Nicolas Cage

Snakes are sometimes perceived as evil, but they are also perceived as medicine. If you look at an ambulance, there's the two snakes on the side of the ambulance. The caduceus, or the staff of Hermes, there's the two snakes going up it, which means that the venom can also be healing.

All of my characters have a glint of madness.

I'll speak for myself, but there's a lot of humor to be found in sarcasm and darkness. You talk to any paramedic, they survive by developing a pretty off-kilter sense of humor.

I try not to be proud. I try to actively attack pride.

The end of the world is on people's minds. We have the power to destroy or save ourselves, but the question is what do you do with that responsibility.

Someone like Vincent Price or somebody like Christopher Lee, they never won an award, and it doesn't matter. They're cool.

My house is basically a trailer. I live a circus lifestyle. I'm always moving. It's not always easy for people that live with me, but that's the path I chose.

I have dogs, and it's no secret that I find reptiles interesting, but the thing about reptiles is that they really just wanna be left alone, and I understand them. It's, 'Don't pick me up, stop holding me, don't look at me, just leave me alone.' I have to admit, sometimes I feel like that.

I'm not really gadget oriented. I'm not into technology or computers. I'm not good at interfacing with that sort of gear.

I like both Blu-ray and DVD, but Blu-ray gives you more options.

I don't want you to think that I'm up late reading a stack of Spider-Man comics and eating a tray of lemon cookies while sucking my thumb. I'm not doing that. But I am loyal to the influences of my childhood.

I'm at the point now where I know I'm doing something right when a movie gets mixed reviews, because then I'm not in the box. I don't want to make it too easy for people and I don't want to make it too easy for myself. I want to try something unusual.

I'm not contractually obligated to sequels on anything.

One of the things that's interesting to me is I find things like caffeine and stunts actually relax me. When they're putting a bit of gel on my arm and lighting me on fire, or when I'm about to go into a high-speed car chase or rev a motorcycle up pretty fast, I find everything else around me slows down.

Film acting is one of the only industries where you're criticized for working hard. In any other industry, it's considered a quality and something to behold.

I loved 'Fantasia' as a kid because it filled me with wonder, enchantment and awe. It was my first real introduction into classical music. It was totally inspiring to me.

The best characters are the ones that somehow manage to be both attractive and repulsive at the same time. If you do that, you're at the center of the universe - if you can find characters who are more ambiguous and can raise more questions than answers.

I want people to discover my movies, and however they choose to receive it is their business.

I've gotten pretty good at leaving characters on the set. I go home and try to relax and regroup and be ready for the next day.

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.'

I believe that there's a way to question authority with manners, with dignity. There's no reason to be rude about it.

Personally, my interests are ancient history and ancient civilizations. In my own life, I'd like to go to places like Easter Island.

The movies I cannot go without and that I watch annually are 'A Clockwork Orange,' 'Scarface' and 'Fantasia.'

Film has lost something in the translation to high tech. It's become so super-real. It's with digital this and stereo that, and everything's like a CD.

If I do do a sequel, I'm going to have to know for sure that the script is better than the original. So I'm going to be very careful about that because I'm not eager to repeat myself.

Zoology has always been interesting to me. Nature is fascinating.

I use technology for communication, but I don't have a Blackberry or an iPhone. I use an outdated cell phone, but I'm fine with it.

In this day and age, where you have a lot of comic book movies made every day, and most of them are really good boys, it's important to have a couple bad boys out there, too.

I like movies where you feel like you're going into another world, and no matter how many times you watch it, you're gonna see something new in that world. That level of detail really inspires me.

I do enjoy animated movies. I really love anime and movies like 'Spirited Away' and 'Howl's Moving Castle.'

I've always maintained that I see myself as a student. There's always something to learn and be challenged by and hopefully grow from.

Mel Blanc is a hero because of what he could do with his voice for all the Looney Tunes, the Warner Brothers cartoons, to be the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig. To me, he's a great actor.

I am not a demon. I am a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion.

I don't drink blood, and last time I looked in the mirror, I had a reflection.

Nobody wants to watch perfection.

I think what makes people fascinating is conflict, it's drama, it's the human condition. Nobody wants to watch perfection.

I have a love / hate relationship with the city of New Orleans, which is the strongest kind of relationship.

Having been a father for 19 years I realise fatherhood has changed me.

I'm not afraid to play ugly - look at 'Adaptation.' I looked like a turd that a cat had coughed up.

Mike Myers as Austin Powers makes me laugh - that was genius - and Daffy Duck makes me laugh, but I like odd behavior. I don't like hip dialogue and one-liners and all that sort of cool, sophomoric comedy. It's just not for me.

I love all animals. I have a fascination with fish, birds, whales - sentient life - insects, reptiles.

Everything we do impacts someone else's life.

It's amazing marrying someone who wants nothing to do with Hollywood.

My father once said, 'If you're in the desert and you're dying of thirst, are you going to drink a glass of blood or are you going to drink a glass of water?' I think what he was trying to say, interesting coming from my blood father, is sometimes there are people in your family that can be toxic.

I would definitely return to Austria. They were all good experiences for me, but definitely Austria because there were some ancient Celtic, sacred sites that were in the forest that were quite beautiful.

I want to always find new ways of reinventing myself.

You can't make your choices based on what critics think. You have to make your choices based on what's honest for you.

As a teenager I was more of an anarchist, but now I want people to thrive and be harmonious.

I think the paparazzi might have chased me out of Los Angeles.

I'm one of those people that feels that Americans that shouldn't do Shakespeare... The rhythms of the English language and the mannerisms of the English speech seems to work effortlessly with William Shakespeare, but when Americans do it, something seems stuck.