Actor Nicolas Cage talked to ComingSoon.net about the anticipated comic book adaptation on the Australian set. The actor talks about villains, sequels, CGI, Ghost Rider script, comic book movies, and more.
Q: When we talked to you at the National Treasure junket you weren't 100 percent sure about this project, whether it was the script or the filmmakers.
Cage: "It was always the script. It was always a matter of trying to get the script to a place that I felt comfortable with."
Q: What do you think about the trends of comic book movies?
Cage: "Well, I've always thought that the comic book film would be wonderfully entertaining for audiences, because it taps into the fantasy world more than just straight up violence. And I had no doubt when the first Batman came out, because of the title and the character, that was going to be a sensational-- a very exciting movie to watch, combined with the technology that we have today, that you can take these fantasies that many of us grew up on and really bring them to the big screen. You have marvelous entertainment. Comic books to me are modern mythology, and so it taps into all sorts of psychological and soulful levels for audiences in a positive way, in a fantasy element as opposed to blood and guts, gore fests."
Q: Seems like this is a really CGI heavy movie. How is that working?
Cage: "I've always enjoyed working with effects. I like any aspect that's creative, and Kevin Mack, who's directing the visual effects, is a very creative man and a very interesting person to talk to. So, to me, it's just stimulating to be around it, to participate. I want to, after the production is finished shooting here, I want to go to where they're working on the effects and say hello and see what they're doing with all the painting and how they're going to make the fire work, because fire is, you probably know, the most difficult of all the digital effects to pull off. Fire and water, but even more so fire."
Q: Ghost Rider can't exist without violence, so where do you see that element in the film?
Cage: "Well, he's the devil's bounty hunter. One of his rules is that he will never take a human being's life. But he will go after demons, other demons, and this movie's loaded with what they call The Hidden, which are these elemental demons that Mephistopheles, or Black Heart, Mephistopheles' son, is using, and so the Ghost Rider goes into battle with them more than the people."
Q: How does he battle them?
Cage: "He has these wonderful abilities, like hellfire and the chain that he can use and swing, and then he has the penance stare, where you can look at someone and make them review every bad, horrible thing they've ever done to anybody and then feel it and feel the pain of all their mistakes and sins and basically reduce you to a human jellyfish."
Q: Are you signed on for sequels?
Cage: "That remains to be seen. I'd have to see the movie and see how it comes together."
To read more of the interview click here
Ghost Rider will be released everywhere on August 4, 2006.
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