Nic Cage And Eva Mendes: 'Ghost Rider' And His Girl

Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage loves comic books. Hot Latina actress Eva Mendes wants to play a super-heroine. In the comic book-based actioner Ghost Rider, Nic gets to play his childhood hero and Eva enjoys looking hot and kicking butt! For the uninitiated, Ghost Rider is the alter ego of motorcycle stuntman Johnny Blaze. To save his dad, Johnny sells his soul to the devil as a young man and the devil collects by turning him into a frightening, flaming skeleton who has to ride a hell-cycle as a bounty hunter chasing wayward demons through the night when all Johnny wants to do is protect the innocent. Eva plays Roxanne, the love of Johnny's life. When we spoke to Nic and Eva recently at a film studio in L.A., we got the idea that they had a ton of fun making this film and would like to co-star again.

When Nic entered our interview room, he made sure we weren't from Entertainment Weekly. He's got a problem with that magazine. He's upset about EW saying "Academy Award winners shouldn't be in movies they have no business being seen in". The actor thinks this is "shallow thinking". Nic likes to stretch his long legs and be versatile.

The actor has starred in "photo realistic" films like World Trade Center but also likes "pop art illustrative" films like the new Ghost Rider which he says has a "comic book story structure" but "digs a little deeper". Nic, who studied classical literature, thinks the "Rider" mythos compares with classic themes like "Faust" by Goethe, works by Thomas Mann and the classic "Beauty and the Beast". Nic calls his film "a fun, spooky ride". Sit back and enjoy this informative and sometimes funny interview as Mr. Cage, all dapper in white dress shirt and black suit, and Eva, dressed down in huge black sweater over jeans and a butterfly logo tee, tell us about their Ghostly adventures, challenges and future film plans....including Nic's sequel to the popular National Treasure...

TeenHollywood: Both of you are wonderful actors but how hard was it for you to make real the intimate scene in which Roxanne has to touch Ghost Rider's head in a sweet way (Nic's "head" is supposed to be a skull and it's on fire!!)? That seems especially challenging to me.

Eva: Well I'm a 5-year-old at heart. I still think that there is a monster under my bed. And I'm not joking. It's pathetic. So, with my imagination, I can go there in a second. Actually, I have the reverse problem. It's hard for me to control my imagination from not going there.

Nic: Yeah, it's all about imagination. And that's what the comic books did for me as a boy. I read "Ghost Rider" and I read the "Hulk". I liked the monsters. I liked them because I couldn't understand how something so scary could also be so good. It got me thinking at a very early age. And I had a lot of rehearsal. I was Ghost Rider in my backyard at 8-years-old. Nothing has changed.

Eva: Funny, I was Pippi Longstocking in my backyard.

Nic: You're a nicer girl [than I was a boy].

Eva: Yeah, I was. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: Nic, how did you and your director and the effects people develop the look of the character?

Nic: Well, that was what I was really excited about. I like the old grand werewolf movies. And I always wanted to find a way to apply my acting in a big bad monster movie where I was transforming into this scary entity. I worked with Kevin [Mack, effects] about where I thought I might go in terms of the physical expressions and he would take snapshots of them. [During the transformations from Johnny Blaze into Ghost Rider] I thought there'd be pain because the skin was melting off my face, but then maybe ecstasy because the power of the Ghost Rider was surging through me and he was starting to get off on that a little bit. And then also sadness about what is happening. So, then Kevin would download all these different facial expressions into the computer. And I would work with Mark [Steven Johnson, the director] on the day with the DP as to where the camera was going to go and match my moves with the camera. Then it became like a dance in that private place to come up with the imaginary belief that I was transforming into this monster. I wanted it to be like an aria. I wanted even the screams to be like music, like an operatic aria.

TeenHollywood: Didn't you make some personal changes in the character; make him different than in the script?

Nic: 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 being a heavy drinker or a chain smoker. I wanted him eating jellybeans so he wouldn't invite the devils in. And I wanted him listening to Karen Carpenter to help him relax so he wouldn't allow the devil in with satanic Goth rock or something. Or, he's watching chimpanzees do karate instead of The Exorcist. And all three of those things I was doing in my own life. I was eating jellybeans out of a martini glass and listening to Karen Carpenter and on the Internet watching chimps do karate. And I thought, 'Well this is funny. Let's put it in the movie'. [Now we know how glamorous movie stars spend their free time].

TeenHollywood: Eva, your wardrobe in this film is very cleavage friendly and tight. Is that your idea?

Eva: [laughs] It's obviously not my personal style, because I am as bundled up as you can get today. But, yes, that was a choice that the director and I made. My character in the comic book, Roxanne, is very voluptuous, blonde hair, blue eyes, Caucasian and I'm not Caucasian, I'm a terrible blonde and I don't have blue eyes, so I figure, 'Hey, let's play up my voluptuous nature'. So, we did and, in that way, were honest to the real comic book heroine.

TeenHollywood: Nic, we've heard that some people don't think it's your real body in a shirtless scene in the film. Doesn't that frustrate you? We're talking buff here!

Nic: Well, I guess on one hand it's a compliment but on the other hand that's a lot of hard work and it's just getting written off that somebody just made it digitally. It's a little frustrating, yes.

TeenHollywood: The skull of the Ghost Rider is also your real skull. Can you talk about that? They did X-Rays or something?

Nic: Yeah, we did all that. They grafted my skull so I guess it is me, which is kind of wild. But what I really love about this character is that we're all him. We all have human skulls, right? You've got one, I've got one and yet we look at it and we go, 'that's scary!' And then after a little while you go, 'Wait a minute. That's beautiful. He's human and he's a total bad a**. He's fighting the dark forces, but he's human. That's pretty neat'.

TeenHollywood: Eva, speaking of being "bad", were you happy your character got to kick some butt there at the end; get in a little girl power?

Mendes: Yes, I was very happy. That wasn't in the script when I read it. Mark added that for me. He probably just felt bad since I had major superhero envy the entire shoot. I was like, 'Aw, I want my head to be on fire'. You know?

Nic: Well, I have plans for her.

Eva: Oh, that's right. I'm gonna hold you to that.

Nic: I want her to be the "She-Hulk". That's what I'm working on.

Eva: Wouldn't that be cool? [We agree]

TeenHollywood: There was another script by David Goyer for this film; much darker. Did you read that one?

Nic: Yeah, that was a good script. It was really good. Steve Norrington of Blade was directing and I was on board for that. But, whatever happened the studio didn't want to make it.

TeenHollywood: Because it was more R-rated?

Nic: Yeah, that would have also been a good movie. But Mark found a way to make it more palatable to larger audiences. It became more of a spooky ride. You know you go to the amusement park and you have a rollercoaster and then you have the Haunted Mansion. This is just the right amount of scares to get your adrenaline up, but not so much that you can't finish the ride. It's something for the family. I think we are living in pretty scary times and people are looking for inspiration and are also more open to the spiritual possibilities.

TeenHollywood: How fun was it working with '60's Easy Rider icon Peter Fonda as the Devil? This guy's character Captain America was the king of the motorcycle characters.

Nic: Peter is the reason why I ride motorcycles. I saw Easy Rider and the next day I bought a Harley Davidson and went from LA to San Francisco and back to LA and became Captain America in my mind. So, when they decided to make this movie and we thought about who was going to play Mephistopheles, I thought about it and I said, 'That makes sense because who better to seduce a stunt man to sell his soul, but Captain America, Easy Rider himself?

TeenHollywood: The cycle in the movie is modeled after Peter's Captain America bike from that film. Doesn't he look at it and say "nice bike" in the movie?

Nic: [grinning] Yeah, he does say "nice bike".

Eva: I have to tell you my little Peter Fonda story. We were on set and I finally confess and say, 'Peter I'm so sorry. I never saw Easy Rider and I know it's a huge deal for American cinema'. So, he got a group of like ten people together and we all met up at my director's apartment in Melbourne and he played the movie for me and he sat next to me and I had a personal commentary by Peter Fonda. He'd sit there and pause it and be like, 'Now, on this scene, it was my 27th birthday and Jack [Nicholson] and I were up for two days....' It was awesome because he was right there with me. He's a lovely man.

TeenHollywood: Nic, what is the first comic you are going to read to your little son?

Nic: Oh wow, probably "Superman". [Nic named his son Kal-El; Superman's Kryptonian name].

TeenHollywood: Nic, what comic superhero, who hasn't been transferred to film would you like to see become a movie?

Nic: Well, I think Ghost Rider is my guy and I'm going to stick with that, but I would go to see the "Sub Mariner" come to life. I want to see the water and all the animal life.

Eva: And She-Hulk!

Nic: Oh, yeah, well, I'm trying to put that together as we speak. Can't you see it? That would be a fun movie wouldn't it? Just you [he looks over at Eva] in a bikini just kicking a bunch of [butt]. Throwing cars!

Eva: Why would I have to be in a bikini?

Nic: Because that's just how she's dressed [he laughs].

TeenHollywood: Eva, you haven't seen the movie yet. Do you have problems watching yourself on screen?

Eva: The first run? Yeah. I hate everything the first run. I'm like, 'that's awful'. I just think I'm terrible. . And then I'm more forgiving the second time. So, I always see something for sure one time and then I make myself see it a second time. Because second time is like, 'okay. I'm not that bad. I'm not that horrible'. But the first time I just think I'm just god-awful!

TeenHollywood: Nic, you have National Treasure 2 coming up. Eva, what's up next for you?

Eva: I did my first real like dramatic role last year with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall and it's called We Own The Night directed by James Gray, which I'm really excited about. And then I produced my first small film and it's called Live. And it just got accepted to the Tribeca Film Festival. And I'm really proud, because it's a real indie, indie, indie. I mean, the budget was nothing. And we scrambled and we got it together and we did it. Right now I'm working on a film called Cleaner with Ed Harris, he's so cute.. and Samuel Jackson. That's another drama. I kind of got hooked being directed by James Gray, I kind of love the torture of dramas and I'm kind in that place right now. I play this widow and it's very dramatic.

TeenHollywood: Eva, what comic books did you read as a girl?

Eva: The Barbie comic book? I dunno. I was a Barbie girl. I just recently got into comic books because of Mr. Cage.

TeenHollywood: Nic, are you also doing a cameo in Grindhouse?

Nic: My friend Rob Zombie, I know him only socially. I like him. He's a nice man. We have good memories together over the years. He said would I do this part of Fu Man Chu and I said 'sure'. One day, two lines, I mean it was just completely ridiculous. I haven't seen it. Just two seconds. That's it.

TeenHollywood: What can you tell us about the next National Treasure?

Nic: I think National Treasure is a good film, because there are worse things to do than stimulate young people to look in their history books. There is no gunfire, 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 and the Booth diary and Confederate gold and it has the potential to be more interesting than the first.

TeenHollywood: Do you think you would like to do a sequel to Ghost Rider?

Nic: Well, it depends upon the reaction from the movie-going audiences if they are enthusiastic about it and if there is a good script. I am interested in the metaphysical nature of Ghost Rider and his world. I am a man with an open mind. I'm interested in the spiritual and the material. And this is the one superhero who walks between both worlds. I think that's pretty exciting because he's new and there is a lot of room for adventure with this guy.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.