Nicolas Cage on Finally Playing a Superhero That Matches His Freak in ‘Spider-Noir,’ How Watching ‘Breaking Bad’ Led Him to TV and Whether He’s Doing Season 5 of ‘True Detective’

Nicolas Cage’s superhero journey’s been packed with more twists and turns than Howard Hawks’ “The Big Sleep.”

It began in the late-‘90s, when the enigmatic actor was all set to play the Last Son of Krypton for director Tim Burton in “Superman Lives,” only to have the plug pulled weeks before filming. Then, Sam Raimi offered him the part of supervillain Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in “Spider-Man,” but Cage was otherwise engaged (more on that later). The aughts saw Cage approached for the role of Bloodnofsky, a murderous Russian crime lord, in “The Green Hornet,” only to have his vision for the character clash with Seth Rogen’s. There’s also the saga of Cage’s rare copy of the comic book “Action Comics #1,” featuring the first appearance of Superman, which was stolen from him, retrieved and subsequently sold at auction for millions to help cover his rising debts. Oh, and the fact that his stage name was inspired by none other than Luke Cage, a decision he’d made to avoid charges of nepotism as the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola.

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