Take the worst movie premise imaginable, stick Nic Cage in it, and you've got something to work with. He is a thoroughly entertaining fellow to watch on screen, especially when dropped into the role of an oddball. This isn't to say that the premise of Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," but Cage's Balthazar Blake character definitely qualifies as an oddball.

Just take a look at the new trailer to find out for yourself. The story is ripped straight from Disney's "Fantasia," in which Mickey Mouse animates an army of mops and chaos ensues. In this coming movies, set for a summer 2010 release, Jay Baruchel is the bumbling apprentice and Cage, the master wizard. That's awesome on so many levels I have a hard time processing it. The trailer even offers the briefest of glimpses at the mops in action, which you can see after the jump. Read more...

Yeah, we all know that the movies are just “Indiana Jones” rip-offs. And they’re preposterous in every way possible, from the kidnapping of the President to secret messages on the Declaration of Independence to the fact that Justin Bartha’s bumbling comic relief somehow hasn’t been killed. But dammit, there’s just something about those “National Treasure” flicks that makes two hours vanish in a non-threatening haze, leaving you with a smile on your face and the vague feeling you’ve been entertained.

Not too long ago, I was at the massive Disney D23 conference when Studio Chairman Dick Cook surprised everyone by bringing Nicolas Cage onstage. The actor said he was on board for a third turn as adventurer Ben Gates. But now that Cook has been fired, Cage has developed some nasty money problems and various stars are expressing concern over Disney’s turnover, who can say what will be? Cage, that's who. I asked him recently if he was still on board for a third “National Treasure” flick, and here's what he had to say. Read more...

FROM SPLASH PAGE: Nicolas Cage’s 2007 hit “Ghost Rider” may have made $115 million, but two years later it seems to be existing in that same state of Hollywood limbo as barely-blockbusters like “The Sum of All Fears,” “Hairspray,” or “The Italian Job” — sequel rumors pop up, but there’s some doubt whether one would cement a bigger “Bourne”-like box-office increase, or a “Tomb Raider”-esque over-anticipation of demand. And despite reports of movement on David Goyer's "Ghost Rider" sequel script, Cage says he’s the wrong person to ask these days for updates.

“You probably know more about it then I do,” laughed the veteran actor when asked about the project. “What have you read?"

Cage said he hadn’t heard anything about Goyer's sequel — which is set 10 years after the first film — and is afraid to comment on his future with the character these days.

Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Nic Cage Uncertain About 'Ghost Rider 2' Involvement

FROM MTV.COM: Seventeen years ago, the legendary Harvey Keitel launched the second act of his movie career with a pair of tough-guy instant classics: Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" and Abel Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant." A crack-pipe-smoking breath of fresh air, "Lieutenant" predated "The Shield" by a decade in telling the NC-17 story of a junkie, gambler, killer cop on a downward spiral.

During the past year, film buffs have been up in arms over director Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." Starring Nicolas Cage as the type of at-wit's-end madman who puts a gun to an old lady's temple to get information, the flick co-stars Eva Mendes and Val Kilmer and packs one potent surprise: Although it has little to do with Keitel's movie, it is a deranged, worthy successor.

Recently, we caught up with Cage to discuss a return to his over-the-top roots — and the joys of winning over haters like myself.

Continue reading Nicolas Cage Takes On 'Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans' Haters

FROM MTV.COM: Do fish have dreams? Do they dream of ominous iguanas, perhaps? Or maybe the disembodied breakdancing souls of freshly capped gangsters? More to the point, will Nicolas Cage ever make another movie that makes sense? Judging by his new one, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," and considering his current financial straits, the prospects seem dim.

The director — the esteemed Werner Herzog, stupefyingly enough — claims never to have seen Abel Ferrara's original 1992 "Bad Lieutenant," and I think we can take him at his word. The Ferrara movie, which I'd recommend seeing before — or better yet instead of — this one, concerns a viciously bent New York City cop; and Harvey Keitel, in the title role, is the embodiment of rank, skeezy corruption. In Herzog's take on the story, the action has been relocated, for no reason at all, to New Orleans, "in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."

Continue reading 'Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans': Drug Bust, By Kurt Loder

It should be understood that the new film "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" is not technically a remake. Filmmaker Werner Herzog has supposedly never even seen Abel Ferrara's original 1992 film, simply titled "Bad Lieutenant," and the only connections are the title and the fact that both films' protagonists are indeed bad police lieutenants.

Now, according to statements made to the Los Angeles Times in a piece about the second picture, producers Alan and Gabe Polsky hope to continue the "Bad Lieutenant" name as an ongoing franchise. Read more...

Want to see crazy Nic Cage being crazy? I love this guy. He makes the strangest choices with his career, and I mean that in an awesome way. From "Leaving Las Vegas" to "Face/Off"?! "Con Air"? "The Wicker Man"? Freakin' "G-Force"? Cage is the best. I don't even want to know what this "Season of the Witch" wackiness is all about; I just want to go in cold and behold the actor in all of his deranged fury.

So "Witch" sounds like a medieval-era, swords & sorcery road movie. Knights bring a suspected witch to a monastery, only to learn that she might be behind the Black Plague. The trailer carries the strong scent of Sam Raimi. In short, I dig. You will too.

Nicolas Cage is often viewed as a love-'em or hate-'em kind of actor, so his involvement in the Tobey Maguire-produced "The Hungry Rabbit Jumps" is bound to further divide movie fans. MTV News spoke with James D. Stern, one of the film's producers, to get the official rundown on the project.

"It's a thriller about a guy who has something quite untoward happen to his wife," Stern said of the film's premise. "He's approached by a vigilante group and they can take care of it, because it doesn't look like the police will be able to. In exchange, he'll have to owe them a favor. He mistakenly takes them up on it and finds himself in a bind that's hard to get out of." Read more...

-- Rebecca De Mornay, who I'll always identify with the delightfully cheesy "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle," gets to roll out her sadistic mommy act again when she stars in the upcoming remake of the 1980 horror flick "Mother's Day." Latter-day "Saw" director Darren Lynn Bousman is directing, so expect plenty of greasy, grimy gore to keep you up at night when De Mornay and her band of twisted sociopaths terrorize a family living in their old home. (Variety)

-- Nicolas Cage has signed on to star in the revenge flick "Driving Angry," which will be a 3-D release. Cage will play a man who sets out on a quest for bloody murder after his daughter is killed and her child is kidnapped. Patrick Lussier will direct a script that he co-wrote with Todd Farmer. Lussier previously directed "My Bloody Valentine 3D," so he's got plenty of experience in looking at a scene with an eye towards multi-dimensional spectacle. (The Hollywood Reporter) Read more...

Would that I could spend a day basking in the gloriously weird presence of Nicolas Cage. My initial compulsion would be to pick his brain for production related anecdotes from such modern classics as "Raising Arizona," "Gone in 60 Seconds" (it's classic to me, so shut up), "Leaving Las Vegas," "Face/Off"... the list goes on and on. Ultimately however, I think I would cave and ask him odd questions just to see what kinds of answers I get. Questions like whether or not he can talk to animals. That's exactly what MTV's Josh Horowitz asked at the press junket for "G-Force," which hits theaters tomorrow. Watch this video, that's all I can say.

To hear more from Cage on his "G-Force" mole, his upcoming role in "Kick-Ass" and his thoughts on "Spider-Man" and "Warcraft" director Sam Raimi, check out the rest of our Rough Cut interview at MTV.com!