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Nicolas Cage: Anybody here from Entertainment Weekly? Because I hate them. They suck.

CraveOnline: What did they do to you?

Nicolas Cage: Entertainment Weekly hasn’t done anything to me. Someone mentioned to me that there was a blurb in Entertainment Weekly, saying very condescendingly, "We get a kick out of watching Academy Award winners being in movies they have no business being seen in."  And I thought, "Well, that’s really shallow thinking, because they can’t get outside their own box." They don’t understand the concept of what I would say is art. You have different styles and you can choose to be photo realistic like World Trade Center or you can be pop art illustrative.  Why limit yourself to one style of acting?  And especially when you look at Ghost Rider, you see a comic book story structure that digs a little deeper. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, of course, it’s funny, but it’ s coming from Classic themes like Faust with Goethe or Thomas Mann or then Beauty and the Beast and it’s fascinating to take those story structures and reintroduce people to it in a pop art, contemporary manner. In a comic book especially, no less, which is fun and reaches a lot of people.  Entertainment Weekly is the kind of magazine that is very condescending and they think in a very narrow box and they always have.  So, that’s why I would recommend that if you really want to really get your information and know what movies to go see, I wouldn’t resort to that particular publication, because they are pretty shallow.

CraveOnline: What if Entertainment Weekly ends up giving Ghost Rider a very good review?

Nicolas Cage: It doesn’t really matter. I don’t have any faith in anything they say. So they can say something good or something bad, I don’t really care. I’m just saying that I think it’s a mistake if you refer to that magazine religiously as your guide as to whether or not you’re going to see a movie or not. You’re shooting yourself in the foot, because they don’t get it.  They can’t think outside the box. They are very narrow-minded.  So it doesn’t really matter if they say anything nice or bad, I really can’t take it seriously. Some very creative people put a lot of hard movie into this movie. Kevin Mack, he drew those visual effects brilliantly with his team. And it’s just a fun ride. It’s a spooky ride. And I hope to see these movies get a little more attention at some point.
But Entertainment Weekly is more like a tabloid. So, if you are going to get a tabloid get the National Enquirer, because at least they have a horoscope.  Why save the extra dollar getting Entertainment Weekly when you can get a horoscope with the National Inquirer?

Eva Mendes: Did you just make that up? That’s very funny.

Nicolas Cage: It’s so great to be honest, isn’t it?  It’s so liberating.

CraveOnline: In the movie, how hard was it to create the intimate moment when you touch his head on fire?

Eva Mendes: Well I’m a five-year-old at heart. I still think that there is a monster under my bed. And I’m not joking. It’s pathetic, it’s really not cute.  So, 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.

Nicolas Cage: 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 as 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 Mendes: Funny, I was Pippi Longstocking in my backyard.

Nicolas Cage: You’re a nicer girl.

Eva Mendes: Yeah, I was.

CraveOnline: What was your barometer in how far you could go?

Nicolas Cage: 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 mad monster movie where I was transforming into this scary entity. And I worked with Kevin about where I thought I might go in terms of the physical expressions and he would take snapshots of them. So, I thought there’d be pain because the skin was melting off my face, but then maybe ecstasy 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 he would download all these different facial expressions into the computer. And I would work with Mark [Steven Johnson] on the day with the DP as to where the camera was going to go and match my moves with the camera. So, then it became like a dance and then wherever I had to go in that private place to come up with 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.

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

Eva Mendes: 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, as far as like 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.

CraveOnline: For Nic, how frustrating is it that some people think your shirtless scene is CGI?

Nicolas Cage: 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 did it digitally.  It’s a little frustrating.

CraveOnline: Did you actually have your skull x-rayed for the visual effects?

 
Nicolas Cage: 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 we’ve all 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 ass."  He’s fighting the dark forces, but he’s human. It’s pretty neat.

CraveOnline: Eva, were you happy your character got to kick some butt?

Eva Mendes: Yes, I was very happy.

CraveOnline: Was that in the script when you read it?

Eva Mendes: No, it wasn’t. Mark added that for me, he probably just felt bad since I had major superhero envy the entire shoot.  I was like, "I want my head to be on fire."

Nicolas Cage: Well, I have plans for her.

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

Nicolas Cage: I’m working on it. I want her to be the She-Hulk.

Eva Mendes: Wouldn’t that be cool?

Nicolas Cage: That is what I’m working on.

CraveOnline: You've got the ultimate biker as the devil. What are your Peter Fonda stories?

 
Nicolas Cage: That was a trip. And he made a movie called The Trip.

Eva Mendes: And he was on a lot of acid trips during his days.

Nicolas Cage: 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, originally I wanted Tom Waits.  And that was the whole lamp, wig, Pinocchio thing, y’know? But the studio decided with Mark on Peter and 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?"  And we were there playacting together and there is this bike there and this is Peter there and he’s talking. And I stepped out of myself and looked at the two of us and thought "This is really cool."

Eva Mendes: I have to tell you my little Peter Fonda story because I love this story so, so much. So, we’re hanging out on set and there is me and Peter and a couple of people and they are talking about Easy Rider. And I’m like, "Shoot, I didn’t see it, I haven’t seen it. I can’t be part of this conversation.  Ugh! I hate this." So, I finally confess and say, "Peter I’m so sorry. I never saw Easy Rider. 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.  And he’d sit there and pause it and be like, "Now, on this scene, it was my 27th birthday and Jack and I were up for two days..” and that’s as far as I can go with that. [Laughs.] It was awesome because he was right there with me and it’s one of those moments when you are going, you’re so thankful cause it’s one of the coolest moments.  It was very awesome.  He’s so generous too.  He’s so eager to share. He’s a lovely man.

CraveOnline: Nic, would you do a Ghost Rider 2?

Nicolas Cage: 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 would say of all the character’s I’ve played, my interests coincide with where this particular character could go. I am interested in the metaphysical nature of Ghost Rider and his world. I am a man with an open mind. I really don’t know anything, but I’m very interested in the spiritual and the material. And this is the one superhero who walks between both worlds.  I think it’s pretty exciting because he’s new and there is a lot of room for adventure with this guy.

CraveOnline: What is the first comic you are going to read to your kid?

Nicolas Cage: Oh, wow.  Probably Superman.

CraveOnline: What comic books did you read as a girl?

Eva Mendes: The Barbie comic book? I don't know. I was a Barbie girl. I just recently got into comic books because of Mr. Cage.

CraveOnline: What comic do you think should be made into a movie that hasn’t?

Nicolas Cage: Well, I’m really done. I think Ghost Rider is my guy and I’m going to stick with that, but if I had to pay my $7 bucks or $8 bucks…

Eva Mendes: It’s like $9.50. [Laughs.]

Nicolas Cage: Oh, wow.  I would go to see the Sub Mariner come to life. I want to see the water and all the animal life.

Eva Mendes: And She-Hulk.

Nicolas Cage: Oh, yeah, well that I’m working on.

CraveOnline: Would you produce that one for her?

Nicolas Cage: I’m trying to put that together.  As we speak.

Eva Mendes: You guys got to keep bugging him. 

Nicolas Cage: Do you guys get it? Can’t you see it?  That would be a fun movie wouldn’t it?  Just you in a bikini just kicking a bunch of ass. Throwing cars…

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

Nicolas Cage: Because that’s how she’s dressed. [Laughs.]

CraveOnline: Is this something official?

Nicolas Cage: No, no it’s just something I came up with.