Emmanuel Itier: Nice ride, man!

Nicholas Cage: Yes, nice ride indeed!

EI: What makes a great ghost rider?

NC: Well, to be a great ghost rider, you really have to be one! You have to believe that these things do exist in some dimension, and you need a sense of humor–you can’t take yourself too seriously. You have to be playful. This is a great ride–this film. It’s like a ride–a spooky ride–at the amusement park! You go on a roller coaster. I want to ride this one and be scared enough to feel alive and not too scared to be able to finish the ride. “Ghost Rider” is all about fun.

EI: Every time we meet, Nick, you appear to me that you’re riding life and still roaming on this planet in search of something. What is the most important thing you found in life, and what are you still looking for?

NC: It’s an enormous question. I agree with you that “Ghost Rider” is a philosophical movie dressed in commercial clothes. It has deep subject matter. It has mythology that is really deep and that you can use as a life lesson in some way. Maybe you learn not to make deals with the wrong people–people who want to trick you, and it’s not necessary about the devil. It means that there are people who can betray you, and what are you going to do with that? You’re in a bad situation and you need to get out of it. It’s about how you’re going to make it. You have to take the negative and turn it into the positive. For me, this is also what the movie is about.

EI: Indeed, it seems like God and the Devil makes one in us, and life is but an enormous balancing act…

NC: Right–this is the crossroad. Like my character in the movie, it’s about being at crossroads in your life and which way you’re going to go for. You’re here, you’re in a mess, and so are you going for the worst mess, or are you going to get out of this mess? I think we all find ourselves at times in these sorts of situations.

EI: If someone would ask you to sell your soul, what would you sell it for?

NC: It’s weird being an actor in Hollywood and putting my soul in my work and so, anyone who is putting their soul in their work is, in a way–in some definition–selling it. But it doesn’t mean it’s to the devil. It can be for a movie audience. I’m trying to entertain people and make them a little bit happier in their lives–to make them think a little more about what this life experience is. I think it’s worth it if you can make it in a way that is helpful to others, so go for it!

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