It's no secret big Hollywood studios like a sure bet, and there's no shortage of predictable movies to prove it. Which is probably why Nicolas Cage left Los Angeles for Las Vegas a long time ago. At 59, the Academy Award winner owns one of the most eclectic lists of film credits in the business. He's been at it for more than 40 years - pivoting from leading man to action-hero to a slew of lesser features and back again. But we learned, behind that kaleidoscope of characters is a unique imagination and an encyclopedic knowledge of film… that seems to motivate everything Nicolas Cage does… his work, his life, and even this. 这不是好莱坞大制片厂的秘密，也不乏可预测的电影来证明这一点。这可能就是尼古拉斯·凯奇很久以前离开洛杉矶去拉斯维加斯的原因。这位59岁的奥斯卡奖得主拥有业内最多元化的电影演职名单之一。他从影40多年，从男主角到动作英雄，再到一大堆小角色，然后再回来。但我们了解到，在这些千变万化的角色背后是独特的想象力和渊博的电影知识，这似乎是尼古拉斯·凯奇所做的一切的动力
Cage's brand-new gold Lamborghini – a tribute to a beloved 1968 film directed by Federico Fellini… featuring this gilded ferrari.
凯奇崭新的金色兰博基尼——向费德里科·费里尼1968年执导的一部受人喜爱的电影致敬……
Nicolas Cage: It was a crazy beautiful Fellini movie, and it inspired me. So when I saw this. I said, "That's the car." It's not a Ferrari, which would be great. But they don't really have any gold Ferraris.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Have you driven this out here beyond the gates?
Nicolas Cage: Oh yeah.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Yeah?
Nicolas Cage: It's fun.
Sharyn Alfonsi: It's fun.
Nicolas Cage: Snap, crackle, pop, right?
By any measure, Nicolas Cage is not slowing down. He's revamping the role of Dracula in a movie out now called "Renfield" - and has another five movies coming up. We met Nicolas Cage at the home he shares with his wife and young daughter in Las Vegas. It is exactly what you might imagine Nicolas Cage's home in Las Vegas would be. Part Goth-cathedral, part avant-garde gallery. There's an African crow in the living room, a cat that could scare off a burglar, and this…
无论以何种标准衡量，尼古拉斯·凯奇都没有放慢脚步。他在一部名为《伦菲尔德》的电影中重新塑造了德古拉这个角色，另外还有五部电影即将上映。我们在尼古拉斯·凯奇与妻子和小女儿在拉斯维加斯的家中见到了他。这正是你想象中尼古拉斯·凯奇在拉斯维加斯的家的样子。部分哥特式大教堂，部分前卫画廊。客厅里有一只非洲乌鸦，一只能吓跑窃贼的猫，还有这个……
Sharyn Alfonsi: Oh my gosh.
Nicolas Cage: This is my black dragon. It's a monitor lizard. He'll get to be about 6 feet long. He's like having a real dinosaur in your house. It's kind of amazing. And he's alive. 这是我的黑龙。这是一只巨蜥。他大概有6英尺长。他就像在你家里养了一只真正的恐龙。这有点神奇。他还活着。
That kind of imagination is in his DNA. Nicolas Kim Coppola was born on the fringe of cinema royalty. His uncle is director Francis Ford Coppola. He told us his mother Joy, a choreographer, suffered from severe mental illness and was institutionalized for much of his childhood. He and his two brothers were raised by his father, August, a literature professor… who introduced him to the masterworks of Italian and German filmmakers igniting his love of cinema. As a teengager, he worked at a movie theater and says he was mesmerized by the big screen. 他天生就有这种想象力。尼古拉斯·金·科波拉出生在电影皇室的边缘。他的叔叔是导演弗朗西斯·福特·科波拉。他告诉我们，他的母亲乔伊是一位编舞家，患有严重的精神疾病，在他童年的大部分时间里都住在精神病院。他和他的两个兄弟是由他的父亲奥古斯特抚养长大的，奥古斯特是一位文学教授，他向他介绍了意大利和德国电影制片人的杰作，点燃了他对电影的热爱。十几岁的时候，他在一家电影院工作，他说他被大屏幕迷住了。
Sharyn Alfonsi: Was it about being a movie star, or was it about escaping into something else?
Nicolas Cage: No. It was about wanting to be James Dean in, in "Rebel Without a Cause" and wearing that red jacket. Wanting to be John in "Saturday Night Fever." I came outta the cinema electrified. I was like, yeah, wanting to go there.
And after seeing James Dean in "East of Eden," he did.
Nicolas Cage: It was more meaningful to me than anything else I experienced. Music, you know, Beethoven, Beatles, painting. What I saw in that moment made me realize the power, the excitement of what you can convey through film performance. Film performance.
He's been in pursuit of that feeling for most of his life. Inhabiting characters of every stripe… a baby-snatching ex-con… a Brooklyn baker… an alcoholic screenwriter… a treasure hunter and even himself. 他一生中大部分时间都在追求那种感觉。里面有各种各样的角色，一个绑架婴儿的前罪犯，一个布鲁克林的面包师，一个酗酒的编剧，一个寻宝者，甚至还有他自己。
Cage's first feature role came in 1982's "Fast times at Ridgemont High." The 17-year-old blends into the background, but his Coppola name did not. His uncle directed "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now." Sick of being hazed about it on set, he changed his name inspired by a Marvel superhero with unbreakable skin.
Nicolas Cage: When people think of Nicolas Cage, I wanted it to have, like, a punk rock energy at that time. I wanted it to be unpredictable. You don't know what you're gonna get. I wanted it to be exciting and a little scary. 当人们想到尼古拉斯·凯奇的时候，我希望它有一种朋克摇滚的能量。我希望它是不可预测的。你不知道你会得到什么。我想让它既刺激又有点吓人。
It has been. After more than 100 movies, Nicolas Cage is almost his own genre. 演了100多部电影后，尼古拉斯·凯奇几乎形成了自己的风格
He told us when he read the script for "Peggy Sue Got Married," he worried it was going to be too much like the play "Our Town"... which he hated.
Nicolas Cage: I grew up watching "Gumby" and listening to Pokey. And I thought, "Well, that would be a good voice for a character, especially in this movie." And so I thought, "If I do that, that won't be boring. That'll be like, what the hell is he doing?"
Sharyn Alfonsi: And Kathleen Turner said like, "What the hell is he doing?"
Nicolas Cage: I think I frustrated her with the performance, but I adored her. 我想我的表演让她很失望，但我很崇拜她。
Sharyn Alfonsi: Did she ever say like, "Knock it off?" 停止！
Nicolas Cage: Oh yeah.
But Cage would draw from odd places again 再次从奇怪的地方汲取灵感, in the Coen brothers' "Raising Arizona."
Sharyn Alfonsi: How did you envision that role? 你是如何设想这个角色的?
Nicolas Cage: H. I. McDunnough was like that Thrush muffler symbol, the Woody Woodpecker with the cigar. I saw him with, like, the red hair sticking up. Like a "Looney Tunes" character come to life, again.
Sharyn Alfonsi: I wanna ask you about one scene in that movie. You're having a mug shot taken. And you turn. And as you're walking away, you slap your ass.
Nicolas Cage: I had it all thought out. "Giddy-up," you know? Like, he's getting himself up outta the mug shot.
Cage's catalog of inspiration extends from cartoons to the haunting German films he watched as a child. 凯奇的灵感来源从卡通片延伸到他小时候看过的令人难忘的德国电影。
Sharyn Alfonsi: You've been influenced by German expressionists. What does that look like?
Nicolas Cage: Well, what it is is specifically movies like Cabinet of "Dr. Caligari," or "Nosferatu," or "Metropolis." The mad scientist shows the robot hand, and it goes like that. You know, it's just, like, a large, expressionistic acting. So I put that into "Moonstruck," "I lost my hand," that's exactly a direct steal.
Thirty five years on, Ronny Cammareri, the operatic, one-handed baker in the romantic comedy "Moonstruck" remains one of his most memorable roles. But Cage says it was a small movie called "Leaving Las Vegas," that was the answer to his prayers.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What did you think when you first read that script?
Nicolas Cage: That was the feeling that I had with "East of Eden" and James Dean. This is the kinda movie I really wanna make, a heartbreaking drama about two wounded people who somehow have this true love.
Sharyn Alfonsi: How did you figure out how to play that role?
Nicolas Cage: Well, I looked at a lotta great movies. I looked at Kris Kristofferson in "A Star is Born." From him I got that feeling of he was always smiling. In my view, the only thing sadder than a person who's in a sad situation and knows it, is a person who's in a sad situation and doesn't know it.
Nicolas Cage: I was sayin' to myself, literally, "I'm never gonna win the Academy Award, so let's just do this anyway because nobody wanted to make it."
Sharyn Alfonsi: At the Oscars, you announce on stage you love the idea of blurring the line between art and commerce 模糊了艺术和商业之间的界限 by making this small film. And then you start doing these big action films.
Nicolas Cage: Yeah, that was about staying unpredictable. And trying something new again. But at the time when I did it, I think it pissed a lotta people off, you know? It was like, "Well, that's, you're an actor's actor. You're not supposed to be doing adventure films."
But he did. "The Rock," with Sean Connery, a prison-break movie, "Con Air," the "National Treasure" franchise and "Face/Off," where Cage's character literally swaps faces with John Travolta. An absurd idea that delivered big box office returns and helped catapult Cage into the category of Hollywood's highest paid actors.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Where's your head at when that starts happening?
Nicolas Cage: "Oh, great. Now I can make another 'Leaving Las Vegas.' Let's keep doin' it. Let's keep mixin' it up. Let's keep challenging ourselves."
But Cage ended up facing a different kind of challenge. We wanted to ask him about reports that he blew through his fortune buying exotic cars, mansions around the globe, even a dinosaur skull… but his African crow, Huginn objected to the line of questioning.
Nicolas Cage: Hi, Huginn.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Right on cue
Nicolas Cage: Nice to hear you're talking again. I know everyone in the house kind of freaked you out.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The houses, right? Castles in Germany, in England, an island, a mansion in New Orleans. What's that about?
Nicolas Cage: I was over-invested in real estate. It wasn't because I spent $80 on an octopus. The real estate market crashed, and I couldn't get out in time. 我在房地产上投资过度了。房地产市场崩溃了，我没能及时脱身。
Sharyn Alfonsi: How much money did you end up owing to the IRS and to your creditors?
Nicolas Cage: I paid them all back, but it was about $6 million. I never filed for bankruptcy. 我把钱都还了，不过大概是六百万。我从未申请过破产。
He moved to tax-free Las Vegas. Dug in and worked non-stop - making three to four movies a year. 他搬到了免税的拉斯维加斯。埋头苦干，不停地工作——一年拍三到四部电影。
Sharyn Alfonsi: That had to be a dark period for you. 那一定是你的黑暗时期。
Nicolas Cage: It was dark. Sure.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Did the work help you get through--
Nicolas Cage: No doubt, work. Work was always my guardian angel. 毫无疑问，是工作。工作一直是我的守护天使
It may not have been blue chip, but it was still work. 它可能不是蓝筹股，但它仍然有效。
Sharyn Alfonsi: When somebody suggests during that period of time when these critics say like, "Ugh, he's just here for a paycheck and he's phoning it in." “啊，他只是来领薪水的，他只是在敷衍了事
Nicolas Cage: Even if the movie ultimately is crummy 低劣的 , they know I'm not phoning it in 敷衍 , that I care every time. But there are those folks that are probably thinking that the only good acting that I can do is the acting that I chose to do by design, which was more operatic 但有些人可能会认为，我唯一能做的好表演就是我精心设计的表演，这种表演更具有歌剧性and, you know, larger than life and so-called 'Cage rage,' and all that. But you're not gonna get that every time.
But part of the appeal is the 'Cage rage,' a moniker his fans have for his out-sized, some say, over the top moments on film.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You go for it. I've heard you described it as, like, going for the triple axel every time. And sometimes you land it, and sometimes you don't.
Nicolas Cage: Well, not every time. But there are things that I do wanna go for at sometimes that I have a vision for, and I, and I do.
Like his 2021 performance as a heartbroken chef in the movie "Pig."
Nicolas Cage: When I played Rob in "Pig," I felt I entered the room. I felt that I was closer to me than maybe I've ever been before in film performance.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What do you mean, closer to you?
Nicolas Cage: That I wasn't acting. I felt that I was doing exactly what I care about. I think it's probably my best movie, and I think I'll put that up against "Leaving Las Vegas" or anything else.
Nicolas Cage demonstrates how he wanted to show his teeth while acting in "Renfield."
That would include his turn as Dracula in his latest movie "Renfield." Cage met us at a favorite hangout on the strip to talk about the count.
Nicolas Cage: Dracula is daunting because it's a legacy. Dracula is a character that has been done well many times. He's also a character that has been done poorly many times. But for me, I think Christopher Lee, he was my Dracula. 德古拉令人生畏，因为它是一个遗产。德古拉这个角色已经被演得很好了。他也是一个演得很烂的角色。但对我来说，克里斯托弗·李，他就是我的德古拉。He made Dracula scary, you know. We had a happy marriage in terms of I could bring where I wanted to go, like, into the camera with the teeths-- almost like the shark in "Jaws," like arah!
Sharyn Alfonsi: You seem like a guy who's all in all the time. You don't do anything halfway. 你看起来就像一个一直全身心投入的人。你不会半途而废。
Nicolas Cage: Very insightful, Sharyn. Very, very insightful.
