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Ghost Rider(Nic Cage) in GHOST RIDER(2007).
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Cage & Son Talk VOODOO CHILD

Two things commonly known about actor Nic Cage? He's an Elvis freak and he loves comic books. It seems his 15 year old  son (Weston) has been passed the torch of geekdom from father to son. They've both collaborated in making a new comic graphic novel titled VOODOO CHILD. Wizard Entertainment had a chance to catch up with them both and pose a hell of lot questions their direction.

WIZARD: Weston, everyone knows your dad is a comic book fan. Are you into comics like he is?

WESTON: Yeah, I love comic books. I’m very into X-Men and I love Batman. I’ve always been into comics from DC, Marvel and all kinds of different stuff. I also collected a lot of merchandise as a kid too, all kinds of action figures.

Nic, how did your love of comics go from owning a giant collection to participating in the creative end of things with your son?

Well, I no longer have the large collection I once had. It’s a matter of public record that I was robbed, and I lost Detective #27 and Action #1. So I sold off [the rest of] my collection, but I kept all of the horror comics because I thought they were quite special and very creative. From very early on, Weston was drawing comics and coming up with stories and making up his own mythologies. He had these marvelous characters, and he’s been doing it since he was quite young, around six or so.

What happened with [Voodoo Child] was that Sir Richard Branson, his company Virgin called, and they said, “We’re doing this [comic book] line with [the father-son team of author] Deepak and [Virgin Comics Editor-in-Chief] Gotham Chopra specifically dealing with Hindu mythology and creating characters with that. Would you be interested in participating?” I said, “I don’t have any characters, but my son does. Why don’t we talk to him?” So we thought, “Why not branch out?” because we have an interest in world religions and comparative religion, and I always thought comic books were sort of Jungian, like modern myths. Wes and I spent a lot of time in New Orleans together during the summers and so that’s where the characters came from for him, I think, memories of those journeys we had together.

WESTON: Yeah, I’ve always loved the dark aspects of New Orleans, and I thought it would be interesting to have a character that was derived from that culture because it has to do with a lot of different things. There was a huge influence on the slaves that were once brought there. They have their religion, which was Voodoo, and they lived in a society that was also in line with the Cajuns who were white with a French background and the Creoles who were of a Spanish background. It was a huge melting pot, and I thought it would be interesting to bring someone from that area.

Weston, when you’re working up stories, do you realize someday your dad might play this character or throw little things into the character that you think might be challenging for him?

WESTON: Well, whenever I’m writing a piece I’m always thinking of an actor of playing it, and there are a few people I’ve written that I would put little hooks on them that maybe my dad could play.

NICOLAS: Also, Weston is an actor in his own right, and so we’re always looking to find things to do together. Obviously, this character is Mulatto and so that wouldn’t be right for either one of us, but I think there will probably be other characters in the movies with Voodoo Child. So there could probably be something for both of us if we get lucky and go to script, but it all depends on what the world wants. We’ll see what happens with it.

Music plays a big part in both of your lives. The title Voodoo Child will certainly have people thinking of Jimi Hendrix, but what kind of music do you feel fits the tone of the book?

WESTON: Well, I’m really into the kind of music that comes from Norway called Black Metal. It’s the type of music that’s really, really raw. But some bands like Cradle of Filth like to add melodic factors to it, which I do myself, and what that does is create a very powerful piece that incorporates strong melodic backgrounds that could be rather like Bach or something very symphonic.

NICOLAS: There would be an eclectic mix, too. Obviously, we’d get the sounds from the Voodoo culture as well. By the way, Voodoo gets a bad rap. It’s not the Hollywood version of it being all curses and evil. Voodoo simply means “spirit,” and it is a world religion. There are 50 million people in the world who practice it, and so we’d want to make sure that was understood and that we weren’t trying to paint it in any kind of negative light.

But I definitely feel in the modern storylines that are coming, Weston’s music would be applicable. I’ve gone out in New Orleans, and I went to a place called The Dungeon where they play Black Metal, which I’ve always said to Weston is very honest music. A lot of people are afraid of it because they’re afraid of death, and death is something that happens to all of us. So they’re just being very honest about it and very strong, and Weston seems to be on the cutting edge of that right now.

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