Having spent almost 150 million USD, the actor “swallowed his tears” and accepted a “terrible role” to pay off his debt

American actor Nicolas Cage was once a famous film talent in Hollywood. He admitted that he had to accept bad roles to get out of debt and avoid bankruptcy.

The acting career of Nicolas Cage (59 years old) has long been quiet. The poor quality film projects that Cage accepted to participate in made many fans feel shocked because those projects were not worthy of an actor as highly rated as Cage.

In his acting career, Nicolas Cage won the Oscar for Best Male Lead for his role in Leaving Las Vegas (1995). Cage received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his role in the film Adaptation (2002).

Cage is also known for films such as The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000). However, the actor also agreed to appear in poor quality film projects, making fans “bewildered”.

Recently, in an interview, Nicolas Cage officially spoke out about this. Cage’s career began to decline after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

“I invested too much in the real estate sector. At that time, this sector was heavily affected by the crisis and became devastated. At one point, I myself suddenly fell into debt. I remember there was a time when I owed $6 million,” Cage shared in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes program (USA).

After falling into debt, Cage accepted almost all the acting offers sent his way. Although the actor clearly knew that there were many films of poor quality right from the script stage, Cage still accepted the offer to act. There were times when Cage accepted to star in several such films a year just to quickly have money to pay off his debts.

At a time when economic pressure weighed heavily on his life, Cage found his life quite dark and gloomy. It is the movies that are considered “bad” that help the actor gradually get out of debt and not have to declare bankruptcy.

“Without a doubt, acting has been the guardian angel of my life. Even though there are movies that make me criticized, those movies still have value in my own life,” Cage said.

After falling into debt, Cage accepted almost all the acting invitations sent to him (Photo: New York Post).

Some movies that made Cage criticized a lot include The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010), Outcast (2014), Left Behind (2014). The actor admitted that his failed investment in real estate caused him to destroy all his assets, have no savings, and even go into debt. This caused Cage to suddenly be strongly influenced by money problems.

There were times when Cage thought he had hit bottom and had only one option left: to declare bankruptcy, but then he decided to continue acting in film projects that were considered low quality.

However, there comes a point where Cage’s easygoing nature no longer works. Acting invitations are gradually decreasing because Cage’s reputation is no longer what it used to be, and even “instant noodle” film projects no longer invite Cage. At this time, Cage had to find a way to pay off debt, pay taxes and also have to spend a lot of money because his biological mother had mental health problems .

Cage didn’t want to put his mother in a hospital for treatment, but quality outpatient treatment services for patients with mental health problems cost Cage up to $20,000 a month. He fell into a situation where he did not have enough money to spend. After that, Cage had to sell some real estate at a loss to have money to pay the bills.

Looking back at the bad films he has acted in, Cage has a respectful view: “When I made up to 4 films a year, working continuously without a break between projects, I was always trying to find something meaningful.” It means that I can make an effort with the project I accept to participate in.”

Nicolas Cage with his current wife – Ms. Riko Shibata (Photo: Page Six).

Nicolas Cage is in his 5th marriage with girlfriend Riko Shibata (28 years old). The two got married in 2021 and have a daughter together.

Previously, Cage was married to actress Patricia Arquette (from 1995 to 2001), singer Lisa Marie Presley (from 2002 to 2004) and Alice Kim (from 2004 to 2016). His second marriage to singer Lisa Marie Presley lasted only 107 days.

Cage’s fourth marriage with makeup artist Erika Koike was Cage’s shortest marriage. The actor filed for divorce after only… 4 days of marriage. The reason for the annulment of the marriage at that time was given by Nicolas Cage because he was too… drunk when performing the marriage procedure, so he was not really aware of what he was doing.

Nicolas Cage was once known as one of the actors who made a lot of money in the film capital of Hollywood. Cage once had a fortune of up to $150 million, but then he quickly collapsed his entire fortune because of real estate investments and wasteful spending.

From spending millions of dollars on uninhabitable villas, to collecting… dinosaur skulls and many other strange items, Cage quickly made his fortune “fly away”. After a period of being in debt and at risk of bankruptcy, it is now estimated that Cage has assets of about $25 million.