Nick Cave Confirms He Gets Mistaken For Nicolas Cage 'Fairly Often'

Nick Cave has revealed that he gets mistaken for Nicolas Cage “fairly often.”

Responding to two fans, Georgia and Penny, who wrote to him for his Red Hand Files, Cave said he’d read Nicolas Cage’s recent piece in The Guardian (where Cage wrote, “I don’t think a day goes by where I’m not mistaken for Nick Cave”), and he, too, gets mistaken for the famous actor.

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“I read Nic Cage’s piece in The Guardian, and I relate to his experience,” Cave began, noting that he’d previously written about the experience in a previous issue of the Red Hand Files. However, he had a different story to tell this time.

While living in São Paulo, Cave recalled walking home from a party and stopping at a bar for a nightcap. There, he sat next to a young Brazilian man who seemed “a bit downcast.”

“He said he was okay, and we started to talk,” Cave continued, confirming that the man told him his name was Diego. Cave wrote, “As he asked me my name, the barman leaned over and said to him, ‘Dude, you’re talking to fucking Nick Cave!’ 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.”

The story went on, “He kept looking at me, then at his drink, shaking his head in wonder and saying, ‘Nick Cave. Fucking Nick Cave.’ Anyway, we sat there talking for a couple of hours, getting completely pissed, and then Diego started to turn 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.’ Then he pointed at me and said, ‘But she fucking 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.’”

Cave wrote that Diego started crying once more, and he didn’t have the heart to explain that Diego had mixed him up with Nicolas Cage.

“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,” Cave wrote.

“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 bullshit. 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 concluded, “Anyway, these confusions between me and Mr. Cage happen fairly often. But I don’t mind. I’m a fan. Have you guys seen Mandy? My God. What a film.”

Last August, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their 18th studio album, Wild God. Cave embarked on a theatre tour of Australia last year, with Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood playing bass.