Nicolas Cage has explained why he rejected both Lord of the Rings and The Matrix over 20 years ago.
These two trilogies altered the course of cinema forever, thanks to grounded interpretations of fantasy and technological wizardry, so you wouldn't blame the actor for being retrospectively miffed about his decisions.
As it turns out, Cage is much happier that he spent time with his young son.
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While promoting his new meta-movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, where he portrays an exaggerated version of himself, the star told People: "First and foremost... there's no version of Nic Cage in reality that doesn't want to spend time with his children.
"There's no version of Nic Cage that didn't put family first over career. I turned down Lord of the Rings and I turned down Matrix because I didn't want to go to New Zealand for three years or Australia for three years because I needed to be home with my son Weston, that's a fact.
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"So there is a huge disparity between that Nic Cage in Massive Talent and the Nic Cage sitting in front of you right now," he added.
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Although Cage didn't namedrop the roles he was offered, we know that Aragorn was on the table before Stuart Townsend and then Viggo Mortensen picked up the sword.
Meanwhile, ahead of Keanu Reeves, the Wachowskis wanted him as Neo in their Matrix universe, with Will Smith also on their list.
That's a pair of all-time classic characters down the drain, but then again, this is a guy with Castor Troy (from Face/Off) and Robin (Pig) on his CV.
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Dan is a freelance entertainment journalist. Beginning his writing career in 2014, Dan's work first graced the pages of cult publications Starburst magazine and Little White Lies before moving onto Total Film, Digital Spy, NME and Yahoo Entertainment.
In the film and TV universe, he kneels at the altar of Jim Carrey, Daniel Plainview, Mike Ehrmantraut and Paulie Walnuts.
