Many are unaware that Nicolas Cage, the 62-year-old Oscar-winning actor, is part of one of Hollywood's royal families, the Coppolas. However, he has made a concerted effort to carve his own path, and now he has made it official by legally changing his name.
Born Nicolas Kim Coppola into the iconic Italian-American Coppola family, Cage stated that he would rather be the patriarch of his own family than the 'clown cousin' of famous filmmakers and performing artists. The actor, who recently opened up about two blockbuster roles he turned down, revealed that he went as far as legally changing his name last year.
Cage told Variety in an interview published Wednesday: 'I am Nick Cage. I changed my name legally last year. I'm Nick Cage in life, and I'm Nick Cage on camera. 'Tis better to be the patriarch of my own little family than the clown cousin on the margins of someone else's, so I decided I'm going to bring it on and be "Cage."'
He also revealed that he took his last name from Marvel Comics character Luke Cage, as his family also discussed avant-garde artist John Cage. He said he wanted something 'short and sweet' like James Dean.
Cage added: 'I thought, well, I'll keep the name "Nicolas" because my father named me Nicolas — with French spelling, which has always frustrated me, because everyone adds an "h." I don't know why he gave me the French spelling! But he did.'
Whether he prefers 'Nick' or 'Nicolas,' the actor told Variety: 'I'm both! I think people know me as both.'
Cage is the son of the late American academic and author August Coppola, who is the older brother to iconic filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. This also makes Cage cousins with Francis's Oscar-winning filmmaker daughter Sofia Coppola and Shire's actor son Jason Schwartzman. August, Francis, and Talia's parents were composer Carmine Coppola, who scored many of Francis's films, and Italia Coppola. Collectively, the family has earned eight Oscars, ten Golden Globes, two BAFTA Awards, one Grammy Award, and two Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival.
Cage has been credited as Nicolas Cage throughout his entire career, except for a 1981 TV pilot and the 1982 classic comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Meanwhile, in the same Variety interview, the star revealed two major movie roles he turned down in the past, opening up about almost starring in an iconic superhero film and a cult classic comedy. Cage said he nearly played supervillain Green Goblin in the 2002 Spider-Man movie starring Tobey Maguire. However, he ultimately backed out of the role, which eventually went to Willem Dafoe, due to creative differences. Cage then shared that he almost starred in the 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber with Jim Carrey.
Despite both films going on to become blockbusters, Cage said that he does not regret the decisions he made. Regarding Spider-Man, Cage recalled once having a conversation with director Sam Raimi where he pitched an idea that was shut down. 'Sam and I had a great lunch, and I did say during the lunch, "Listen, whoever plays Spider-Man, let them do one scene where they're crawling around like a spider when they're alone," and it didn't happen,' he shared with the outlet. 'He wanted me to do the Green Goblin. I liked the idea of Sam Raimi, because of Evil Dead 1 and 2, and I wanted to work with him, but I had this other film called Adaptation.'
Cage also revealed how he turned down the part of Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber. 'It happened with Jim and Dumb and Dumber, and I said, "I'm going to do this other film called Leaving Las Vegas,"' he recalled. 'And with Sam, I told him, "I'm going to do Adaptation." Both those decisions were the right ones for me, and I'm happy with those results.'
