Nicolas Cage Quotes

Hollywood didn't know if I was an actor or a nut or if I was this crazy character I was playing. I had developed an image of being a little bit unusual, different and wild.

My father was always getting excited about something. It's genetically inside me somewhere.

I try to do as many stunts as they'll let me do. I think it's important for an audience to feel that the actor's really doing it.

I would like to hook up with one of the great Japanese filmmakers, like the master that made Ringu, and I would like to take 'The Wicker Man' to Japan, except this time he's a ghost.

I'm the first to admit that I like going to, or my memories at least of going to Clint Eastwood movies or Charles Bronson or James Bond.

I do enjoy animated movies. I really love anime and movies like 'Spirited Away' and 'Howl's Moving Castle.'

I always add a year to myself, so I'm prepared for my next birthday. So when I was 39, I was already 40.

We've become so glorified in the movie-star system that it's become this artificial royalty. The truth is that we're circus clowns.

My mother was a dancer, so I like to use the body as part of the instrument of acting.

One of the great bonuses of being a film actor is that I get to go to different places, meet inspiring people and learn different things. So all those details add up.

The end of the world is on people's minds. We have the power to destroy or save ourselves, but the question is what do you do with that responsibility.

Don't lose the best thing in your life just because you are not sure.

Peter Fonda is the reason I became a motorcyclist. I saw Easy Rider and I bought a motorcycle the next day, and I rode it all the way from LA to San Francisco.

I like to work with young people, because young people haven’t had their dreams kicked out of them yet. Full of confidence, and imagination, and vision, and when they score that all gets empowered.

Most of my favourite moments in film have been when I've had an opportunity to say something from scratch, something original, whether I jotted down a few lines or it came out in improvisation.

I never studied dance, but if you look at 'Wild At Heart,' my mother saw that movie and said, 'You are a dancer. Look at how you're moving: all that strange energy is like modern dance.'

At a young age, I was interested in comic books, which was really how I learnt to read. The name Cage came from a comic book character called Power Man.

It's amazing marrying someone who wants nothing to do with Hollywood.

I try to make two movies a year. To me, that's not too much. On top of that, I like to work.

I may be alone in this, but I do sense the power of film, in that movies have the ability to literally change people's minds. That's pretty powerful stuff when you consider that.

Science fiction is a way that I can go into the abstract, go into the imagination, and audiences are still willing to go along for the ride.

I think I jump around more when I'm alone.

My definition of a father is someone who empowers their children.

You can't make your choices based on what critics think. You have to make your choices based on what's honest for you.

I don't drink blood, and last time I looked in the mirror, I had a reflection.

Shock is still fun. I won't ever shut the door on it.

I'm sticking my tongue out in scenes to try to make that work in 3D. I'm thinking I'll try to get my tongue all the way out to the second row of the audience.

I want to always find new ways of reinventing myself.

You aren't a true internationalist until you've supplied weapons to kill your own countrymen.

One of the pluses of getting older is you set some limits.

Tattoos to me are the outward symbol of the inward change within my soul.

I believe that there's a way to question authority with manners, with dignity. There's no reason to be rude about it.

I needed to change my name just to liberate myself and find out I could do it without walking into a Hollywood casting office with the name Coppola.

I always see America as really belonging to the Native Americans. Even though I'm American, I still feel like a visitor in my own country.

I think anything that opens my mind and triggers my imagination I'm reading. I like to read science fiction and imagine the character. Anything that keeps my imagination flowing.

My best takes are my first two takes.

It's always exciting when you can go into a mode where you can be both spontaneous and choreographed. Sort of in control and out of control at the same time.

I don't think movies are the reason why this violence exists, I think it's going to happen whether movies are there or not.

Nobody wants to watch perfection.

Everything we do impacts someone else's life.

One of the first signs of being depressed is that you lose interest in things. That's why I think it is important to stay passionate.

I think the paparazzi might have chased me out of Los Angeles.

Picasso said art is a lie that tells the truth. What if you just want to tell the truth and not lie about it?

I'm not a trained actor. I'm someone who is autodidactic and learned on my own.

I try not to be proud. I try to actively attack pride.

I've always maintained that I see myself as a student. There's always something to learn and be challenged by and hopefully grow from.

I've been lucky to work with some of the most creative people and it's true that I enjoy filmmaking and I'm an enthusiast.

When I won the Oscar, I made a point of actively going against that and doing adventure films like 'Con Air' and 'Gone in 60 Seconds,' not what would be expected.

I will promise you that if I can give you two good scenes -- which is what I always try to do in every movie -- then I feel like I'm doing my job.

When I act, I hear it like music. In my head, I hear the dialogue like music.