Found this neat little interview with Nic while looking for pics of him performing magic! It is one I haven'r seen before.

http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=653

On the stage of a seedy Las Vegas showroom, Nicolas Cage, in de rigeur bad tuxedo, is performing magic tricks for a decidedly disinterested audience. But things, of course, are not as they seem. To begin with we’re nowhere near Vegas, but in a shabby casino inexplicably located in a drab suburban shopping mall somewhere in the vast sprawl of greater Los Angeles. And in the context of Next, the Lee Tamahori-directed adaptation of Philp K. Dick’s short story The Golden Man, Cage (or Cris Johnson, as his character is called) is not performing tricks at all, but artfully disguising his ability to see two minutes into the future as stage magic – the reason for this is that the FBI are on his trail, keen to capture him and exploit his gift. Rounding out the cast of what promises to be an action-packed thriller, ripe with dark undertones, is Jessica Biel as Liz, Cris’s accomplice and love interest. Between tricks, Empire grabbed some time with stars Cage and Biel...

Are you a big Philip K. Dick fan?
I do like Philip K. Dick. And I really like the way his movies translate to film. Blade Runner is a magnificent piece of work and ever since I saw it I’ve been fascinated by Philip K. Dick’s imagination.

Why do you think so much of his work remains relevant today?
He deals with things that are happening as we speak. The idea of replicants for example is starting to happen on some level. We’re cloning animals, and using robotics to perform human tasks. And the idea of precognition: it’s something that we all do – we all think about what we’re going to do before we do it. But the idea that it could become reality on a paranormal level seems, to me, to be in vogue. I think Dick always had his finger on society’s pulse, he always had a feel for the zeitgeist.

Was that why you wanted to do Next?
Yeah, that and I was just trying to find a character I hadn’t played before. I’ve never played anything like this, a man who can see two minutes into his own future. I thought that presented a marvellous opportunity to act in a different way. I never want to get comfortable with anything I do. I want to take chances. And having to make real the notion of precognition provided all kinds of acting obstacles. I mean, how do you slow the movie down enough to show that I’m observing my future, assessing my options, and still keep some tension and momentum going?

Have you had personal experience of the paranormal?
Well, I have a completely open mind. I’ve never seen or experienced anything like this, or met anyone who could see into the future. But that’s not to say I don’t believe it’s possible!

You did some fairly serious rewrites on the Next script, didn’t you?
I did. When they rewrote the script the second time I had no character, there was nothing to me that was interesting anymore. So what I hooked into was the notion of whether a man who had these powers would be ostracised. It occurred to me that he’d want to hide his powers, and the best way to do that, I thought, would be to hide them in plain sight, to adopt the guise of a Vegas magician. And I was trying to find a way to be romantic with Jessica Biel’s character very quickly. I had the idea of folding a paper napkin into a rose, having it burst into flames and then turning into a real rose. Then I’d recite definitions of beauty from old Italian painters. I thought, “if I do that there’s no way she isn’t going to kiss me!”

Did you learn the tricks yourself?
I did.

How hard was that?
It was a lot of fun actually, because I’ve always been interested in magic, and I’ve got a great magic team on the set with me who make sure it all goes smoothly. It’s been a childhood dream come true.

Next is a PG-13 movie. Would you have preferred a different rating so you could have made it more edgy?
Well, that’s really up to the financiers, the people who want to get their investment back. It’s no secret that if you deliver a PG-13 movie it will be a lot more lucrative than an R-rated movie. Personally, it think the movie should be whatever itself tells you it is. I struggled with this on The Wicker Man. Myself and Neil LaBute had a very specific vision for that film, and it turned out to be an R-rated interpretation of the story. But I guess a deal had been signed to deliver a PG-13 film, so we had to re-cut the movie to accommodate that. Which to me doesn’t really make any sense.

You seem to have a thing about Vegas in your movies…
I find Vegas very interesting. I don’t gamble, but what is interesting to me is it’s like one-stop shopping for the world. You go to Vegas and you can get a taste of everything. You can get a Pinks hot dog, you can go to Il Molino, you can go to the best steakhouse in Paris. I find that amazing, it’s like a giant mall. And Vegas has been lucky for me, I’ve made, I don’t know how many movies there now – Leaving Las Vegas, Honeymoon In Vegas, Con Air… and now Next!