Nicolas Cage Free Trivia Quiz

Answer: Iron Man

These days, Robert Downey Jr. is so inextricably linked to the role of the wise-cracking, genius Tony Stark, moonlighting as superhero Iron Man, that it's almost inconceivable that Jon Favreau could have gone for anybody else. But Downey had a time of it in the late '90s and early 2000s: after starring in 1992's "Chaplin" (incidentally, a role that Cage was also considered for), the actor spiraled and wound up in a drug rehabilitation program. In 2008, though, he turned his career around with "Tropic Thunder" and "Iron Man". Favreau admitted in an interview that he thought Downey's personal history would evoke a strong performance in a troubled character. But audiences approved of Downey's humorous turn, too--and as a result, he has made millions in sequels and ensemble pieces, like the more recent "Avengers" films.

"Iron Man" wasn't Cage's first run-in with superhero flicks. A year earlier, he had starred in "Ghost Rider", a widely-panned entry in the genre for a hero also owned by Marvel Comics. The 2012 follow-up "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" was even worse. But what's less known is that Cage nearly landed parts in some films based on the DC universe, too. At one point, he was considered for the role of Scarecrow in the never-made fifth entry of the Joel Schumacher "Batman" saga, an attempt to reboot the franchise after the let's-try-and-forget-it-ever-happened-movie "Batman & Robin". Instead, Christopher Nolan took the reins and hired Cillian Murphy for a critically-acclaimed role in "Batman Begins". Cage was also set to play the Man of Steel in the movie "Superman Lives", a film that was aborted because it looked so bad on the drawing floor.

In the original 2008 film, audiences were introduced to Downey as Tony Stark when the characters inherits a multi-billion-dollar defense contracting company from his father. Stark is abducted by terrorists in Afghanistan and survives a piece of shrapnel going straight to his heart by a magnet that is surgically implanted. Then, he constructs a metal suit to escape from his captors.

Answer: The Breakfast Club

Cage was 21 when "The Breakfast Club" was released, making him older than Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall, but younger than Emilio Estevez and the actor who eventually won the role of Bender, Judd Nelson. As a result, we audience members were deprived of the opportunity of seeing a young Cage smoke, dance on top of a railing, and criticize Barry Manilow's wardrobe. Your call. Bender, who is stuck in school detention on a Saturday with the five other stereotyped members of the "breakfast club", reveals that trouble at home has shaped his "delinquent" persona. In the film's last shot, he triumphantly raises an arm, strolling across the football field, suggesting that he has conquered some of his inner demons.

Estevez, who played the role of "athlete" Andrew Clark in "The Breakfast Club", had initially auditioned for the role of "criminal" Bender, but director John Hughes, who had made up some of the cast from his earlier project "Sixteen Candles", decided to switch him over. As a result, Bender was actually the last of the five students to be cast, and the director had a time of it, settling on John Cusack before swapping him out for Nelson at the last minute. As another interesting aside, Rick Moranis was originally cast for the role of the film's janitor, but got cut because he wanted to play the role speaking in a thick Russian accent, and Hughes didn't approve.

Answer: Francis Ford Coppola

Casting for "The Godfather Part III" was very much a family affair. The least acclaimed of the trilogy, the film also stars Sofia Coppola (Francis' daughter), who was a last-minute choice: Julia Roberts and Madonna were originally considered, but rejected for popular model Rebecca Schaeffer, who was then tragically shot before filming could begin. As a result, Coppola cast Winona Ryder, but she dropped out the first day of filming, too. So he brought in Sofia. By contrast, Nicolas Cage didn't make it into the movie, despite being the nephew of both Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire, Francis' sister, who played Connie in the trilogy. Andy Garcia wound up with the role of Vincent, Sonny Corleone's illegitimate son, instead, though it was heavily contested by actors like Val Kilmer, Charlie Sheen, and Alec Baldwin.

It probably made sense that Coppola tried to stick with family ties for the third "Godfather" film, since casting and writing the first one could very well have driven him insane. First, Marlon Brando, cast as Vito, was forced by Paramount executives to take a screen test, since they much preferred Ernest Borgnine for the role. Knowing that the legendary actor would be offended, Coppola actually lied and told him that he wanted to try out some equipment at Brando's house, and could he possibly try a few scenes with a new camera? It was during that "screen test" that The Godfather put cotton balls in his mouth for the first time and first gave his iconic impression of a Mafia don. The rest of the casting was hardly easier: Coppola shepherded James Caan, Al Pacino, and Robert Duvall through the disapproval of Paramount too.

According to one legendary story, popular crooner Al Martino, who won the role of Johnny Fontane, was rejected by Coppola. So Martino went to his own godfather, Russ Bufalino, who pulled some strings with the real Mafia to ensure that Martino got the role. If you're not keeping track--this is exactly the same arrangement that Fontane gets in the film. Fear not, though: apparently no horse heads were actually severed in the casting of the movie. The head that Jack Woltz finds in his bed was real, though--Coppola ordered it from a slaughterhouse.

Answer: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

After the critical success that Nicolas Cage achieved in "Leaving Las Vegas"*, he was thought a champion for independent filmmakers, so nine years later, Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman considered him in the role of Joel Barish in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", the film that proved Jim Carrey had dramatic acting chops too. Carrey starred in the brilliant cast with Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, and Kirsten Dunst, and plays a depressed man who pays for an operation to remove all memories of a failed relationship from his brain. Kaufman had earlier written the script for another Cage critical success, 2002's "Adaptation"**, so it would have made sense to cast Nic. But Cage wound up standing aside when he found out that Carrey, a good friend, had submitted an audition tape for the role, clearly trying to break out of his typecast as a goofball. It worked: critics praised the lead talent in the psychological romantic comedy/drama.

*Let's remember, before we get too sarcastic, that Nicolas Cage did in fact win a Best Actor Academy Award for his role in "Leaving Las Vegas" in 1995--meaning that he had more Oscars than Leonardo DiCaprio for almost 20 years. Reflect on that the next time you watch "The Wicker Man".

**See? He had a second nomination, too! It's not just "NOT THE BEEEEESSSSS!"

Answer: Harry--"Dumb and Dumber"

Carrey and Cage were once very strong friends: they co-starred in 1986's "Peggy Sue Got Married", for instance. But in 1994, when Carrey asked Cage if he wanted to join him in the farcical project "Dumb and Dumber", Nic said no, because he was working on a smaller project called "Leaving Las Vegas". And despite the fun it would have been to see Cage making the most annoying sound in the world, we've got to think it was one of the better decisions of his career.

Instead, the role of Carrey's idiotic sidekick Harry Dunne went to Jeff Daniels.

Interestingly, the Farrelly brothers had also considered Gary Oldman for Carrey's role as Lloyd. Oldman never really got into slapstick comedy: it would have made for a much different film. As it wound up, though, audiences witnessed the antics of Harry (Daniels) and Lloyd (Carrey) as they stroll across the country to return a briefcase to a woman with whom each man is smitten.

The film's comedic value rests mainly on the duo's impressive ability to never figure out that they're holding a million dollars in cash, even when they're in the company of hitmen.

Answer: The Matrix

Nicolas Cage refused a role in "The Matrix" because it was shot in Australia, and he didn't want to leave his family for that long. Cue Keanu Reeves, who was willing to take anything the Wachowski Brothers offered him to get out of the "nerd" typecast he had secured in films like "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" and "Chain Reaction". The film's rave reviews turned Reeves into an international celebrity and nearly permitted audiences to forgive his earlier career atrocities (as well as later ones... such as the rest of the "Matrix" films). Notoriously, Will Smith also turned down the role as Neo, and went on instead to make the terrible flick "Wild Wild West". Johnny Depp was also considered by the Wachowskis for the part of the computer programmer who finds out that he has been living in a virtual reality world his entire life.

One good thing about not taking a job in "The Matrix": Cage was spared some intense physical pain. While practicing for some of the movie's intensely choreographed, never-done-before fight scenes, Reeves badly hurt his back and ended up requiring surgery. It actually severely limited his range of motion in filming.

Answer: Tom Cruise

Not just Nicolas Cage, but also Tom Hanks and Michael J. Fox were considered for the role of Joel Goodson in what became Tom Cruise's breakout role: "Risky Business". The film, which was widely acclaimed by critics, is probably best remembered today for the scene where a teenage Cruise (he was 21 when the film was released), home alone, opens up a TV dinner, pours a careful glass of Scotch, then slides in socks on the hardwood floor, wearing only briefs, to the sonorous Bob Seger song "Old Time Rock n Roll".

Now, imagine Nicolas Cage doing it. Cage, who was 19 at the time and had barely appeared in any Hollywood flicks at the time, actually appears as an extra in the film, as a man coming down the stairs at Joel's house during the party.

Answer: Aragorn

A similar story to "The Matrix": Cage didn't want to live in New Zealand for years during the filming of the epic trilogy, so he turned down the role of Aragorn, son of Arathorn, son of Isildur, heir to the throne of Gondor, the rightful king, etc. etc.

A good sport, Cage insists that he likes Viggo Mortensen's turn as the human hero of the saga, insisting that he never watches his own films, so he's able to watch and re-watch "Lord of the Rings" because he's not a part of it. Peter Jackson's original pick for the role was none other than Daniel Day-Lewis, who turned him down, repeatedly. Russell Crowe and Vin Diesel were on the table, too. But definitely the best "almost-happened" was Sean Connery, who was offered the part of Gandalf but turned it down after reading the script.

Answer: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Cage really, really wanted the role of Brad Hamilton in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", and he wasn't alone: Tom Hanks reportedly fought for it too. Cage claims to have auditioned for the part nearly a dozen times, but since he was underage when the film was released, he was disqualified because he couldn't legally work sufficient hours. Judge Reinhold got the part instead. Cage, who earned a consolation prize as a backup part in the film, is actually still listed in the credits as Nicolas Coppola. He later claimed that the film was miserable for him, with actors accusing him of only getting the job due to nepotism from his famous uncle.

Lots of actors wanted to get in on Cameron Crowe's 1982 film, which was actually informed by the director's time going undercover at a California high school. Eric Stoltz's film debut was in the movie. Sean Penn, who also auditioned for the Brad part, beat out Matthew Broderick for Jeff Spicoli, a slacking high school senior. That's right: the directors of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" found somebody better than Matthew Broderick to act as a slacking high school senior. What are the odds? In reality, both Brad Hamilton and Jeff Spicoli are mostly bit roles for comic effect and don't contribute a ton to the movie's plot, which focuses more on the romantic and sexual intrigues between four high schoolers. Jennifer Jason Leigh, one of the film's higher-billing stars, plays Stacy, a sophomore faced with an unexpected pregnancy.

Answer: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Tim Burton's wacky production of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" takes liberal cracks at Roald Dahl's source material and created a very different film than the original 1971 film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory". But even though Gene Wilder's turn as the sorta-insane candy mogul would be hard to top, lots of actors wanted to get in on the fun: Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Michael Keaton, Ben Stiller, Leslie Nielsen, Patrick Stewart, Adam Sandler, and the list goes on. Nevertheless, Burton wanted Depp, with whom he had collaborated on "Edward Scissorhands", "Ed Wood", and "Sleepy Hollow", so Johnny got the role. The film was a big success, an example of the successful lunacy that the Burton/Depp combo can *sometimes* bring to the big screen.

Not mentioned in this quiz are a few other roles that Cage narrowly missed: the Green Goblin in the 2002 Sam Raimi "Spider-Man"; Randy Robinson in "The Wrestler"; John Constantine, in "Constantine", another role he lost to Keanu Reeves; Chev Chelios in "Crank"; Francis Dolarhyde, the villain in "Red Dragon"; and the voice role of "Shrek". Again, for better, for worse--you make the call.