Nic Cage's New "Treasure"

He's baaaaaack! One of impressive actor Nicolas Cage's most popular roles is that of historical artifact hunter Ben Gates in National Treasure. Get ready for another Gates adventure in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Cage is noted for his wild and wide variety of roles. The last you might have seen was Nic with his skull on fire as Ghost Rider. He's also a filmmaker involved in a documentary on Sting's hot classic band The Police.

The Oscar-winning actor is usually quite forthcoming in interviews and was happy to talk about doing a sequel for the first time because of his love for the character and subject matter. Nic was also candid about how becoming a dad and family man has changed him and what his family Christmas plans are this year. He even told us a funny story about his best Christmas gift as a child and how he loved working with Helen Mirren on whom he'd once been crushin' as a younger guy. Looking dapper in a black suit and gray shirt, Nic sat down to talk to us...whoops, his phone goes off. It's his wife. He'll catch her later....

TeenHollywood: You've never done a sequel to one of your films before. What was it about the Ben Gates character and this story that drew you in?

Nic: If you're going to do a sequel, it has to promise to be better than the original, or at least as good. I wanted to make sure that we could go in a direction that would raise the stakes, and be more interesting. When they first presented the idea of Civil War, Confederate gold, John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln assassination, right off the bat, for me, personally, that was more interesting, historically. Then, they said, 'We have to ratchet it up from stealing the Declaration of Independence, so we thought you should kidnap the President of the United States.' And then, I said, "Whoa, hold on, new rules. How is Ben Gates going to kidnap the President of the United States?' And, I got nervous. Then, I started thinking about it, and I started laughing, and I realized that that was the joy of it -- that it was funny and it was absurd.

TeenHollywood: And the Gates character?

Nic: Having been a fan of Basil Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes, I thought, 'Why not bring Ben Gates back as a modern version, if you will, an archeological version of a detective, looking for [a way to unlock] the mysteries of these treasures?' It seemed wonderfully positive. If Jon Turteltaub [the director] has a genius, it's that he's made movies without a gun that are entertaining, and you can take the whole family. There's worse things to do than to inspire especially the youngsters to look in their history books, so I thought, 'Let's go. Let's do it', So, I did it, and I'm happy I did it. I think the weight has been taken off of the character. He's been accepted academically. He's not considered a wacko anymore, like he was in the first movie. And so, he feels happier.

TeenHollywood: Speaking of teens and young people, with this franchise and Ghost Rider, you are appealing more and more to them.

Nic: They're really the future, aren't they? So, I want to treat that carefully. I'm one of those people that believes that the power of film is intense, and you have to really think about it, responsibly. In this case, you want them to enjoy themselves and also get them to look in their history books in a way that isn't, 'Oh, you must read, and you must learn.' It helps them to enjoy the ride even more because there's a level of believability to it. You wonder, 'Wow, why are there missing pages in [John Wilkes Booth's] diary?' Then, you go see the movie and you can use a little imagination, and it makes the ride more enjoyable. Even with Ghost Rider, I was thinking about the kids. I was trying to do the one story [Disney] never did, probably for obvious reasons, which was Faust. I wanted to make that something where kids could go, 'Well, yeah, this is really just a myth.' We're all going to get in trouble, so how do you get past that? So, I was thinking about them there too.

TeenHollywood: How are you like Benjamin Gates?

Nic: He really believes, in a chivalrous way, that everything he is, is on account of his ancestors. They're not dead to him. They're still there with him and he's honoring them, and I like that about him. I try to embrace that in my own life. And, also, history. Because of playing Ben Gates, I really appreciate history now, and I also enjoy being in places where I feel the weight of past events. I like old architecture and old buildings, and if you use a little imagination, you can time travel.

TeenHollywood: Ben has changed in the last three years and so have you. You have a young son.

Nic: Yeah. I think the main changes are that my priorities have improved. I started acting at a very young age, and I had interests which I won't say are wrong, but I'm maturing. Motorcycles, and things like that, aren't has important as they once were to me. And, I like a good book, and I like being in nature or on the water, and being with my family. I think those are just the real treasures.

TeenHollywood: Are you comfortable advocating questioning authority in a movie? And do you think there is a real Presidential Book of Secrets?

Nic: I believe that there's a way to question authority with manners, with dignity. There's no reason to be rude about it. You can still say, 'I want some clarity here.' I don't want to get political, but yeah, the Book of Secrets, I don't know. It's an urban myth but I'm sure there are tons of things that are classified that we're not supposed to know for whatever the reason that we'd probably like some answers on, sure.

TeenHollywood: This is a very physical action film. What was the most challenging scene in this movie?

Nic: Well, the most challenging sequence hands down was the platform, the balancing platform sequence because it was a mathematical, physical conundrum to act. I had to try to keep in my head what happens in terms of leverage and physics if you step here and he goes up there or she goes down there. It just was a mess. It actually had to be re-shot once or twice to get it to make sense for all of us. So that would be the sequence that comes to mind as the most challenging. That particular sequence I recall being at least three weeks.

TeenHollywood: It looked amazing. You have some top actors in this film including Oscar Winner Helen Mirren as your feisty mom. How was working with her?

Nic: Helen Mirren is someone that I have really admired ever since I saw her in Excalibur. That was the first thing I said to her. 'I loved you as Morgan Le Fay.' One of my most powerful crushes was Helen Mirren as Morgan Le Fay. She's really down to earth. I have to tip my hat to her that she would win the Oscar in The Queen and then go and, in the grand spirit of Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn, go make an adventure film. To me, that shows a lot of spirit and a great zest for life and that she's willing to do that; jump around and wear the wires and all that. I love her for that. And she's funny. Within two minutes, she puts you at ease. She doesn't take herself too seriously and she makes you relaxed and you have a lot of great laughs together. I would love to work with her on every movie.

TeenHollywood: Let's talk holidays. What are the Cage family Christmas traditions?

Nic: Well, this year I'm going to do something new. I'm going to have a Dickens Christmas. I'm going to take everyone to England. I've never done that. I'm going to just walk around Bath and see how they celebrate the holidays because I've always fantasized about that. When I'm in Bath I feel like I'm walking around in a snow globe. I'm in this contained, beautiful historic universe. Everybody's really, really nice and I don't need to use a car and I can walk. The architecture is magnificent and I feel that I'm in touch with the past. As I said, with a little imagination, I feel like I'm time traveling. I'm going to these other places and I'm learning something. It's helping me grow and I'm going to try to have a Christmas goose, absolutely.

TeenHollywood: What was the best Christmas gift you ever got?

Nic: Hands down the best Christmas present I ever got [was] a little toy car that was being driven by Pinocchio. For whatever the reason, Pinocchio's head fell off the day before Christmas. I played with it a little too roughly. My father picked up the head and he went into the garden and he planted it. I thought, 'Why are you doing that?' The next morning was this enormous thing that had grown in the garden. I ripped it open and it was a giant wooden Pinocchio. I was scratching my head trying to figure out how that grew. And then I started planting everything. I planted all my Hot Wheels. I had a little G.I. Joe slipper. I thought if I planted that, it would grow really big and I could put my sleeping bag in it. So he really got me thinking in an imaginative way at a young age.

TeenHollywood: That rocks! What a great dad. If you could have Ben Gates solve any historical mystery in any country, what would it be?

Nic: Jerry Bruckheimer already did a movie on [King] Arthur but I would like to see him go back into those areas and domains and try to really locate the actual person behind Merlin or the actual historical person behind Arthur and really look at that. I'm one of those people that believes with every myth, there is a kernel of truth so I'd be curious to see how that could relate.

TeenHollywood: And Helen could come back as Morgan Le Fey!

Nic: [grinning] Yeah.

TeenHollywood: So then I assume you wouldn't mind doing a third "National Treasure" if all of the elements are right?

Nic: I believe that it should become more and more 'International Treasure.' I was very happy to see that we went to London, England and Paris, France, [in this one] but I'd like to see the movie go wider still. I'd like to go into Africa, Egypt, Asia, and keep going. My hope is that Ben is recruited and he gets a dossier from these other countries about their history, and has to download it and learn it, and then try to go on these hunts on their behalf. That would be a lot of fun for me.

TeenHollywood: It does sound like fun. Why did you get involved in producing a documentary on the band The Police?

Nic: Well, The Police interestingly enough have always had a part in my life, professionally as well as just as a young man growing up. When I first heard Sting's voice, I was in Napa Valley living with my uncle [Francis Ford Coppola]. It was the most unusual sounding voice. I almost thought he was Chicano or something, the way he used his voice. It sounded like that and I was very curious. I liked the music right off the bat. Then I made Rumble Fish and Stewart Copeland was the composer, the drummer of the Police. I thought it was the best soundtrack of a movie I'd ever heard, outside of Nino Rota. I loved his music and then when I did Leaving Las Vegas, the first sound you hear is Sting. So it seemed like a good match. Now they're back and I think they're a very important band and one of the bands that kind of lent a soundtrack to a great portion of my life. That's why I got involved with that.

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