Nicolas Cage is a Shopaholic
There's a reason why Nicolas Cage played the voice of a Guinea Pig in last summer's G-Force. As it turns out, Nic was out of money.
It's not like he fell from the graces of Hollywood. He made four movies in 2009, and he's got another five lined up for 2010. Sure, you haven't actually gone to a Nic Cage movie since National Treasure, but he still commands a multi-million dollar payout.
After the IRS charged Mr. Cage for some $6 million dollars in unpaid income tax, The Daily Beast uncovered that he filed a $20 million dollar lawsuit against Samuel Levin, his former business manager for what Nicolas Cage argues as "profiting while he went down the path to financial ruin." Based on the talk around town, the Cage's money troubles are limited to poor financial advice.
Where did Nicolas Cage's money go?
It all starts with a crazy Christmas party at the Cage estate in 2003. Everyone was there. There was a 20 ft. tall tent with a buffet table made out of ice. A production crew shot off fake snow and lighting specialists set up a display of Cage's favorite cars as if they'd been touched by the hand of God. The party was so off the hook that Cage's people found a stray pony galloping around the grounds the following morning (turns out the partying pony was a gift from one of Cage's guests - and there wasn't a place to put it yet).
Nowadays, you won't find anymore holier-than-thou lighting displays from Nicolas Cage. The decorators are gone and the personal chef is cooking for someone else.
You see, Cage likes to buy stuff. Mansions. Jets. Yachts. Growing up with money meant he could never have enough. A man can only have so many cars, and for Nicholas Cage, too many cars topped out at the 50 mark (only because he had to lay off his full-time mechanic). In fact, Cage had so many cars he decorated his Bel Air mansion by enshrining a 1955 Jaguar D-Type in his billiard room with car-dealership showroom lighting. Nicolas also had a sense of flair for eclectic decorating by throwing an expensive motorcycle or two in the foyer for good measure.
As the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola with practically unlimited access to wealth, this list of extravagant spending doesn't end with practical means. Nicolas Cage has two New Orleans mansions, two Bahamanian islands and a $500,000 Lamborghini once owned by the Shah of Iran.
He's known to own a zoo of animals including exotic birds, a pet octopus and two King albino Cobras, which he kept the "antidote serum" on the wall for the freakishly likely chance he got mauled by two of the most dangerous snakes in the world. His most famous animal acquisition was when he beat down Leonardo DiCaprio in a heated auction for a dino skull that cost $276,000.
Cage's purchases weren't all nuttier than a squirrel turd. He did donate $1 million to the Red Cross for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and another $2 million to Amnesty International. Furthermore, Cage made many sound investments through buying and selling vintage cars and real estate - until he borrowed heavily against his house right as the housing bubble burst.
It just goes to show you nobody can spend money willy-nilly these days. Even if you're a movie star, you need to spend within your means. As for Cage, he'll have to make a few more stinkers, but when he gets his act together for National Treasure 3, I'll reluctantly stand in line for it.
