Nicolas Cage is in new phase of life. In a recent interview with GQ, the 58-year-old actor shares how the impending birth of his third child has led to quieter days.
Cage is already dad to 31-year-old Weston Cage and 16-year-old Kal-El Cage from previous relationships, and his 27-year-old wife, Riko Shibata, is now expecting her first child, his third. Cage says they already have the names picked out, which are inspired by his late father, August Coppola, and his uncle, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. The couple like the names Akira Francesco for a boy and Lennon Augie for a girl.
“Augie was my father's nickname,” Cage tells the magazine, "And my uncle has decided to change his name to Francesco."
As for becoming a father of three, Cage is thrilled. "It's like a little edamame. A little bean,” he says of the baby’s ultrasound.
The Oscar winner isn’t just excited about the notion of fatherhood but being in love in general. Cage and Shibata got married during a ceremony in Las Vegas in 2021. For Cage, who has been married five times, he says Shibata is his forever person.
“I am a romantic, and when I'm in love, I want to give that person everything I can,” he says. “It's my expression of saying, ‘I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’ And this is it for me."
He adds of ever remarrying, “I mean, this is not happening again. This is it. This is it.”
Nicolas Cage and wife Riko Shibata
In his career, Cage has had his ups and downs. In the early years, he racked up millions of dollars doing high-budget films. However, after a period of purchasing various houses and ultimately owing the IRS $14 million, there was a time in his career when he just took any role. He went on to make 46 movies to help pay off his debts, a decision he says affected him in the long run.
“The phone stopped ringing,” he shares. “It was like, ‘What do you mean we're not doing National Treasure 3? It's been 14 years. Why not?’”
He adds, “Well, Sorcerer's Apprentice didn't work, and Ghost Rider didn't really sell tickets. And Drive Angry, that just came and went.’”
Cage, who was mourning the loss of his father and paying for his mother’s mental health treatment at the time, believes that taking those movies was a better choice than filing for bankruptcy.
“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,” he says. “They didn't work, all of them. Some of them were terrific, like Mandy, but some of them didn't 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.”
Today, Cage is debt free and no longer needs to do any and every role offered to him.
“I'm just going to focus on being extremely selective, as selective as I can be,” he tells GQ. “I would like to make every movie as if it were my last.”
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