Nicolas Cage Says He Probably Wasnt Paid For This Award-Winning Performance

Nicolas Cage appears to be unfazed over what he earned to star as Ben Sanderson in the 1995 movie Leaving Las Vegas.

In an interview at the SXSW Film & TV Festival earlier this week, the actor told Business Insider that its probably true that he didnt get paid for the role that won him both a Golden Globe  and an Oscar .

But I havent been thinking about it, Cage said.

He added that he absolutely had to play the part in a film that follows Sanderson, a screenwriter with alcoholism and suicidal thoughts who meets a sex worker named Sera (played by Elisabeth Shue ) in Las Vegas.

There was no doubt in my mind that it would be an experience and a great movie. I wasnt going to stop whether they paid me or not, I was making the movie, Cage said of the film based on a John OBrien novel.

Leaving Las Vegas writer and director Mike Figgis, in a 2022 interview for The Hollywood Reporters It Happened in Hollywood podcast , revealed that he and Cage werent paid $100,000 fees for the film.

They said the film never went into profit, said Figgis of Lumiere Pictures, which financed what THR noted was a $4 million film.

He continued, I mean, my career then took off again, and the next film I did, I got really well paid. And within a year, [Cage] was earning $20 million a film, so that was quite good.

The critically acclaimed film which scored director and adapted screenplay nominations at the Academy Awards grossed $32 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo .

For her role in the film, Shue also scored lead actress nominations at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars.