By 2011, this Hollywood icon had been in the movie business for roughly 30 years and was
commanding a jaw-dropping net worth of over $150 уmillion.
Within the next decade, his wallet will slim down to “just” between $25 and $37 million.
Yes, that’s one sixth of his previous fortune, for those of you who were counting.
You know how it is. Buying a non-refundable dinosaur skull from Mongolia. Investing in
a couple of castles. Purchasing a private island here and there. Stir in some unforeseen
serious legal trouble like $14 million owed to the Internal Revenue Service…
And you’ll get just another day in the life of Nicolas Cage, the king of eccentricity
and unconventional movie roles, a living meme-lord. Today at Rumour Juice we will inspect Cage’s
out-of-this-world financial habits, so subscribe to our YouTube channel and stay tuned!
Oh the many faces of Nicolas Cage. Imagine spending New Year’s Eve at your favourite
tiny village pub in Somerset, England. In walks Nicolas Cage and very casually buys
everyone a round of drinks. This is a real story! The locals said the actor was pretty
friendly. Truth be told, Cage isn’t a stranger to
Somerset. The self-confessed "Anglophile" has owned Midford Castle in the countryside
since 2007. Which is a logical thing to do: if you admire a certain country, why not buy
a $10 million castle there? Or, if your grandmother was German, why not celebrate your roots and
purchase yet another medieval castle, this time in Germany? In 2009, though, Cage sold
his luxurious German property for $2.5 million. In all, Cage is rumoured to have owned 15
residences, including: the two aforementioned castles;
a $25 million waterfront home in California; a $15.7 million countryside estate Rhode Island;
an $8.5 million abode in Las Vegas. For about $3.5 million, Cage purchased the
infamous LaLaurie mansion in New Orleans, known as “America’s most haunted house”.
Another $3 million got him an island in the Bahamas.
One might ask: When did the wheels come off the Cage wagon? Where does that uncontrollable
urge to spend come from?
Well, Nicolas Cage’s upbringing was pretty modest. His father taught at the California
State University, Long Beach, and wrote books. Every school morning, Cage would hop on a
bus and watch other schoolfellows drive past him in Maseratis and Ferraris.
Oh, here’s a teeny-tiny detail: Nicolas Cage was born Nicolas Coppola. He is the nephew
of none other than Francis Ford Coppola, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. When
Nicolas started making it in Hollywood, he changed his last name to Cage to avoid any
unwanted insinuations of nepotism. But back to a school-aged Nic, who often felt
bummed by his middle-class lifestyle. “I felt that because of my name being Coppola,
there was a misunderstanding as to what I did and didn’t have,” Cage says. And he
wanted to be more impressive when it came to dating, but... “I didn’t know how to
do that [by] taking a young lady out on the bus while the other guys were taking her out
in Ferraris.”
On summer breaks, Nicolas would visit his famous uncle whom he describes as “very
generous”. The boy decided to become just like his uncle, owner of lavish mansions.
Cage’s other role model when growing up was the legendary actor James Dean. He inspired
the young boy to try his hand in acting. So when he was 15, Cage decided to convince
his uncle Francis to let him do a screen test. “I’ll show you acting,” he told Coppola
who, by that time, had already worked with Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and
Robert De Niro. That must have been one awkward uncle-nephew conversation. Nevertheless, Cage
did appear in two of his uncle’s movies: Rumble Fish, and Peggy Sue Got Married.
Here’s a great story from the time when Cage was still rising through Hollywood ranks.
He rented an apartment to and befriended an aspiring musician named Johnny Depp who, at
the time, was selling pens to get by. Needless to say, Depp was absolutely broke. One day,
the two friends were playing monopoly, and Cage’s tenant was winning.
“I was watching him and I said, ‘Why don’t you just try acting?’ “ Depp said he preferred
to pursue a career in music, but Cage arranged a meeting with an agent. Thanks to this, Nic
Cage’s friend won his first-ever part in a movie called A Nightmare on Elm Street.
And thus, Johnny Depp started his long and (generally) successful Hollywood journey.
Thanks to a stream of successful movies he appeared in early in his career, Cage quickly
became a notable figure in Hollywood. Up to
the point where he wouldn’t agree to raise a finger for a movie unless his fee was anything
less than $20 million. In 2009 alone, he made $40 million and earned a spot in Forbes’
list of highest-paid actors.
When you can afford spending several million on a nice crib, you surely can afford to make
some eyebrow-raising quotes on talk shows. For instance, Cage caused quite a stir when
he revealed he only eats animals that mate in a “dignified” manner. Which means yes
to fish and fowl, but no to pigs. Now you know.
And so, life was peachy for Nic Cage. He spent money left and right. He owned a Gulfstream
jet. A flotilla of yachts. An entire 22-car park that included nine Rolls Royces. The
actor spent millions and millions of dollars on jewelry, artwork and exotic items. A collection
of shrunken pygmy heads? Sure, why not. A $450,000 Lamborghini previously owned by the
late shah of Iran? Sounds great. A fan of comic book superheroes, Cage named his second
son Kal-El, which is Superman’s birth name, and bought the first Superman comic for $150,000.
Then the comic was stolen. But Cage got it back and sold it for $2 million.
He even got himself a dinosaur skull for $276,000. Rumour has it that he outbid another Hollywood
A-lister, Leonardo DiCaprio, on that one. The skull, however, didn’t stay long in
Cage’s hands. “I bought it at a legitimate auction and
found out it was abducted from Mongolia illegally,” Cage explained in an interview, “and then
I had to give it back. Of course it should be awarded to its country of origin. But who
knew? Plus, I never got my money back. So that stank.”
Of course, Cage’s spending habits eventually drew the attention of the Internal Revenue
Service that sued him for unpaid federal taxes. Cage briefly engaged in a legal back-and-forth
with his business manager, accusing him of negligence, fraud and placing Cage in a risky
state by not paying taxes when they were due. The manager argued that he did warn the actor
not to spend money beyond his means. In 2012, Cage admitted to owing around $14 million
in tax payments. That is why he had to put some of his most expensive purchases back
on the market. In a 2018 interview, Cage let it slip that
he lived in Las Vegas because Nevada doesn’t have any state tax, which is really helpful.
Does he ever regret spending so much money on luxury goods?
“You have good investments and bad investments,” Cage says. “The good investments came from
personal interest and my honest enjoyment of the history.” And, speaking of personal
interests. Cage’s first wife, actress Patricia Arquette, may have sparked his obsession with
going on difficult and often expensive quests. Before she agreed to become his wife, Arquette
sent Cage on a scavenger hunt for a list of rare items, such as a wedding dress from a
specific tribe of Southeast Asia, a black orchid, and the autograph of famously reclusive
author JD Salinger. In a similar manner, Cage went on his “Holy Grail quest” to satisfy
his interest in mythology. The National Treasure-like adventure is like building a personal library,
Cage says. “You read a book, and in it there’s a reference to another book, and then you
buy that book, and then you attach the references. For me it was all about where was the grail?
Was it here? Was it there?” And, while on those expeditions, Cage started loading up
on real estate. We already know where this led him.
In the past decade, Cage gained a certain level of notoriety among fans and critics
for taking up very unconventional roles. From a certain point, his filmography starts to
look patchy. Is it because the actor readily accepts any jobs that come his way to earn
money? Well, yes, and no. According to Cage himself, money is a factor,
and he doesn’t shy away from this truth. Actually, the actor is pretty open about his
past financial disasters. “It’s no secret that mistakes have been
made in my past that I’ve had to try to correct. Financial mistakes happened with
the real estate implosion that occurred, in which the lion’s share of everything I had
earned was pretty much eradicated.” The eccentric 56-year-old actor also admits
that not all of the movies he’s been in are that good. What matters to him, aside
from the financial factor, is that he keeps himself busy. He says work makes him a better
man, brings structure in his life and prevents him from making mistakes in his personal life.
And, finally, Cage wants us moviegoers to be happy. “I still have to feel that, whether
or not the movie around me entirely works, I’ll be able to deliver something and be
fun to watch.”
At the end of the day, Nic Cage is just another human being who walks into a small local pub,
buys everyone drinks and happily agrees to take photos with fans. He is a guy who tries
to make the world a better place through charity. After all, he is known as one of the most
generous stars in Hollywood. He donated $2 million to help Amnesty International rehabilitate
children who were forced to fight in conflicts around the world. He has also donated $1 million
to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
You earn a million, you lose a million, that’s life!
Do you have your favourite Nicolas Cage movie or story? Do share in the comments section
below!