In his new memoir, “Yearbook,” Seth Rogen shares several stories about his life and career in Hollywood as an actor, writer, producer, and director. And though he’s spoken briefly about his ‘Green Hornet’ interaction with Nicolas Cage, during a new interview with Howard Stern, Rogen goes deeper into his wild meeting with Cage and why the actor eventually accused him of stealing an idea for a character.
During the development of “The Green Hornet,” the 2011 superhero film starring Rogen, the actor met with Nicolas Cage about getting him to sign on for the villain role in the feature. Rogen said the studio was “enthusiastic” about Cage signing on as the villain for “The Green Hornet.” However, it didn’t actually pan out that way, despite Rogen being a “huge fan” of the actor.
“There are many Nicolas Cages, and you don’t know what Nicolas Cage you’re gonna get,” joked Rogen. “There’s ‘Wicker Man’ Nicolas Cage. There’s ‘Face/Off’ Nicolas Cage. There’s ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ Nicolas Cage…there’s a wide array of Nicolas Cages out there.”
Things got off to a rocky start in the first conversations about “The Green Hornet,” when Rogen and Cage spoke on the phone.
“First, he was like, ‘I want to tattoo hair on my head. I’ll be a bald guy with hair tattooed on my head. And I want big Edward Robinson lips.’ And we were like, ‘Ok…’ We were trying to wrap our heads around it [Laughs],” explained Rogen. “And then we got a call a few days later, where he’s all ‘I don’t want to do the hair tattooed thing for the movie because I’m thinking I might want to do it in real-life.’ I remember laughing hysterically on the phone and then stopping and realizing it wasn’t a joke.”
Eventually, Cage changed his mind and, instead, wanted to do a completely different version of the villain.
“It was pitched as a white Jamaican guy, basically, which set off a lot of alarms for us,” Rogen said. “Not that a white Jamaican guy is bad, but doing the accent and all that seemed like a world of trouble.”
This led to an uncomfortable dinner between the producers on the film, Nicolas Cage, and Seth Rogen, where Cage recited a monologue in a Jamaican accent. A monologue that Rogen said was “not in the script nor had anything to do with the script.” Obviously, it didn’t actually work out. But that wasn’t the end of the story.
You see, when James Franco starred in “Spring Breakers” the next year, Cage called up Rogen because he was concerned that maybe his white Jamaican character was the inspiration for Franco’s performance.
“Right away, he’s like, ‘Did you tell James about that meeting we had? The Jamaican meeting?…because that guy in ‘Spring Breakers,’ is that based on that character I did for you guys?’ And I was like, ‘No, absolutely not! I think it was actually based on a Florida Rapper,’” said Rogen. “He very clearly didn’t believe me; that was apparent. He was suspicious; I’d say, at best.”
He added, “I would work with Nicolas Cage again, in a second. Truthfully. I would not be surprised if he wouldn’t work with me in the wake of this book, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he would.”
So for those wondering if Nicolas Cage is as wacky and unique as he appears in his films, the answer is clearly yes. And if you don’t believe it, you can watch the full story below: