Nicolas Cage never received the money for the Oscar he won

Nicolas Cage’s history with the Oscars is not exactly funny. And, by the time he wins it, he wasn’t even paid what he was owed.

Nicolas Cage is still waiting for the Oscar money he won. As revealed by Mike Figgis himself, director of Leaving Las Vegas (1995), the actor was never paid for his role in this film. And that film is the one that gave the statuette to the interpreter. Based on the autobiographical novel by John O’Brien, Cage portrayed Ben Sanderson, a man whose life falls apart after losing his job, his family and his friends. With nothing to fight for, Ben heads to Vegas with a plan to drink himself to death.. Only her relationship with Sera (Elizabeth Sue), a sex worker employed by a violent pimp, will give the protagonist a new perspective.

During an appearance on the It Happened in Hollywood podcast, The Hollywood ReporterDirector of Leaving Las VegasMichael Figgis, told the whole truth about the production. Neither he nor Nicolas Cage were paid on the film. They were each promised $100,000 for their work. are still waiting for them. The company that financed the film, Lumiere Pictures, did not fulfill its promise to pay the filmmaker and the actor. The pretext they used is that “the movie never made a profit.” This is how Michael Figgis tells it: “My career took off again and in the next film I did they paid me very well. Within a year, Nic was earning $20 million per film. But they didn’t pay us for Leaving Las Vegas.”

A very typical Hollywood story…

Michael Figgis’s tale represents a classic story for filmmakers and stars like Nicolas Cage, who are starting out in the cinema Independent. Leaving Las Vegas It was made with a budget of just 4 million dollars. This was little money for a movie in 1995. These small-budget movies often make little return, even on their short investment.. The challenge in distribution is gigantic, which makes collection very difficult. Independent movies don’t usually make a lot of money for directors and actors.. Fortunately, in this case the story turned out well afterwards. But to this day, Lumiere Pictures still owes the two artists $100,000.