersey. New Jersey. It's William Hofstader. Oh. I love a city that doesn't oversell itself. Plainsborough. Yeah.ll itself. Plainsborough. Yeah. Township.

Plainsborough Township. Hey, we are what we say we are. What's on the label? Yeah. And what has William purchased? William has purchased a monster truck. Whoa. Highway 2.

I know it's not, but it's just a song that plays in my head whenever I'm driving something. And it's a monster truck. It's that one that looks like a Megalodon. It's just a Meg. It's a Meg. You seen that one? Love it. A monster truck that looks like a Megalodon. It's pretty great.

I'm not making this up am I? That's William Hofstadter. Yeah. Watch the truck. Megalodon. You ever seen the Megalodon film, Dave? With Jason Statham in the Meg. Great movie.

I haven't seen it. Death Race is my favourite. What makes you think I'd risk my life for you? It's pretty sick. They're not showing me a picture. They're not looking at a picture of the Meg. That is pretty sick. I also really like Death Race.

Death Race is fun. Great movie. And finally, I would like to thank, good luck of the Meg. That is pretty sick. I also really like Death Race. Death Race is fun. Great movie. And finally, I would like to thank, good luck with the truck, William Ofstater. And finally, I'd like to thank from Overland Park in Kansas. They're no longer in Overland Park. It's Nicole Speckin. Nicole Speckin.

Dave, do you speckin the English? Because it didn't sound like it there for a second. Nicole Speckin bought Sputnik satellite. Oh, the space junk? Or is it still a working thing, is it? It was the first satellite. Yeah. Bloody hell.

Got the first satellite. That is a classic Cage purchase. He would buy that for sure. Oh, yeah. Big time. I bought Sputnik. Pretty cool. Great choice there, Nicole.

Enjoy that. Where should we put it? Just chuck it in the pile of mother junk. Oh, yeah, big time. I bought Sputnik. Pretty cool. Great choice there, Nicole. Where should we put it? Ah, just chuck it in the pile of mother junk. He's got just a pile of shit. Thank you so much, Nicole, William, Peter, Paula, Sandra, Angela, Sanders, Katie, and Brendan. And the last thing we like to do is welcome a few people into the Triptych Club.

These people have been on the shout-out level or above for three straight years. And, yeah, we welcome you to this exclusive club where once you're in, you can never leave in a good way. It's a bit of theater of the mind. I'm sitting on the door, got my clipboard. I'm going to read out some names. Dave is the hype man. He's chanting out your name. He's hyping you up as you enter the club. Jess is behind the bar. You normally come up with a drink, cocktail based on the topic. What's the Nicolas Cage taste like? Well, I'm serving drinks in small cages.

Oh, yeah. So, you have to drink it very quickly. Essentially, what you need to do is like just put your mouth at the bottom of this little cage and I'll pour the drink in and then you just have to try and get as much as you can from the little cage. Sounds like it'll be like licking the beater that- Yeah. When your mum had made a cake. Fuck, I love doing that.

Love licking them beaters. I love licking the beaters. It'll be like that. Yeah. So, it'll be a thick cocktail. No. Dave, you don't want to book a band for the after party? Yes.

This week, though, we're going for something slightly different, but a spoken word. We've got Nicolas Cage performing Davy Crockett with music by David Bromberg, recreating their famous 1993 album. Wow. Recreating it. Love it. Very much looking forward to that.

It's got a two-star rating on all music. Wow. Out of five. That's pretty good. Good. Yeah. Well, let me bring in a few of our great new Triptych Club members. So, have you explained that I hype them up?

Yeah, yeah. You're the hype man. You're on the stage of the MC. I want them to know what I'm doing. They need to know. They need to understand. So, here you explained that I hype them up? Yeah, yeah. You're the hype man. You're on the stage of the MC. I want them to know what I'm doing. They need to know. They need to understand. So, here we go. From Prospect in South Australia, it's Brent Hills Hayes.

Where there's a will, there's a way. Where there's a hills, there's a Hayes. Oh, that is good. Strong start. From Woodland, the Woodlands in Texas, it's Sarah Sumner. I love summer, but my favorite season is Sarah Sumner. Yes, it's Sarah Sumner. I love summer, but my favourite season is Sarah Sumner. Yes, it's beautiful. From Adelaide in South

Australia, it's Joe Walker. I'm Joe Walker here! Yes! From Salina in God's Country, Ohio, it's Jenna Schaefer. I'm not Schaefer here, I'm Schaefer here! Yeah. From Alexandria in probably Virginia in the United united states it's sam honora

honora you wouldn't bore sam would never bore her minneapolis minnesota it's dan higgs Matzner Um I'm a fan I'm a fan of Dan I'm a I'm getting jiggy with Higgs I'm getting Kratzner with Matzner

Minneapolis Not Minneapolis Love your work Dan Higgs Matzner From college place in Washington It's Sarah Stephen College Place in Washington, it's Sarah Stephen. Taking me back to college, it's Sarah Stephen. Watch those elbows. We're playing that game where you shoot the ping pong. Whatever, ping pong.

Ping pong. Love it. From Dublin in Ireland, it's Ian. Or is it Owen? It's Owen Kennedy. Look, Owen doesn't owe me money, but Owen owes us a good time. They're coming through. From Address Unknown, can only assume from somewhere deep within the fortress of the

moles, please welcome in Jedediah. Jedediah, text me Jeddiah. Oh. I'm soaring here. How are you so good at this? Thank you so much. In New Zealand, it's Cat Ford. Look, I don't want to be Ford here, Cat, but you're my favourite.

Come on in. And finally, from Austin, stay weird in Texas, it's Justin Leach. Justin Leach, you ain't no leach. You make me reach. For the stars. For the stars, Justin. Boo, boo, boo. You inspire me.

Boo. Welcome in. Make yourselves at home. Grab yourself a cage cocktail. welcome in make yourselves at home grab yourself a cage cocktail justin cat jetta dyer owen sarah dan sam jenna joe sarah and brent that was like spoken word itself there that was nice well that brings us to the end of the episode is there anything we need to tell people jess that they can suggest a topic um on our website there's a link in the show notes as well and you can support us on patreon patreon.com forward slash do go on pod.

You can find us on social media at do go on pod. And remember to wash your butt. Dave booted home. Remember. Hey, tweet us your favorite Nick Cage film. What is it? And why do you love it? We'd love to hear from you.

Hey, we'll be back next week with another fantastic episode. I'm already predicting that. But until then, I'll say thank you so much for listening and goodbye. Later. Bye. Bye. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures.

Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future.