Nicolas Cage’s NYT profile is completely bonkers, it involves his quest for the Holy Grail

Nicolas Cage  at the "Mandy" Los Angeles....

Nicolas Cage is, I suspect, NOT insane. I believe there’s a difference between people who are legitimately dealing with profound mental health issues versus people who are just willfully bonkers. Nick Cage is willfully bonkers. I’m not saying that’s a good or bad thing, but it is… entertaining. Like watching a car crash, if the car crash had a bad toupee and owned a bunch of dinosaur bones. Behold, the greatest hits from Nick Cage’s NYT interview, where he covered such subjects as those screamy karaoke videos, his search for the Holy Grail, and why he’s not in therapy anymore.

About the videos of him screaming “Purple Rain” at a karaoke bar: “You go to a karaoke bar with a male friend in the neighborhood, the bar says ‘no videotaping’ and suddenly, there’s two different videos of you doing karaok. Who did that? Who exposed the videotape? Who sold it?…[It was]more like a primal-scream therapy” session that he didn’t want to become a viral moment, since it was right around the anniversary of Prince’s death. “It was a holiday weekend, and I didn’t want to go anywhere, but my friend who was with me said: ‘You can’t sit here in your apartment. You’ve got to go out.’ So I went to the one place in my neighborhood that I knew had no video recording, just to have some fun, and that became everybody’s business.”

He doesn’t want to go out anymore: “At this point in my life … I heavily prefer to not go out. I’d rather just stay at home. I don’t think I can decompress ever again, even at a karaoke bar. It’s too vulnerable. I’m not trying to complain. It’s a fact of life that I have to accept. I’d much rather let my work and not my personal life speak for me.”

He doesn’t do therapy anymore: “I haven’t been in any kind of analysis for at least 20 years. The times that I’ve done it, there were some benefits. It’s kind of like writing in a diary. You get things out…. Inevitably, there was a point where I’d look at the person and I’d start to go: ‘Why am I talking to you? I’m more interesting than you.’ Then I’d get up and walk out. So I stopped going.”

He owned two king cobras: “I did have two king cobras, and they were not happy. They would try to hypnotise me by showing me their backs, and then they’d lunge at me.”

The dinosaur skull he briefly owned: “The dinosaur skull was an unfortunate thing, because I did spend $276,000 on that. I bought it at a legitimate auction and found out it was abducted from Mongolia illegally, and then I had to give it back. Of course it should be awarded to its country of origin. But who knew? Plus, I never got my money back. So that stank.”

He really did a quest for the Holy Grail. “I started following mythology and I was finding properties that aligned with that. It was almost like National Treasure. It’s like when you build a library. You read a book, and in it there’s a reference to another book, and then you buy that book, and then you attach the references. For me it was all about where was the grail? Is it at Glastonbury? Does it exist?… Yeah, if you go to Glastonbury and go to the Chalice Well, there’s a spring that does taste like blood. I guess it’s really because there’s a lot of iron in the water. But legend had it that in that place was a grail chalice, or two cruets rather, one of blood and one of sweat. But that led to there being talk that people had come to Rhode Island, and they were looking for something as well… What I ultimately found is: What is the Grail but Earth itself?”

[From Page Six, THR]

This was honestly what I was expecting from a 5000-word Nicolas Cage interview. *shrug* King cobras, dinosaur skulls, an aversion to therapy, a story about a cat who loved to eat magic mushrooms, and a one-man quest for the Holy Grail. Sounds about right? I honestly had no idea that he was on a Grail quest at one point and now I want Dan Brown to write a book about him. An eccentric, dinosaur-bone-collecting hermit-actor develops a fascination with the Holy Grail and decides that it’s probably in Rhode Island. And he has two king cobras as pets and they keep trying to kill him. I would read that book.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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43 Responses to “Nicolas Cage’s NYT profile is completely bonkers, it involves his quest for the Holy Grail”

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  1. Erinn says:

    I’m trying to think of a diplomatic way to say this.

    I’ve done some design work in the last month for someone who was tied to Cage in the late 80s/early 90s.

    One of the quotes from this person was essentially “I’m basically the sun. And everyone around me is in my orbit and they revolve around me. And you’ve now been pulled into my orbit as well”.

    So I guess none of the things he’s saying here should really surprise me. I think these kinds of dramatic humans just genuinely tend to flock together.

    • Gobo says:

      I love his work and find him massively entertaining, but he is clearly a narcissist on an epic scale. So I would well believe it.

  2. Becks1 says:

    This is peak Nicolas Cage.

    And that’s really all I can say about that lol.

  3. SM says:

    He is bonkers. And I am here for it: I went to therapy and then like, that person was silent all the time and not making any good conversation, so I decided your life must be bohhring, so I left”. A sign of a person out of touch with reality. Was it also Michael Sheen who told a story about living next to this craze and how Nic would have big windows fronting the beach in Malibu and how Cage would stand in front of these windows in a robe having his morning coffee with people passing by and observing him like a fish in a fish tank.

  4. Jerusha says:

    I know I shouldn’t, but sometimes I feel sorry for him. Since his career tanked he’s made several straight to video movies in Mobile. Everybody who’s run into him at a restaurant, in his hotel, etc., says he’s really nice. He’s obviously got demons.

    • Algernon says:

      I don’t think his career has tanked, because he still makes great movies (Mandy was weird and excellent). I think he’s like Keanu Reeves, he’s reached a point where he can just make the movies that make him happy, and he has bad taste, so bad movies make him happy. Also he lost a bunch of money and just needs to earn, so he signs onto anything that will pay.

    • Amelie says:

      I mean it’s hard to feel sorry for him when he’s spending all his money on castles, haunted house, tombstones, dinosaur skulls etc. He clearly mismanaged his money looking for the Holy Grail or whatever and then had to do a bunch of terrible movies to pay off his debts/finance his spending habits when he’s spending more than he has. I’m sure he isn’t evil but he comes across as difficult. He should have been more careful with his money.

    • Meghan says:

      Jerusha do you live in Mobile??

    • Carol says:

      I have a soft spot for him too. I often think he is searching for meaning in his life but isn’t quite getting it – mainly because it seems he is looking outward instead of inward. I haven’t read much negative things about him other than he comes off as a little needy.

      • Kathryn says:

        Yeah I read the full profile and you don’t have to read too hard to pick up that he’s lonely. He talks about how bored he is, he doesn’t have much to do when he’s not working and he just watches movies or reads or hangs out with his son(s.) He talks about how it’s hard for people to stay in relationships with him, idk I guess kind of was like aww, does he have any friends? I think a lot of the insane purchases comes from a desire to have something to do, keeps him busy. You never really hear him talk about friends or anything. I totally have a soft spot for him. It seems like he makes all of his movies and other than that, doesn’t do much.

  5. cherry says:

    This may not be the popular opinion here, but reading this piece I thought he sounds… fine? Sure, a bit quirky, a bit eccentric, but ‘bonkers’? So he bought a dinosaur skull once. He bought it at a legitimate auction. He gave it back to its country of origin when he found out it was abducted from there illegally. What’s bonkers about that? If I had his money, I would totally buy cool shit like dinosaur skulls, too.
    Same with his ‘quest for the Holy Grail’: he reads books about it and visits sites that are associated with it. Millions of people do that.

    • pupax says:

      I think he is bonkers, but not in a bad way. We need bonkers people in this world <3

    • Esmom says:

      I agree. He seems like an eccentric rich guy who’s not that bright. He seems to have a good heart, which is more than I can say about a lot of public figures these days.

      • Hannah says:

        I agree 100%. He sounded…ok. He didn’t insult anyone..just seems lost and lonely. The guy can’t even scream in a karaoke room…I pity celebs.

    • Erinn says:

      Yeah, I’m all for the dinosaur thing. He bought it legally – and I get sucked into looking at websites that have stuff like that on display. It’s just SO neat. He also bought a pyramid tomb in New Orleans… and either bought or temporarily lived in a supposedly haunted house there as well. I mean – it all sounds kind of fun to be honest.

      I think that he’s SUPER eccentric. He’s not bonkers in a way that I’d be super concerned … though if he didn’t have the wealth he has / connections it might be a different story.

      I do question at times though. Like how he recently got married for a couple of days while under the influence of something. I worry more in the way that people are taking advantage of him.

    • Algernon says:

      I think he is very eccentric, and I would call him bonkers. I use bonkers to mean harmlessly crazy. To me it’s not pejorative.

    • Pixie says:

      @cherry, I totally agree. He is a little eccentric but nothing I wouldn’t expect from someone with that much money and access. Plus, I think he is leaning into this caricature the media has painted him into and he is having a little fun with it and telling the stories people want to hear. If I was that rich, God only knows the ridiculous things I would get into

    • minx says:

      I like bonkers. It’s just too bad if he’s wasted too much of his money, but it’s his money.

  6. jg11364@yahoo.com says:

    High Praise!

  7. Looty says:

    How does he know what blood tastes like.

  8. Lala11_7 says:

    It’s Nic…he’s ALWAYS been like this…

    And I DO LOVE CONSISTENCY!

  9. TIFFANY says:

    He sounds like a Nic Cage.

    Yes, yes I do refer to him as a verb.

  10. JennyJenny says:

    My husband and I have been on a Nicolas Cage binge recently.
    We search out his movies, his old and current straight to video films.

    Even in his worst movies, we just him immensely watchable! LOL

    • Digital Unicorn says:

      He has shown he has talent as an actor but yeah he’s very watchable even in interviews. He’s an eccentric narcissist who is his own worst enemy.

  11. Caty Page says:

    I think he is genuinely interesting, but don’t understand when celebrities think they can’t go to therapy because they’re “smarter” or “more interesting.” It’s very condescending, but it also makes me question what they think the point of therapy is. Even if you know where a line of questioning is going, it’s helpful to follow it and say certain things out loud. Most of the time a therapist isn’t trying to surprise or entertain you, so who cares if you think you’ve outwitted them?

    • jennifer says:

      it’s called narcissism!

    • Jensies says:

      As a therapist, I co-sign this so hard.

      Also, it’s not my job to deliver insights to people. It’s my job to facilitate insights in other folks, to nurture emotional literacy and regulation, to teach people how to better know themselves and deal with their lives and stressors so they don’t need me. I’m afraid I’d be dreadfully boring to Mr Cage.

    • Shirurusu says:

      Not all therapists are good therapists though, and I personally dislike pure freudian analysis for example because it rarely helps with depression- CBT and the like can be better. I know a few famous people in my country who I’ve known to struggle with finding professional acting therapists- even therapists get star struck and unhelpful sometimes with celebrities. I think he’s a little bonkers but I can’t fault him for disliking a specific therapy- many people do.

  12. Chimney says:

    People are too hard on Nicolas Cage when he’s a much better actor than others in his cohort. I’d rather have an eccentric interesting actor on screen doing something new than someone like Brad Pitt squinting through two hours of footage and calling it acting.

    Also Nic Cage has a family history of mental illness and his mom was institutionalized for most of his life. Why should he trust psychoanalysts, they’re not for everyone.

  13. Other Renee says:

    Not insane, just eccentric as others have pointed out. Then again, don’t many sane people get married in Las Vegas to people of questionable repute then get divorced four days later?

  14. skeptical says:

    I think he’s like a lot sensitive, artistic people who have question about their purpose, the purpose of life and meaning of things who are looking for answers. Unfortunately, that’s considered bonkers by people untroubled by these questions. I think our culture is bonkers when it want to stigmatise this .

  15. Meg says:

    I used to live in New Orleans and during a sight seeing tour we stopped by the st Louis cemetery and a pyramid really stuck out. The tour guide said it was the one thing the IRS couldn’t seize when he didn’t pay his taxes, his cemetery plot