Nicolas Cage explains and defends why he took all the B-movie roles

Nicolas Cage was for many years a kind of standing joke in Hollywood, as he went from superstar in some of the most high-profile films to taking on a myriad of roles over a number of years in smaller B-movies, almost all of which were criticised in various reviews.

Even then, it was known from a number of sources that Cage had accumulated debt, which he then paid off with just the earnings from these many film roles, but now we have the whole story. In an honest interview with GQ, Cage says that there is actually a big misunderstanding around that period in his life.

"When I was doing four movies a year, back to back to back, I still had to find something in them to be able to give it my all. They did not work, all of them. Some of them were terrific, like Mandy, but some of them did not work. But I never phoned it in. So if there was a misconception, it was that. That I was just doing it and not caring. I was caring. "

Cage confirms in the interview that he blew through his fortune of $150 million, and ended up owing the tax authorities over $14 million, and various creditors a further many millions. At the same time, there were many of his films that just did not perform:

"The phone stopped ringing. It was like, 'What do you mean we're not doing National Treasure 3? It's been 14 years. Why not?" Well, Sorcerer's Apprentice did not work, and Ghost Rider did not really sell tickets. And Drive Angry, that just came and went.'"

Not only that, Cage has also taken care of his elderly mother, but despite this about a year and a half ago he became officially debt-free, and considers the role a fiction-based version of himself in the well-reviewed The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent as a kind of "full circle".