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Bruckheimer and Cage are collaborating for a fifth time on National Treasure: Book of Secrets, a sequel to the original film in which the actor revisits the character of Ben Gates.
Taking a break between shooting scenes for the new film at Universal Studios – one of the few Hollywood locations with a sound stage large enough to accommodate Book of Secret's impressively gargantuan sets – Cage talked to us about returning for a second go-round as Ben Gates and explained why he tries to keep audiences and critics guessing.
Q: Was making a sequel to the first National Treasure an easy sell for you?
A: I didn't have any expectations for the first film and I was somewhat surprised, happily surprised, that it caught on the way it did and, yeah, I was very pleased to have a chance to play such a positive character again. When I read the first script I thought it was a fresh concept – here's this man who's really interested in history and is a bit of a square, but also is an archaeological detective of sorts, a treasure hunter and even a glorified criminal, but who isn't violent in any way. There are worse things to do than stimulate young people to look in their history books and I also thought that he was a character I could grow with.
Q: In the first film Ben Gates had to steal one of America's great historical treasures. Have you upped the ante on Book of Secrets?
A: Yeah, on the first one the bar was, how do we steal the Declaration of Independence? What they wanted to do on this one was to top that somehow. I'm not sure how much I should give away about this, but the concept in Book of Secrets is basically, how do you kidnap the President of the United States? [Laughs]. Which even thinking about that when they told me, I was like, "Okay, I give up, how am I possibly going to do that?" I also think we've upped the ante with the historical concept of this one because the story revolves around the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and some missing pages from the diary of John Wilkes Booth [President Lincoln's assassin]. Those missing pages are a historical fact and there is still a lot of speculation about that fateful night that Lincoln was shot at the theatre and who was involved and what they might have been looking for. So it makes for a wonderful and exciting and really interesting tale. There's a nice, complicated weave to the story.
Q: How about the action in this film? The chases and getaways in the first National Treasure were a big part of the fun.
A: I think there's a wow factor to the spectacle this time around. The set pieces are gorgeous. The Black Hills in South Dakota, that's a really amazing visual experience, and we shot there, on Mount Rushmore. Washington photographs well each and every time I see it in a movie and this isn't an exception. There are great shots of us in front of the White House. We're also going to be in London shortly and Buckingham Palace plays into it, and then we're in Paris. So it's big.
Q: This is the fifth time you have worked with Jerry Bruckheimer. What's the secret of your working relationship?
A: Jerry is someone I kind of came up with. I remember auditioning for him for a movie called Thief of Hearts, which is such a long time ago. I didn't do the film, but I would see him around town and he was always a very nice man and easy to talk to.
Q: As far as your work goes, does making a big action film differ from doing a small, art-house film?
A: A big difference on a film such as National Treasure is that you will sometimes get new pages of dialogue on the day you're actually filming them. The writers sort of respond to what's already been shot and how it's working out and I think it keeps things very fresh and spontaneous but at the same time it's always a bit of a high-wire act.
Q: And you like that?
A: Yeah, there's a level of adrenaline to it that gives me an edge that I enjoy, though I don't know if I would feel very confident if it was not Jerry producing. Somehow you know with Jerry that the work will get done and it will be satisfying and entertain people.
Q: How do you feel about having Helen Mirren play your mother?
A: I first saw her in a movie called Excalibur years ago and I loved her in that. And I could see where she could be my mother because we have a similar aquiline nose and long face. I remember with Jon Voight on the first film, I said," Look I don't care who you cast to play my father as long as he's the greatest actor in the world." When Jon's on, there is no one any better. And the same for my mother. I said, "I don't care who you cast as long as she's the greatest actress in the world". And the same thing with Helen: when she's on, there is no one any better.
Q: Has she surprised you in any way?
A: I think I have an ability to guess what people are like from photographs and when I met her, she was just what I hoped she would be. She's very down to earth, very easy to talk to, very friendly, and has a shocking sense of humor at times, which is arresting and fun [laughs]. I guess it's a way of breaking the ice. She's a force to be reckoned with, a big deal, and you could easily be intimidated by someone of that caliber, and yet within a second she puts you at your ease.
Q: Between Helen Mirren, Jon Voight, Ed Harris and Harvey Keitel, you have a pretty talented ensemble on this film. Do you ever worry they will steal all your scenes?
A: [Laughs] The more you encourage someone to be great in a movie the better that movie will be, however it happens. You know, it's one of the more obnoxious things about film actors when they get competitive and start to worry about being upstaged and who's going to look at them, who gets the last word. To me that's when acting becomes kind of adolescent and makes me not want to be an actor, so I try to do everything I can to not be that way.
Q: You're obviously comfortable in many different film genres, from romances to action to serious drama. Do you think that has helped or hindered your career?
A: It's clear to me that I've successfully pissed everybody off! I've pissed off the fans of Leaving Las Vegas and I've pissed off the fans of National Treasure, because I keep doing a little bit of everything and inevitably everybody gets upset at some point. But I'm not interested in a career based on one kind of movie. I'm the kind of person who needs to keep a sense of adventure and exploration going and it doesn't mean it's always going to work, but it is going to keep me interested, and that's my main goal. I'm not sure people always get it, but I'm genuinely interested in punk rock, rebellious, avant-garde films and I'm genuinely interested in big adventure movies. That's how I grew up. I like both. So, you know, I'm planning to keep pissing people off.
