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Nicolas Cage at the premiere of "The Life of David Gale" held at the Universal Citywalk Cinemas in Universal City, Calif. on February 18, 2003. |
In the Columbia Pictures film Ghost Rider, based on the Marvel comic series, superstar motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) sells his soul to Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) to protect the ones he loves most -- his father and his childhood sweetheart, Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes). Now, years later, the Devil has come for his due, offering to release Johnny’s soul if he becomes the fabled, fiery Ghost Rider, a supernatural agent of vengeance and justice. Mephistopheles charges Johnny with defeating the despicable Blackheart (Wes Bentley), the Devil’s own son, who plans to displace his father and create a new hell even more terrible than the old one.
Nicolas Cage has been a fan of Ghost Rider since its inception, even having his original comics framed and hanging on a wall in a special room of his house. “I enjoyed the image of a skull on fire, when I was a boy, and the mythology of it,” Cage tells MediaBlvd Magazine. “The Faust-like storyline was so original for a Marvel comic book character. There really isn’t any other character quite like Ghost Rider, and that’s why I think he’s fresh. I think it’s time for a new kind of superhero.”
As a fan, who even has a flaming skull tattooed on his arm, Cage says that playing Ghost Rider is a dream come true for him. “I’ve been trying to do this for a long time. I’m a big believer that the right character is the one that ultimately happens and, while I enjoyed the new Superman movie, I think Brandon Routh was the right choice for that part, and Ghost Rider was absolutely the right choice for me to play. It’s a much better match, so I’m glad it worked out this way.”
Cage got involved very early on with Ghost Rider, enabling him to help develop the character and the story, along with writer/direct Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil). “I like to think I helped build it from scratch,” says Cage. “As Mark was writing, we would talk and, even right before we went to film in Australia, we were coming up with ideas to add to the character. I think traditionalists of the comic book will be happy, but we did build up the story and add onto the character. It’s a deeply personal character and I was trying to find a new way of presenting how he would keep dark spirits at bay. I didn’t want him to be a heavy drink or chain smoker. I wanted him eating jellybeans and listening to Karen Carpenter to help him relax. Ghost Rider is something of a cowboy. Mark was very excited about the western element of the character, harking back to the original Ghost Rider.”
{quote_top}For 32-year-old Cuban-American actress Eva Mendes, the allure of doing a comic book film was the people she would be working with. “I’m a huge Nic Cage fan and a fan of Mark Steven Johnson,” she exclaims. “I really didn’t know much about comic books at all, and then, speaking to them and getting into it a little bit, I wanted to have some kind of special effect. I had superhero envy. I wanted an extra arm, or something. But, I want to thank Mark for taking a chance and thinking outside the box because I don’t look like the original comic book Roxanne. She was this very hot blonde that was a little victimy for my taste. She cried a lot. Now, she’s darker, stronger and a little more exotic. She’s really crazy in love with this man and is willing to stand behind him and beside him, through thick and thin, while still having a life of her own and being an independent, career woman.”
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Eva Mendes at the San Diego Comic Convention in San Diego, Calif. on July 22, 2006. |
Roxanne’s choice of cleavage enhancing wardrobe is not something that Mendes would choose for herself, but she understands the choice to play it up in the film. “It’s not my personal style, as I’m usually as bundled up as you can get. But, that was a choice that the director and I made because the character in the comic book is very voluptuous. In that way, we were true to the real comic book heroine.”
Selling your soul to the devil is certainly a dark subject, but in order to obtain a PG-13 rating for the film, there needed to be some levity as well. Without making the humor obvious, Johnson allowed Cage to make choices with his delivery that would allow for some lighter tones. “Just acting opposite Nic, he made so many fun choices that were very real," says Mendes. "In life, when the stakes are high, oftentimes we make jokes just to survive and get through it.”
Although there has been some talk of a possible sequel, Cage is reticent to commit until he sees whether movie-going audiences will demand one. “It depends on whether audiences are enthusiastic about it and if there is a good script. My theory on sequels is that they have to be better than the original. But, of all the characters I’ve played, my interests coincide with where this particular character could go. I am interested in the metaphysical nature of Ghost Rider and his world. I am a man with an open mind. I’m very interested in the spiritual and the material, and this is the one superhero who walks between both worlds. There is a lot of room for adventure with this guy. And, I love working with Mark and Eva, and it would be great to do something again. I just want to make sure we can improve on the original.”
{quote_middle}Even if a Ghost Rider sequel never comes to fruition, Cage reveals that he would love to do another comic book movie. “I think comic book movies are a wonderful way to entertain a lot of people. People love comic books on film. I knew, with modern technology, when they started taking Batman and Spider-Man to the screen, they were going to be enormous. Comic book films are a fantasy world. They’re thoroughly entertaining and don’t rely on gratuitous violence. They charm children and adults alike. I would be happy to do more. I would even like to try to generate my own. My son, Weston, has developed a comic and Virgin Comics has agreed to five issues of it, so we’ll see how that works out.”
"I would love to do another comic book film,” adds Mendes. “I just have to kick ass in the next one. And, wear some kind of suit, or have a cape. I’d love to have a cape.”
With a cameo in the highly anticipated Robert Rodriguez-Quentin Tarantino horror flick Grindhouse, out in April, Cage says that next up for him is the sequel to the hit action adventure drama National Treasure. “There are worse things to do than stimulate young people to look in their history books. There is no gunfire and there is no body count. It’s really good entertainment for everybody, and I enjoy that. I like the idea of playing a historical detective. This one is going to involve Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, the Booth diary, and Confederate gold. It has the potential to be more interesting than the first.”
{quote_bottom}Mendes also has upcoming projects waiting for release. “I did my first real dramatic role last year, with Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall, called We Own the Night, directed by James Gray. I’m really excited about that. And then, I produced my first independent film, called Live. It’s a small film, but we got it done. It just got accepted to the Tribeca Film Festival, and I’m really proud because it’s a real indie. The budget was nothing. We scrambled and got it together.”
“Right now, I’m working on a film called Cleaner, with Ed Harris and Samuel L. Jackson. That’s another drama. I got hooked, after being directed by James Gray. I love the torture of dramas. I play a widow, and it’s very dramatic.”
