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How to Go Broke the Nic Cage Way

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CrankyJay

Banned
I figure GAF has a large enough Nic Cage hating contingent that they would enjoy this.

The link is SFW but most companies with WebSense etc will probably block it based on its url:

http://www.playboy.com/magazine/how-to-go-broke-celebrity-style

title-dek.jpg


Dare police to arrest you.

In April 2011, while in New Orleans filming his latest movie, Medallion, a “very drunk” Cage was witnessed screaming at, and allegedly assaulting, his wife, Alice. When police arrived on the scene, they told the couple to go home, to which Cage replied, “Why don’t you just arrest me?” The police repeated their suggestion. Cage then repeated his. Hours later, Cage was bailed out of jail by Dog the Bounty Hunter. Cage’s wife refused to press charges.


Destroy Your Career, Part 1:

Star in Season of the Witch, a movie that prompted one critic to ask, “Did either Cage or [director Dominic] Sena even bother reading Bragi F. Schut’s patchwork script before adjusting the wig, flicking on the camera and cashing the paychecks?” The $40 million medieval pic earned $10.6 million during its opening weekend and went on to gross a meager $24.8 million stateside.


Buy a Bel Air mansion for $6.5 million.

Take out six loans against it worth $18 million. Make sure to decorate the house in a manner alternately described as “frat house bordello” and “Gothic mausoleum,” only to watch it fall into foreclosure and sell at auction for $10.5 million.


Throw a Christmas party that guest Jay Leno will refer to as the greatest he’s ever attended.

Serve the finest shellfish from a buffet table carved out of ice. Have 10-foot-tall nutcracker men stationed by the front gate. Hire lighting professionals to showcase your collectible cars parked in the driveway. Pay a production crew to blow fake snow. Receive so many presents that you forget about the gifted pony, which is seen roaming your property the following morning. Cost: lost in the hangover haze.


Buy too many animals.

At one time or another Cage has owned purebred dogs, rare birds, lizards, saltwater sharks, an octopus and a pair of albino king cobras (along with the accompanying antidote serum). But why stick with living creatures? Taking it to the next level, he outbid Leonardo DiCaprio on a 67-million-year-old dinosaur skull at a 2007 auction. Cost: $276,000.


Buy a “natural work of art from outer space.”

Join the ranks of Steven Spielberg, Yo-Yo Ma and James Taylor and buy into the Macovich Collection, the greatest treasure trove of aesthetic iron meteorites the world has ever known. Select specimens carry a price tag of $100,000 or more.


Buy multiple castles.

In 2006 Cage purchased a 28-room 11th century castle situated on 395 acres in Etzelwang, Germany. He then sold it for roughly the purchase price of $2.3 million—after spending $4 million on improvements. Then he spent $7.8 million on 18th century Midford Castle in Bath, England, which he eventually unloaded for $5 million. Loss: $6.8 million.


Own a flotilla of yachts.

Cage has owned as many as four of them—one docked in each of the following locales: the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Newport Beach, California and Rhode Island. To help settle his debts he had to sell two of the vessels, including Sarita Si, a 130-foot Italian-built motor yacht capable of accommodating a dozen guests on its three decks.


Buy (and lose) more real estate—this time, two properties at once.

Cage picked up two vacant lots situated side by side and covering hundreds of acres in Malibu, California. Owing close to $9 million on the properties, he watched them go to auction for a minimum bid of $10 million. No buyers showed, so the bank took the land back. The same day, his Bel Air mansion went into foreclosure.


Buy and lose more homes, this time in New Orleans.

In 2005 Cage spent $3.45 million on a house in the Garden District that was once owned by novelist Anne Rice. Shortly thereafter he put down another $3.45 million on a French Quarter Creole mansion widely considered to be the most famous haunted house in the city. On the hook for $5.5 million in mortgage payments, not to mention $150,000 in property taxes, he lost both houses to foreclosure in fall 2009.

Collect shrunken heads.

Some people who’ve seen Cage’s collection say it consists only of animal heads, but others swear the heads appear to be human in origin. Either way, importing any type of shrunken head is not the world’s cheapest hobby.


Invest in comic books.

Cage has owned (and sold) millions of dollars’ worth of comic books—400 titles in all. But three of them—including the first Superman appearance (worth $1.5 million) and the first Batman appearance—were stolen. (The Superman comic was recovered 11 years later.)


Destroy Your Career, Part 2: Star in Bangkok Dangerous,

a remake of a classic Thai thriller. One critic described the film as “dimly lit, emotionally empty and devoid of thrills.… It’s never close to good, and it can’t even get bad right.” Opening during the slowest movie weekend in five years—”We lucked out,” noted the studio’s VP of distribution about the lack of competition—the film still lost $2.5 million at the box office.

Buy cars at a rate of one a month.

Cage has owned as many as 50 collectible cars, which necessitated the services of a full-time mechanic and a hangar at Santa Monica Airport. His fleet has included nine Rolls-Royces, a $500,000 Lamborghini Miura SVJ formerly owned by the shah of Iran, a 1955 Jaguar D-Type and a Bentley with custom cabinetry and a bar.

Spend $8.5 million on a 14,300-squarefoot Las Vegas estate equipped with a screening room, an elevator and a 16-car subterranean garage.
Watch it fall into foreclosure and sell for $4.95 million. Loss: $3.55 million.

Spend $15.7 million on a 12-bedroom, 27-acre Rhode Island estate complete with tennis court, billiard room, library, conservatory, fish pond and views of the Atlantic.
Put it on the market. Wait. Slash the price. Wait. Repeat. Finally sell it, in April 2011, for $6.2 million. Loss: $9.5 million.


Destroy Your Career, Part 3: Star in Ghost Rider.

While the superhero action picture is among Cage’s most profitable in years—grossing nearly $230 million world-wide and spawning a forthcoming sequel—it did significant damage to his rep with critics, one of whom said, “It’s fascinating to watch an actor who thinks he’s in a good film when he’s really in a bad one.”


Owe millions in back taxes and penalties.

Beginning in 2009 Cage found himself deeply in debt to the IRS, including having a $6.3 million lien placed on his real estate holdings for taxes owed from 2002 to 2004 and an additional lien of $6.7 million for unpaid 2008 taxes.


Already own a house in the Caribbean? Buy an island in the Caribbean.

In 2004 Cage purchased a luxurious house on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Two years later he picked up undeveloped 40-acre Leaf Cay island, complete with sandy beaches, tropical palms and a freshwater pond. Cost: $3 million.


Destroy Your Career, Part 4: Star in 8MM

a mere five years after winning your best actor Oscar. The psychological thriller provoked one critic to write, “Those foolhardy enough to place themselves at the mercy of 8MM can expect the following emotions: disgust and revulsion, then anger, followed by a profound and disheartening sadness.” The film earned $36 million domestically—on a $40 million budget.


If financial planning isn’t your forte, concentrate on the type of planning that makes sense in the long run.

Finally—very finally—purchase a nine-foot-tall pyramid-shaped tomb to serve as your eternal resting place, in a New Orleans cemetery. After all that spending, you’ve earned a nice long break.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
Dare police to arrest you.

In April 2011, while in New Orleans filming his latest movie, Medallion, a “very drunk” Cage was witnessed screaming at, and allegedly assaulting, his wife, Alice. When police arrived on the scene, they told the couple to go home, to which Cage replied, “Why don’t you just arrest me?” The police repeated their suggestion. Cage then repeated his. Hours later, Cage was bailed out of jail by Dog the Bounty Hunter. Cage’s wife refused to press charges.


PLEASE tell me there's an upcoming episode showing this?
 

Alx

Member
Well, most of that sound stupid, but at least he's done in one lifetime more crazy things than most people would even dream of. So, good for him, I suppose...
 

dave is ok

aztek is ok
Dead Man said:
Meh, bastard is not broke, he probably just has no cash. If he still has all that property he is good to go.
Depends when he bought the property. If he bought pre-2008, he's likely taking a loss on all of it
 

Juicy Bob

Member
I think it's a bad reflection on modern society that actors are paid such ridiculous sums of money for their jobs in the first place.
 

orion434

Member
It doesn't help either that several of is high-priced comics were sold unknown to him as re-touched, which makes them near worthless.
 

Xyrmellon

Member
I know it gets posted every time he gets mentioned, but brilliant nonetheless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1-oquwoL8

Btw, many critics may have hated 8mm, but I don't think it was that bad. People were uncomfortable with it's subject matter, for sure. It was also one of those films that got a bigger following on video.
 
Juicy Bob said:
I think it's a bad reflection on modern society that actors are paid such ridiculous sums of money for their jobs in the first place.

They are paid a ridiculous amount of money because the studios make a ridiculous amount of money which is due to willing audiences paying a ridiculous amount of money. The actors deserve their cut of the very big pie.

I guess you could blame that on modern societies priorities being out of wack but people seem to like the status quo. There are a great many things we pay for that make people rich beyond your wildest dreams.
 

FINE-LINE

Neo Member
I'm not a fan of Cage or any of his movies (Raising Arazona is ...passable) but total disregard for everything is awesome. Wife beating is not cool tho.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Wife beating aside (if he even did that?), it honestly sounds like he had more fun with his money than probably... anyone in recent history?

A lot of the stuff he did doesn't seem like a terrible financial move either. How are you supposed to know than an expensive property you got is not going to sell for as much or more a few years down the line? It's kind of unpredictable, but I thought property investment in general is a good idea, not terrible like this is describing it?
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Xyrmellon said:
I know it gets posted every time he gets mentioned, but brilliant nonetheless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1-oquwoL8

Btw, many critics may have hated 8mm, but I don't think it was that bad. People were uncomfortable with it's subject matter, for sure. It was also one of those films that got a bigger following on video.
Indeed. 8mm wasn't a bad movie in the slightest. Some critics were just repulsed by the subjet and/or were out for blood like the featured maniacs, and that's all. I'm still surprised by the hate it gets.
 
Dead Man said:
Meh, bastard is not broke, he probably just has no cash. If he still has all that property he is good to go.
If you got no money and you can't pay for the property upkeep then you gotta sell it, and because you're desperate, you will sell it for a loss, like the OP has shown Nic to do numerous times now.
I'm sure he COULD sell at a loss and still have enough money to live a modest life, but, I see no evidence of that being a remote possibility.

I liked 8mm, thought, after all the effort to be different, it kinda turned little too been-there-done-that by the end, but I enjoyed it.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Fuck that noise, 8MM is an incredible film. very dense in nature, but rewarding if you look past the outer layer.
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
Xyrmellon said:
I know it gets posted every time he gets mentioned, but brilliant nonetheless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1-oquwoL8
Still one of the best YouTube videos around. Always loved Nicolas Cage and when he loses his shit, I lose it. Vampire's Kiss and Deadfall are absolute b-grade comedy gems. Easily the best shit to put on when you're feeling a little down and having a drink.
 
Ive never been able to tolerate Cage and it fucking amazes me he still gets work considering 90% of the movies hes made this century have been shit. I can tolerate him in four movies and its really only because hes got a great supporting cast:

1. Leaving Las Vegas, carried by the beauty of Shue
2. the Rock -carried by Connery, Biehn and Harris
3. Con Air - carried by Cusack, Malkovich, the angry Brit guy from L4yer Cake, Marcellus Wallace and Chappelle
4. Raising Arizona - carried by Goodman and the Cohens
 
edit: he was actually damn good in Vegas. Thats the only movie I really liked him in and it scared me shitless of alcoholism.


I AM A PRICKLY PEAR!
 

T.M. MacReady

NO ONE DENIES MEMBER
JumpingTheGun said:
3. Con Air - carried by Cusack, Malkovich, the angry Brit guy from L4yer Cake, Marcellus Wallace and Chappelle

Lol, Cusak was godawful in that movie and only slowed it down every time he was on screen, he did not "carry" any part of that movie. Malkovich did, I'll give you that, but not Cusak or any of the bit players you named in addition.


And you don't win a Best Actor Oscar because of Elizabeth Shue's beauty. Troll Cage all you want, but don't hate on the few good films he's been in.
EDIT: just read your followup post, nevermind.


Saying anything bad about The Rock is just insane. he was excellent in that role, even if it was a little ridiculous. He and Connery were an excellent on screen duo, no one denies this.
 
yeah me too, as well as the scene that accompanies it shortly thereafter where he dumps the booze all over Shue's tatties and proceeds to indulge himself.
 

kottila

Member
JumpingTheGun said:
Ive never been able to tolerate Cage and it fucking amazes me he still gets work considering 90% of the movies hes made this century have been shit. I can tolerate him in four movies and its really only because hes got a great supporting cast:

1. Leaving Las Vegas, carried by the beauty of Shue
2. the Rock -carried by Connery, Biehn and Harris
3. Con Air - carried by Cusack, Malkovich, the angry Brit guy from L4yer Cake, Marcellus Wallace and Chappelle
4. Raising Arizona - carried by Goodman and the Cohens

+ ADAPTATION and kick ass. The national treasure movies were ok adventure movies as well (better than indy 4)
 
Lol, Cusak was godawful in that movie and only slowed it down every time he was on screen, he did not "carry" any part of that movie. Malkovich did, I'll give you that, but not Cusak or any of the bit players you named in addition.


And you don't win a Best Actor Oscar because of Elizabeth Shue's beauty. Troll Cage all you want, but don't hate on the few good films he's been in.
EDIT: just read your followup post, nevermind.


Saying anything bad about The Rock is just insane. he was excellent in that role, even if it was a little ridiculous. He and Connery were an excellent on screen duo, no one denies this.


put the bunny back in the box
 

Sol..

I am Wayne Brady.
i bet you when he said "why don't you arrest me?" it hurled the cop into a variety of confusing emotions ending with him in tears.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Xyrmellon said:
Btw, many critics may have hated 8mm, but I don't think it was that bad. People were uncomfortable with it's subject matter, for sure. It was also one of those films that got a bigger following on video.

I'm a fan.

kottila said:
+ ADAPTATION and kick ass. The national treasure movies were ok adventure movies as well (better than indy 4)

Adaptation owes far more to its Kaufman-helmed script than it does Cage.
 
I totally forgot he was in Kick-Ass. That wasnt too bad of a role for him but I think its only because he got, what, 30 minutes total screen time?
 

andycapps

Member
So he basically just keeps buying houses and losing them, then he has to keep being in any movie that will have him so that he can keep up this lifestyle.
 

Maxim726X

Member
JumpingTheGun said:
edit: he was actually damn good in Vegas. Thats the only movie I really liked him in and it scared me shitless of alcoholism.


I AM A PRICKLY PEAR!

Yep. Love that movie.

Too bad the highlight of his career coincided with the beginning of his career, eh?
 
Dead Man said:
Meh, bastard is not broke, he probably just has no cash. If he still has all that property he is good to go.

More like he still has lots of income.. they are exaggerating his "Failed Career."

It's not like HE pays for the flops.

But the article portrays his "property ownership" mostly as huge debts or losses.. it's unclear whether he actually has a lot of value in those properties, or if he'll ever get anything out of the value.

It's likely just a massive amount of debt he owes, not actually anything he "owns."
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Buy too many animals.

At one time or another Cage has owned purebred dogs, rare birds, lizards, saltwater sharks, an octopus and a pair of albino king cobras (along with the accompanying antidote serum). But why stick with living creatures? Taking it to the next level, he outbid Leonardo DiCaprio on a 67-million-year-old dinosaur skull at a 2007 auction. Cost: $276,000.

OK, this is really out of place here.

Edit: And I also liked "Knowing." Underrated movie.
 

Captain Pants

Killed by a goddamned Dredgeling
wenis said:
Fuck that noise, 8MM is an incredible film. very dense in nature, but rewarding if you look past the outer layer.

Agreed. That movie was intense. I need to watch it again.
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
I'm probably far too financially responsible to ever understand how people do this, but if I ever made millions of dollars, I would put 90% of it in a savings account with decent interest, and live off the interest for the rest of my life. If that means I only earn $50k a year for the rest of my life, but I can write books for free, then I would do it.

If the interest wasn't high enough, I'd work and supplement my pay with the interest from the millions of dollars.

The millions I would only actually touch in retirement, or I would bequeath it to my children.
 
I remember the only thing grabbing my interest about 8MM when I young was the fact that the guy who wrote it, Andrew Kevin Walker, also wrote Se7en, so I figured it HAD to be good. I dont remember much of 8MM except for that end scene with the record player playing nothing but static and Cage is wandering down that hallway. Great scene. Disliked the rest of the film.
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
The man is financially irresponsible, but it's hard to hate a guy who had a gigantic comic book collection.

I say I'd save all the money, but I'd still spend serious money on my video game collection.
 

verbum

Member
Matchstick Men was another good Cage film, Ridley Scott as director had a lot to do with it being good but Cage gave a good performance.

I imagine Cage is an alcoholic or addict. His life lately has been the definition of "acting impulsively".
 
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