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Nick Cave has shared an anecdote about a particularly memorable time he was confused for the actor Nicolas Cage.
The 67-year-old Australian musician says he is frequently mixed up with the 61-year-old American actor due to their similar names.
The reverse is also true. While promoting his new film The Surfer, Cage recently told The Guardian: “I don’t think there’s a day that goes by where I’m not mistaken for Nick Cave.”
In response, Cave shared a story on his Red Hand Files newsletter about an incident he says occurred “years ago” in São Paulo, Brazil.
While drunk in a bar, Cave recalled meeting a young Brazilian man named Diego.
“As he asked me my name, the barman leaned over and said to him, ‘Dude, you’re talking to f***ing Nick Cave!’” the musician remembered. “Diego suddenly became super-animated, jumping around on his stool, saying that he loved me, that he was my greatest fan, and so on and so forth. He kept looking at me, then at his drink, shaking his head in wonder and saying, ‘Nick Cave. F***ing Nick Cave.’”
As the night went on, Cave says the young man grew maudlin. “I asked him again if he was alright, and he burst into tears and said, ‘My wife kicked me out. Told me never to come back. She says she hates me.’ I was drunk, so I hugged him and asked, ‘Why does she hate you?’ He said, ‘She thinks I’m stupid,’” Cave continued.
“Then he pointed at me and said, ‘But she f***ing loves you. Just completely loves you.’ I said, ‘Really?’ He replied, ‘Yeah, Peggy Sue Got Married is her favourite film. She’s watched it like a hundred times.’ Then Diego started crying again.
“I was about to explain that he’d made a mistake and mixed me up with the actor, Nicolas Cage, but he looked up at me with such a pitiful mixture of tragedy and wonder that I didn’t have the heart. ‘She just loves you, man,’ he said.
“Then he asked me about my acting career. I said something like, ‘I’m just an ordinary person like you. Hollywood is not all it’s cracked up to be. It can be a cruel place. It gets lonely sometimes,’ and so on.
“After a while, I began to warm to my theme. I told him that making Raising Arizona was the most extraordinary experience and a highpoint in my career, that John Goodman was a fascinating and complex character, and how it was a real privilege to work with the Coen brothers and that they were ‘masters of their craft’ and all this bulls***.
“Eventually, Diego decided he should go back home and tell his wife, Ana, that he’d met her favourite actor, and that Nick Cave says he’s not stupid, and that he’s a good guy. Then he suggested that I come home with him and put in a good word. I tried to dissuade him, telling him that it was impossible as I had to be on a movie set early in the morning. Eventually, he relented, and instead we got a pen and a piece of paper from the barman, and I wrote: ‘Dear Ana, Diego is not stupid. He’s a good guy. Love, Nic Cage.’”
Cave recalled that as the young man stumbled away, the barman observed: “His wife’s got a point.”
The musician added that he’s a fan of Cage’s work, saying: “Have you guys seen Mandy? My God. What a film.”
It is not the first time Cave has commented on the confusion between the two men. In 2022, he wrote that: “I’ll be going through customs and the customs officer will look at my passport and say, ‘Happy to have you with us, Mr Cave. Loved you in Face/Off.”
English (US) ·