November 27, 2013
This A+ list mostly movie actor has spent almost $50M in the past two years and is completely broke. He is so broke that he has signed away future earnings and has no income coming in despite his movies grossing well over $1B. He refuses to downsize or cutback though and thinks he can keep things going until he gets another big paycheck. He had his electricity turned off in his primary house because he didn't pay the bill. He has a monthly cell phone because he doesn't have good enough credit to get a regular one. He owes all the cell phone carriers thousands of dollars.
Nicolas Cage
Trying to purchase Elvis' corpse can be expensive. And keeping his son stocked in eyeliner and clairol midnight black hair dye.
ReplyDeleteThat's really sad.
ReplyDeleteSugar! You made me feel bad! It is sad.
DeleteDon't feel bad, Bee! I laughed at you funny joke too! I'm complicated like that.
DeleteNot good Nick not good
ReplyDeleteOh, that's crummy. I feel bad for the guy, now. He dug his own trench, but still...
ReplyDeleteHe spent like a drunken sailor and didn't understand that eventually the money train derails before it gets to your front door.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Coppola lose everything and have to work his way back as well? People don't learn.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea he was worth that much. What movies of his were so big? Or is it just that there are so many?
ReplyDeleteI love Nic Cage (Leaving Las Vegas gets me every time) but A+? For Ghost Rider and those silly National Treasure movies?
ReplyDeleteOh, and he just finished filming a remake of the "Left Behind" movie.
Sigh. I miss Moonstruck Nic Cage. And Valley Girl Nic Cage. And City of Angels Nic Cage....
I love Raising Arizona and Wild at heart.
DeleteHe was BIG in the 80's/90's. Back when acting wasn't always about looks.
DeleteRaising Arizona, Valley Girl, Kick Ass, Wild At Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Honeymoon In Las Vegas, Moonstruck, Peggy Sue Got Married, Adaptation, Lord Of War, The Rock, The Croods, Matchstick Men, Birdy, Nat'l Treasure, Red Rock West, Bringing Out The Dead, 8MM, City Of Angels, ConAir, The Bad Lieutenant:POCNew Orleans, Gone In Sixty Seconds, Guarding Tess, It Could Happen To You, World Trade Center, Ant Bully, Bangkok Dangerous, Knowing.
DeleteWhile not all of those are great, most are either good or above average, anyway. I like Cage, he's a pretty easy going guy, very generous to charity, 100% batshit crazy. He is gonna fuck around and end up in the chokey, for real, one of these days. He needs one of those TLC interventions, ASAP
No surprise his asst ran up his black card like it was his own card. Poor drunk Nic was stuck with his bill. And the asst kept the miles for the card
ReplyDeleteI like him but grow the fuck up, man.
ReplyDelete@Vera - Coppola mortgaged his Napa Valla home to finance Apocalypse Now. He lost money on Cotton Club as well. After he made Godfather III and when Dracula became a hit Coppola was all square and debt free.
ReplyDeleteYou're my go to on all things coppola. Maybe his cousin? Social can put him in a hit movie. Nepotism is Coppola middle name. Francis finances all Sophia films. Give me some good inside gossip on them please Mr blue eyes.
DeleteSofia. Not social. Damn auto correct.
DeleteLots of people's emotional well being is displayed in the way they handle their finances. Or some just don't have business sense. Some people spend cuz their so confident they'll always make more. And some have been in a stuper for 3 decades. Or...,all if tbe above.
ReplyDeleteOh, he lost a tonne financing One From The Heart as well.
ReplyDeleteCNW puts the dumb fuck at $18,000,000 so I guess he's getting things straightened out. He once bought a castle in the UK from just some pictures of it on the internet. When he finally went over to England to actually take a look at what he had boughtt, he found out it was pretty much unlivable and needed millions in repairs. Was stuck with this turkey for a couple of years before selling at a big loss.
ReplyDeleteHe was terrific in Valley Girl. I guess that's the 1st time I saw him. Very funny.
Lots of people's emotional well being is displayed in the way they handle their finances. Or some just don't have business sense. Some people spend cuz they're so confident they'll always make more. Then there are those who have been in a stuper for 3 decades and they haven't a clue. And then some are all of the above (eh hemm).
ReplyDeleteUgh, I'm all of the above.
DeleteLol. Cute. (-:
DeleteHe was (is?) so talented.
ReplyDeleteAnd IF he had purchase Income Property, it could have PAID his monthly Nut! But, No, he needed an oversized house in just about every major city he moved too. Now, he rents his home in Las Vegas -- which is even worse for a money drain!
ReplyDeleteI suspect there is some mental illness at play here in addition to plain old bad decision making.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Francis should have done a Britney style intervention on Nic years ago. Yeah I know not his problem. What the hell happened to him??? For the record I love those cheesy National Treasure movies (along with Tomb Raider). Nothing wrong with an action/adventure flick every now and then. I'd rather watch those movies than another Franco/Grogen/Hill frat boy humor boring ass self indulgence Fest. I don't know where along the line Nic started to lose his mojo. I guess that can happen when you think you're bullet proof and spend money like you're printing it. Even Michael Jackson was starting to burn through money that was getting short in supply (and he was Michael Jackson for God's sake). Just what does it take to bring these people back to reality? At what point is Cage gonna get a clue? Signing away future earnings is scarier than maxing out all your credit cards. Does anyone know if he has a drug problem?
ReplyDeleteBright side-he's not a pap whore or sex tape leaker?
ReplyDeleteHe better get crackin on Peggy Sue Got Married 2: Just Like Liz & Rich.
@ethorne, Peggy Sue is a guilty secret of mine. :D
DeleteDon't forget his comic book collection!
ReplyDeleteHis financial issues have been well known for a while now.
Ooh Sherry! I'd love to see if his comic collection extends beyond Superman! Being a bonafide comic collector, I guess I have some empathy for him. Trade paperbacks can be expensive!
Delete@Bee. Not to mention the multiple covers, 'cause you gotta get them all (until you don't, which is what finally drove me to stop collecting.)
DeleteMy husband used to work for Jewelry Television and Nic Cage was a big client. He would order bags and bags of loose gems.....to line his fish tanks with. Just a tiny bit extravagant :)
ReplyDeleteFirst time commenter...long time reader.
My husband used to work for Jewelry Television and Nic Cage was a big client. He would order bags and bags of loose gems. He said he used them to line his fish tanks.
ReplyDeleteLong time reader and first time commenter.
Hi @Goldenwomb! I wouldn't be surprised if he lined the litter box with diamonds.
DeleteHi @Goldenwomb! I heard years ago through someone who worked on a home of his, he bought first edition comic books and tore them up to wallpaper his bathroom walls. Oh the humanity!
DeleteI'm surprised only at the timing of the blind. I think he got into trouble with the IRS circa 2009 for his 2007 taxes. In 2012 he supposedly paid off half the $13MM the IRS claimed. The reason for my surprise is that he seemed to have spent his money on assets (15 homes, a private island, 4 yachts etc.) Logic would have implied that sale of assets should have generated cash to pay off the IRS and, at least, leave enough left over to pay the utilities on his house in late 2013. Yes, I recognize that the forced sale of assets might be at a loss but it would appear there was no equity in anything he owned. Therefore I assume he had a lot of debt, other than the IRS, against all those assets. Since he has been working a lot I also assume that the IRS is on his case to be current on all of his sunsequent taxes. I guess it is acting when you can appear intelligent but actually not be intelligent!
ReplyDeleteI would have thought trouble with the IRS would've been a turning point for him. I guess not!
DeleteNot if he mortgaged the hell out of those said properties and their value had decreased further than what he owed. Plus when he sold he probably sold at a major loss. Maybe even a negative net. Problem is, when you have that many properties you have to sell to stop the money bleed on upkeep. And yachts are notoriously expensive to own. Especially if you keep them in a country club slip - which considering his high dollar taste, might have been exactly what he was doing. Bottom line the guy should never be allowed to have anything more than a debit card with a certain amount deposited to that account each month. I have customers like this that I just want to smack, for their financial stupidity.
DeleteDidn't Wesley Snipes pay his back taxes but got locked up?Lock up Nic Cage so he can stop making bad movies.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the castles he owns, more than 1 CASTLE.
ReplyDeleteGolden womb - what happened to non descript pebbles and little diver men? I know where to go (ala a Fish called Wanda) should I ever be in close proximity to his fish tank.
ReplyDeleteI have sympathy for people who take risks like most producers and directors but not actors who are paid a lot of money but can't seem to manage it.
ReplyDeleteCoppola went into debt financing his own art, that I can appreciate, that's the ye old American business dream, you take a risk, sometimes you win sometimes you lose and he got himself out of the hole with his work and I think his vineyard is pretty lucrative.
If you have seen the documentary Seduced and Abandoned Coppola complained that even after six Oscar awards he still had trouble getting financing for his movie projects and he actually threw the awards out his window in a fit of rage. Even Scorcese said getting financing was a difficult task and I can understand why he went into TV and why so many creative people are going into TV.
@ Frey a snipes went to jail for tax fraud. Not sure what nick cage deal was but snipes intentionally didn't pay taxes for like 20 years = fraud. Hence jail.
ReplyDeleteFreya - Snipes didn't file returns and publicly claimed he didn't have to or pay taxes. Obviously the IRS wanted him locked up. Cage filed returns, paid some taxes, had the IRS disallow his claims (I imagine they tried to write off all those castles) and blamed his accountants. The IRS just wants his money.
ReplyDeleteThis is super sad! I didn't know. Ditto on the mental illness supposition.
ReplyDelete@Sugar...I think I lurve you!
Sounds like he did Offer in Compromise with IRS. If you owe a lot you don't have to pay all of it. That kind of thing. How could he owe thousands to cell phone carriers? Again working folks pick up the tab.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel bad for him at all. He's made more money than the rest of us will see in a lifetime, and he's pissed it away. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteI'm really trying to feel bad for a guy who couldn't hang onto 50 MILLION DOLLARS, but I'm having a hard time with it.
ReplyDeleteHey don't knock prepaid cell phone plans! My family is on Chit Chat Mobile and it's just like all the other carriers. Why pay all that money for crappy service anyway? All the old cell phone plans are dinosaurs now. People finally figured out paying a cent for a cheap cell wasn't really worth it in the long run.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, does Cage still own the most haunted place in New Orleans? I thought I read he was trying to sell that place to some tour company or something. He was really nutty with the way he brought stuff.
ReplyDeleteMust be some mental illness going on. Sad.
ReplyDeleteIs that the floozy he's married to? IS he trying to prove something to her?
ReplyDeleteIf he's truly mentally ill, then I feel sad. If he's just a dumbass who keeps living beyond his means, I don't feel bad at all.
ReplyDeleteBuying castles and haunted houses. I mean, COME ON!
He was amazing in Moonstruck and Leaving Las Vegas. And I always got a kick out of Raising Arizona.