Nicolas Cage admitted that throughout his career he has always avoided being ‘trapped’ into playing the same type of role.
During a recent conversation with People at the Spider Noir premiere in New York City, the 62-year-old Oscar winner discussed whether he prefers to play heroes or villains.
When asked which roles he prefers, he told the magazine, “Villain? I’ve played a lot of villains. I love both. I think they’re both important parts of cinema. I wouldn’t want to get caught up in one thing.”
Cage also revealed that he once spoke with director Sam Raimi in the early 2000s about the possible role of the “Green Goblin”. Spider-Man films, but he chose to make the 2002 film Amendment instead of.
“I decided to make another film, a much smaller kind of noir, more romantic than tragic noir,” he explained. “But I remember saying to Sam, ‘I hope whoever you cast [as Spider-Man] really embraces the arachnid’s body language, at least for a moment. When he’s alone in his apartment, he crawls on the ceiling or something.’”
The role of “Green Goblin” ultimately went to Willem Dafoe, while Tobey Maguire played Spider-Man. Cage was later nominated for an Oscar Amendment and later won an Academy Award for it Leaving Las Vegas.
Over the years, Cage played many villain roles, including Marvel Ghost rider, Long legs And The unbearable weight of enormous talent.
In the coming Spider NoirCage plays Ben Reilly, a private detective in 1930s New York with spider-like abilities. Cage revealed that he wanted to “combine some of my favorite old-style actors” for the character, [James] Cagney, [Humphrey] Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and collide them with Stan Lee’s masterpiece, Spider-Man, and create something new.’”
In another interview he described the character as “70 percent Bogart and 30 percent Bugs Bunny.”
Spider Noir premieres in its entirety on MGM+ on May 25 and on Prime Video on May 27.
