Why Nicolas Cage ‘Put Family First Over Career’ And Turned Down Major Roles
By Movieguide® Staff
Ahead of his new movie THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT, a satirical look at his nearly 40-year career in Hollywood, Nicolas Cage revealed how he always prioritized family.
The Oscar-winning actor recently highlighted the differences between his on-screen portrayal of himself as an actor and his real life.
“First and foremost … there’s no version of Nic Cage in reality that doesn’t want to spend time with his children,” he told PEOPLE. “There’s no version of Nic Cage that didn’t put family first over career. I turned down LORD OF THE RINGS and I turned down MATRIX because I didn’t want to go to New Zealand for three years or Australia for three years because I needed to be home with my son Weston, that’s a fact.”
“So there is a huge disparity between that Nic Cage in MASSIVE TALENT and the Nic Cage sitting in front of you right now,” he added.
The NATIONAL TREASURE actor is a father to his first-born son, Weston, 31, and Kal-El, 16. Cage and his current wife, Riko Shibata, expect a baby later this year.
While Cage’s resume includes many immoral movies, he also did family-friendly features like THE CROODS and even explored ideas of faith in LEFT BEHIND and KNOWING.
Despite his success, Cage noted that he learned early in his career to never take himself too seriously as an actor.
“I always say to myself, ‘I never had a career, only work.’ What I mean by that is sometimes — and I won’t mention names — but when you get into this career-minded perception of one’s self it can be a slippery slope, and it can lead to things where you start believing in your own mythos and you start taking yourself way too seriously,” Cage explained.
“You become pretentious and then you fall into the realm of diva, and that’s when mistakes happen in your personal life and on camera,” he added.
Movieguide® has yet to review THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT.
However, it received an R rating from the MPAA for strong foul language. Check back to Movieguide.org soon for a full review.
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