our first guest is an academy award-winning actor in a big time Motion Picture star he has
a brand new Motion Picture entitled Wind Talkers it opens June 14th ladies and gentlemen say hello
to Nicholas Cage good to have you with us let me let me ask you a question you know we have this
this woman I'm sure you heard about her she was in Yellowstone and had an encounter with a wild
grizzly bear and and survived in his fine is going to tell us all about it have you ever had anything
like that any kind of wild animals your friend Josh just told me about this woman with the bear
and it's interesting did she he said that the bear just sort of gently bit her leg but didn't
really draw blood or anything so we were hoping to keep testing we were going to save that though oh
all right come out here well I was curious because I thought it was sort of like an out let's see if
it was the right texture energy the bear didn't approve but no I'm to answer your question I did
have an encounter with a rattlesnake one oh those are they're deadly points well yeah they've got
Venom and I tell myself I was trout fishing with my cousin Roman I found myself in a rattlesnake
patch and I was literally surrounded by these snakes and I didn't know what to do and and uh
Lo and Beholder was like this stick this staff with the nail through it and uh I thought well
that's what you're supposed to do so so I grabbed the stick and I thought then I got faced with this
conundrum if you will that I don't really want to kill anything no I think that's yeah but I didn't
also want to get bit well exactly so there you go and I I clobbered it and then it it came up and
it reared its head and it hissed at me and then the hill started rattling oh and then I just went
completely bananas and just started hitting it and hitting and hitting it and and I took it and
I threw it in my my trout pail of water because I I was brought up to believe that everything
kill you gotta eat so so I took it back to the house and I chopped its head off so the
poison didn't get in the meat and I chopped the Rattler off so that I could maybe wear it
wow but I I lost that but then I I barbecued it and I'll be darn if it wasn't delicious
[Applause]
well then the story has a happy ending I guess kind of but did you did you skin that I skinned
it and I I did the whole number I felt like I was doing some sort of an Indian ritual how
how was it what did it taste like well you know it it tasted like chicken [Applause]
but it's true that's really what it tasted like and have you eaten much snake since no I've not
uh had the opportunity to eat any more snakes I was looking at a thing and apparently there's
like a restaurant in China maybe more than one where all they serve is snake and they
they bring them out and you pick your own snake and then they just exactly what you did and then
they skin them up and they bring it back out and there you go that's really weird yeah it's very
strange yeah I'll have the Black Mamba yeah uh you're directing films now yeah I did my first
uh directing it's a movie called congratulations thank you yeah sunny sunny yeah thank you [Music]
now I know your uncle is a director yeah how many in the immediate or extended family have
directed films I'm actually now number seven in the uh a couple of family too no kidding
so long I I was I was really concentrating on acting you know and then I just thought
I'd want to go behind the camera and I guess one of the things that I I took from Francis
when I worked with them was the way he says action he uh he hits the act and then he lets
it roll in the shin so he's like action and and I started doing that and then I found that that
I and then I would go like John Wu you see so I have like John Wu from my cut and action was
from France well you can do a lot worse there I'm telling you yeah let me hear that the action again
no that was the Hutt all right the action is right it's it's film come on could you yeah yeah that's
the end actually happened on the step that doesn't generate respect or confidence no no it's uh
action action there you go so you just kind of fall off
it helps you relax it relaxes the actors and what is the uh the film Sunny what does the subject
matter well it's actually very tough subject matter it's about a dysfunctional family it's
not a comedy It's a drama why did you pick this as your first is your directorial debut what I
read the script 20 years ago when I was going to play the part but now I'm not the right age
for the part and it stayed with me I thought it was heartbreaking I thought it was really
uh edgy material which I'm I like you know and uh so it worked out but it's it's actually about a
um yeah it's about a mother who raises her child to be a male prostitute
it's not funny it's it's intense we don't want to go there well you asked yeah
well
but as you're directing the actors in the thing because you're an actor and you have such a great
body of work and so much experience do you sometimes find yourself thinking no you jerk
you're not doing it right what is wrong you know do those thoughts ever run through your head while
you're watching somebody no no no I'm very careful with the casting process I know the actors I got
were great and they they did all the work you know are you uh are you still uh you collect a
lot of stuff uh I'm downsizing but you had a wide variety of interests very eclectic it's
true I like all kinds of different things but uh I don't believe in worshiping false icons so now
I'm sort of giving them away or selling them or downside and what kind of things are you hanging
on to well I'll hang on to a couple old vintage comic books and some cars but I I I'm trying to
go on a more spiritual path these days well good for you did now did you have a large collection
[Music] laughs
did you ever at one time you had a lot of cars do you like cars oh yeah
well I love cars I I mean I just I love the sound of a great V12 I've
had some of my best moments in cars and actually I had a really foreign
actually I was thinking about a different moment I had a Wipeout on the on the 405 freeway in Los
Angeles I was on a I was driving a 289 V8 uh Austin Healey and I had just converted it to
an automatic which was not a smart idea it was a not a good mechanic and I'm going it was late
at night I was about to go on a date and I hit the automatic into park on the freeway and I I
literally 360ed on the 405 and I wound up facing traffic and then literally a Mack truck comes up
to me he says over a CV put the car in Reverse so I put the car in reverse and I'm driving backwards
on the 405 freeway trying to find an off ramp that you can back off yeah so that was my that was my
closest it's humiliating really more than anything is it really doesn't make me sound like a very
good driver my God so but the park apparently does work that's good to know yeah immediately I sold
the car yeah uh I want to talk to you talking about your uh your film The Wind talker yeah
and this is based mostly on actual events actual occurrences in World War II actually it's inspired
by true events and what what's fascinating is that no one really knew they didn't teach in my history
books in high school that the Navajo Nation was so instrumental in Our Winning World War II because
they developed a code that expedited Medical Aid and air strikes and they did it quickly so they're
they're true heroes and they're finally being honored and it only came to light in like the
60s right yeah It came it came to light in 1968 I believe but still it not too many people knew
about until recently when when the president gave them Congressional gold medals of Honor let's take
a look at a clip of the film and explain who we're going to see in it in addition to yourself and
the director you mentioned is John Woo John Woo yes and you know what we're going to see you're
going to see uh Adam Beach who plays Ben Yazzie the Navajo co-talker and I'm I'm Joe Anders and
I'm your average sort of Italian-American Marine who really doesn't know what he's doing in this
war becomes a hero though and becomes a hero okay here we go wind talker take a look a wind talker
opens uh June 14th 14th great to see you again good to see you thank you very much good luck to
you Nicholas Cage everybody we'll be right back with the bear ladies [Music] thank you [Music]