Nicolas Cage's outlook: Mostly sunny
By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY
Nicolas Cage's character in The Weather Man can no more control the problems in his fractured family than he can control the winds and snows that frost his city.
The dark comedy, which arrives in theaters Friday, is about a man who can't make things work with his estranged wife, disconnected son and boorish daughter. Meanwhile, he excels at a job he considers frivolous.
"I'd been looking for quite some time to play in a family drama about the different things that can happen to people in divorce," Cage says. "But I didn't want it to be a Hallmark card."
The Oscar winner, 41, saw elements of himself in the hapless Dave Spritz, who playfully lobs a snowball at his ex-wife (Hope Davis) and ends up injuring her eye.
"Obviously, he's been through a few marriages, so there's a lot of his real life that I think he brought to the part," Weather Man director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) says.
The actor had an on-again, off-again marriage to Medium actress Patricia Arquette for six years and was married to Lisa Marie Presley for three months in 2002.
Wed to third wife Alice since July 2004, Cage says The Weather Man was a kind of therapy for his relationship with Presley. Their divorce became final last year.
"I was channeling any kind of pain or residual feelings from my divorce that I'd gone through and try to turn it into a positive," Cage says. "It's that feeling of wanting to keep a family together and trying to keep things from falling apart, which doesn't always work."
Cage's weatherman also has an awkward relationship with his father (Michael Caine), an author whose accomplishments dwarf those of his son.
But Cage says that in real life, he has solid relationships with his father, August Coppola, a literature professor, and his oldest son, 15-year-old Weston, from a relationship with model/actress Kristina Fulton.
Weston has "a tremendous amount of dynamic energy," Cage says. "He could easily kick my (butt) at any moment. He's a black belt, and he's going to be 6-foot-6.
"I wanted to get to that next step in movies where I was playing fathers with the experience I have," Cage adds.
Cage says his relationship with Alice, 21, a former waitress whom he calls "an angel," grounds him. She gave birth to their son, Kal-el, Oct. 3. "I don't think I could have done these last two or three movies if she wasn't there," says Cage, who did last winter's family hit National Treasure and Lord of War and is now working with director Oliver Stone on a 9/11 drama. "I never really experienced that kind of support. It was the perfect dynamic to bring a child into the world."
So what's behind naming his son Kal-el, Superman's birth name?
Cage, who took his stage surname from the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage, says he has "a warm spot in my heart" for comics, because that's how he learned to read.
"We wanted a name that was exotic, was American and stood for something good. So Kal-el was a name we came up with, and then Kal for short."
"I'd been looking for quite some time to play in a family drama about the different things that can happen to people in divorce," Cage says. "But I didn't want it to be a Hallmark card."
The Oscar winner, 41, saw elements of himself in the hapless Dave Spritz, who playfully lobs a snowball at his ex-wife (Hope Davis) and ends up injuring her eye.
"Obviously, he's been through a few marriages, so there's a lot of his real life that I think he brought to the part," Weather Man director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) says.
The actor had an on-again, off-again marriage to Medium actress Patricia Arquette for six years and was married to Lisa Marie Presley for three months in 2002.
Wed to third wife Alice since July 2004, Cage says The Weather Man was a kind of therapy for his relationship with Presley. Their divorce became final last year.
"I was channeling any kind of pain or residual feelings from my divorce that I'd gone through and try to turn it into a positive," Cage says. "It's that feeling of wanting to keep a family together and trying to keep things from falling apart, which doesn't always work."
Cage's weatherman also has an awkward relationship with his father (Michael Caine), an author whose accomplishments dwarf those of his son.
But Cage says that in real life, he has solid relationships with his father, August Coppola, a literature professor, and his oldest son, 15-year-old Weston, from a relationship with model/actress Kristina Fulton.
Weston has "a tremendous amount of dynamic energy," Cage says. "He could easily kick my (butt) at any moment. He's a black belt, and he's going to be 6-foot-6.
"I wanted to get to that next step in movies where I was playing fathers with the experience I have," Cage adds.
Cage says his relationship with Alice, 21, a former waitress whom he calls "an angel," grounds him. She gave birth to their son, Kal-el, Oct. 3. "I don't think I could have done these last two or three movies if she wasn't there," says Cage, who did last winter's family hit National Treasure and Lord of War and is now working with director Oliver Stone on a 9/11 drama. "I never really experienced that kind of support. It was the perfect dynamic to bring a child into the world."
So what's behind naming his son Kal-el, Superman's birth name?
Cage, who took his stage surname from the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage, says he has "a warm spot in my heart" for comics, because that's how he learned to read.
"We wanted a name that was exotic, was American and stood for something good. So Kal-el was a name we came up with, and then Kal for short."
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