Nicolas Cage

And I remember lying in Elvis's bed, and he had this, you know those little fiber optics things that spin and change colors?

Like a lava lamp?

Not a lava lamp, but not unlike a lava lamp.

Little fiber optics and it rotates and then they can change colors like green and blue and little plastic like strings, like whiskers that stand out and they can change colors.

They're usually sitting on top of a light box that changes colors as it rotates.

And I remember staring at that

and being very relaxed by it and calmed by it.

And I enjoyed thinking of him looking at that and how it must have relaxed him.

So it was kind of a beautiful, poignant little moment in my life.

are you able to to access that kind of control in life also or do choices in life present difficulties that choices in art don't present i think that's a pretty um astute question and within the question i think there's perhaps some observation i i um

It's no secret that I have over the years, particularly early on perhaps, had lack of impulse control and probably shouldn't have bought that car or shouldn't have bought that property or whatever it was.

And yes, in art, the comedian in me is looking for the surprise.

You get a laugh when you do something unexpected.

That's what makes people laugh in my view.

Or you do something marvelously witty.

But it's usually the surprise element that evokes a laugh response.

So that part of my palette is always at work with the tragic part and sometimes at the same time.

But in my own personal life, for example, when you met me seven years ago,

I was more interested in other habits than I am now.

I am extraordinarily boring right now.