It's no secret that Nicolas Cage is in the poorhouse. But why he keeps on spending as if he's worth hundreds of millions of dollars is beyond us.

Cage leased two vintage Rolls Royce cars costing thousands of dollars per month back in 2007. He couldn't afford the payments and returned both cars and now the leasing company, Premier Financial Services, is suing him over breach of contract:

TMZ: Cage signed a 60-month lease agreement for a sweet 1964 Rolls Royce SCIII back in 2007. The monthly lease payment -- a cool $7,663.02. The ride was valued at $550,000.

But one Rolls is not how Nic rolled. Four months after leasing the '64, Nic leased a 2002 Rolls Royce Corniche. Again -- a 60-month lease with payments of $3,630.71. The car was worth $245,000.

So the leasing company is now suing Nic for the money they lost by selling the car wholesale. The company wants $104,490.68 for the '64 Rolls, and $137,077.06 for the '02.

Below, a copy of the lawsuit in full:

0310_nic_cage_doc_a

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

While most people are filling out their March Madness brackets, SNL was filling out theirs for "actual madness."

"It's the tournament to determine who is the craziest person in the world" and this year is going to be epic.

In the North Africa Division, the number one seed is Muammar Qaddafi, who looks "like Tony Shaloub had a baby with E.T."

It's pretty high stakes for Qaddafi this year. As he put it: "I'm going all the way this year! It's win or get assassinated. Booyah!"

In the Washington Division, its Michele Bachmann vs. Keith Olbermann "in what's sure to be a battle of creepy eyes versus creepy mouth." 

But the most epic battle this year is sure to be in the Hollywood Division with Courtney Love going up against Melissa Leo, who has been preparing by still giving her crazy Oscar acceptance speech.

Whoever wins that fight will have to face Charlie Sheen, and while Sheen seems like the heavy favorite, there is a big question about his chances this year.

"Has he peaked too early? He's done in two weeks what it took Michael Jackson fifteen years to do."

Still, its hard to out crazy Charlie Sheen who took time out to make sure that everyone knows that “the pyramids were built by the Wayans Brothers.”

Video below:

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Los Angeles police found a valuable copy of Action Comics No. 1 in a storage locker in San Fernando Valley.

After consulting experts, they have determined it is the comicbook reported stolen by Nicolas Cage over ten years ago, according to the LA Times.

The comicbook, which shows the first appearance of Superman, has sold for auction for as much as $1.5 million.

Nic Cage bought the comic in the nineties when he was slotted to play Superman in a movie directed by Tim Burton. After the theft of Action Comics No. 1 and other valuables, he sold his collection of 141 comics for $1.6 million.

Check Out How Nicolas Cage Spent His Way To The Poorhouse >

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Los Angeles has filed another lien against Nicolas Cage for $624,934.64 in unpaid gift taxes.

TMZ has a copy of the document.

The actor's tax troubles are well known. In a 2010 lawsuit he blamed his accountant for letting him run up a $14 million tax debt.

See How Nicolas Cage Spent His Way To The Poorhouse >

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Nicolas Cage was arrested early this morning in New Orleans after a public fight with his wife Alice Kim.

Witnesses say Cage was heavily intoxicated and that he pushed his wife, according to the Daily Mail.

A police statement said Cage "and his wife were standing in front of a residence that he insisted was the property the couple was renting. She disagreed, and Cage grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her to what he believed was the correct address."

Cage was released on $11,000 bail today.

In other news, the actor lost $9.5 million on a home sale last week and now owes over $14 million in back taxes.

Don't Miss: How Nicolas Cage Spent His Way To The Poorhouse >

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

The only thing more fleeting than fame?

The money that often comes with it.

One member of this iconic girl group learned that the hard way this week.

And she's only one of many celebrities who turn around one day and find themselves financially way in over their head.

Kim Basinger bought a town in Georgia in 1989 but after realizing that nothing would come of it, she started selling off parts. Then, when she pulled out of "Boxing Helena" the studio sued her. In 1993, she filed for bankruptcy.

MC Hammer earned a lot of money and used it to fund a lavish lifestyle as well as support his friends and family. In 1996, he revealed that he was $13 million in debt and filed for bankruptcy.

After years of struggling financially, Mike Tyson filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and he quit boxing two years later. Since then he's been arrested a few times, been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and tried his hand at stand-up on "The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen."

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

This weekend, Nicolas Cage's latest film "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" came in third at the box office and earned a measly $22 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

Cage's original 2007 "Ghost Rider" made over $45 million five years ago during the exact same opening weekend.

But with Cage's box office highs and lows, he has also seen his fair share of personal peaks and turmoil.

From whirlwind marriages to buying saber tooth tigers and getting arrested to winning an Oscar in 1996 for his leading role in "Leaving Las Vegas."

In honor of Cage being back at the box office this President's Day weekend, here's a look back at some off-the-wall moments throughout the actor's personal and professional life.

1987: Shoplifting can be funny.

In the Coen Brothers’ film “Raising Arizona” Cage plays an ex-con who kidnaps a child with an ex-cop because they cannot have a baby on their own.

In the movie, the couple has to shoplift some baby necessities... including a bag of diapers. Watch Cage run down a highway with pantyhose on his head and diapers in his hand. 

It made him a star.

August 2002: Not so true love.

In the vein of most celebrity romances, this one ended poorly and quickly. Cage met and married Lisa Marie Pressley in August of 2002 and promptly divorced her less than three months later.

In fact the divorce was not finalized until May 2004, making the divorce preceding several times longer than the marriage itself.

2004: A May-December romance.

After divorcing Pressley, Cage married a former sushi waitress, Alice Kim, after meeting her at a “booking club” in L.A.’s Korea Town. Kim is 20 years Cage’s junior.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Last night the Oscars celebrated the year's best films. Here, we toast the weekend's top ten at the box office.

Most films took a dip this weekend as a surge of new movies, including "Act of Valor" and Tyler Perry's "Good Deeds" take their place. 

"The Grey" finally falls out of the top ten while Denzel Washington and Rachel McAdams finally get knocked off their top tier spots after a two-week run.

Jennifer Aniston's "Wanderlust" started off to an unsurprising listless start—you know it's bad when Nic Cage's "Ghost Rider" sequel continues to do better despite a huge drop off.

Check out all of this weekend's surprises. 

10. Disney's "The Secret World of Arrietty" holds steady, rounding out the box office with $4.5 million this weekend.

9. Amanda Seyfried's thriller "Gone" about her missing sister had a less than spectacular start this weekend bringing in $5 million.

8. Jennifer Aniston is on-screen gold as a "Horrible Boss"; not so much with Paul Rudd. The oddball hippie-looking "Wanderlust" bombed at the box office with $6.6 million.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Whether they were born rich or clawed their way to stardom, celebrity financial ruin knows no bounds.

And Americans love to watch the mighty fall. 

We're practically spoon-fed celebrity horror stories and tune in every week to watch impractical characters strut around in $400 shoes and attempt to pass as "average consumers."

Dennis Rodman

Between his creepy ex-marriage to Carmen Electra, the nutty 'dos and even zanier head gear, it's hard to remember exactly what it was about Dennis Rodman that ever made him famous in the first place.

Oh yeah, basketball. 

The former Chicago Bull has been off the court for years and has had trouble affording two things: his reported alcohol and drug addiction and more than $800,000 in unpaid child support, according to ABC news.

Might as well add legal expenses to that, too, as his attorney said Rodman "is broke and cannot afford any additional fees."

That lady who flipped a dinner table on the "Real Housewives of New Jersey"

Aka Teresa Giudice, the housewife and mother of four declared bankruptcy in 2010 with more than $9 million in debt. Her home went into foreclosure the same year. 

What's funny is how she explained the situation to People: "What is true is that due to the economy, most of my husband’s real estate ventures failed despite his hard work."

One episode of her show featured her getting breast implants and showering her daughter with new clothes and acting classes. 

Patrick Bateman – "American Psycho"

A bad role model for financiers everywhere. This quote just about sums it up:

"I have all the characteristics of a human being: flesh, blood, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip."

Please follow Your Money on Twitter and Facebook.

Now that the tax deadline has come and gone, you have another year before Uncle Sam takes you to the cleaners again.

Filing late? Take comfort in knowing that stars don't always pay their taxes on time, either. Some attempt putting off their payments for years, amounting to millions of dollars in back taxes.

We've compiled some of Hollywood's biggest offenders. From Nicolas Cage to Christie Brinkley, see which stars had the most money trouble with the IRS. 

Give thanks you'll—hopefully—never have to pay these fees. 

Nicolas Cage: $14 million

In 2010, Cage told People he owed $14 million to the IRS.

"Over the course of my career I have paid at least $70 million in taxes, unfortunately, due to a recent legal situation, another approximate $14 million is owed to the IRS," said Cage. 

Earlier this month, the "Ghost Rider" star paid back nearly half of the money owed since 2007—a sizable $6.25 million.

Chris Tucker: $12,164,504.08

"Rush Hour" star Chris Tucker owed the IRS $11.5 million in 2010 for 2001, 2002 and 2004-2006. Last month, the state of Georgia added another $592,594.82 for 2007.

Wesley Snipes: $12 million

The "Blade" star couldn't avoid eight counts of tax fraud in 2006. 

Snipes attempted to get $12 million in refunds from the federal government. Instead, he was convicted of three misdemeanor counts in 2008 for failing to file a tax return. After eluding jail time, he's been in prison since December 2010 serving a three-year sentence.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

While watching films such as "Scarface,""Blow,""Boogie Nights,""Traffic" or "Pineapple Express," do you ever wonder what the actors on-screen are actually snorting, smoking or drinking, take after take?

Most of the time, it's not the actual substances—unless your name is Nicolas Cage—who once told reporters he snorted doctor-approved cocaine to prepare for his role in "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans."

Instead, Hollywood prop masters have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Often, actors are simply snorting ingredients usually used to bake a cake and special stores have devoted their business to legal, herbal bud used on film sets.

On Showtime's "Weeds," the herbal tobacco makes the actors feel a little lightheaded, says the show's executive producer Roberto Benabib. 

"According to them, it gets them higher than regular marijuana. They end up smoking so much of it they get very lightheaded and they don't like it. Sometimes they do take after take and you will see them getting woozy because it has a strange effect on them. But it's totally legal and it is what we are supposed to use."

Cocaine: the fake stuff.

According to various movie industry reports, propmasters turn to these substances when coke is needed for films:

• Powdered milk

• Crushed up vitamin B
  

• Powdered sugar

• Baking powder

• Soy baby formula

• Baby powder
  
  
• Baby laxatives
  

• Camera angles: Directors can film from certain angles to make it look like actors are snorting coke when it's actually just a matter of editing.
  
  
• Hollywood prop master Jeff Butcher says he prefers"a vitamin called inositol. It is a B-vitamin of some kind and I believe that it is the most common cocaine cut [used on film]. With inositol, you get a little bit of energy lift, but it is very mild."
  

Watch this crazy cocaine scene starring Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly that was cut from "Boogie Nights" at the last second:

Q&A site Quora posed this very question and received some revealing answers.

Nicolas Cage snorts a "prop" in "Bad Lieutenant."

"There's a scene where Terence [Nicolas Cage's character] rips open a bag of coke and snorts it. Nic was so realistic I was frightened,""Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" director Werner Herzog told Vulture. I thought he was no longer snorting the prop cocaine, the saccharine. So I asked Nic, 'What is it that you are snorting?' He just smiled and said, 'The prop, of course.' But he was just so realistic."

Perhaps Cage was "so realistic" because at points he was actually snorting cocaine.

"The strangest thing of all is that in Australia, they still use cocaine to clear your sinuses and it’s a true story—I had a massive sinus infection—and they sent me to the doctor who did this cocaine solution thing and put it in my nose," Cage explained to reporters during a press conference for the film.

“I came out and just started taking notes and I noticed my mouth was getting really dry and I was feeling very invincible and I started improvising the scenes and coming up with ideas and I was swallowing a lot so then I was graphing it in the script—this is coke so this is what he’s doing here, there’s going to be a lot of swallowing, a lot of lip smacking."

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Apparently John Travolta may be more forward and creepy than we imagined. 

Two unnamed male masseurs have filed sexual assault lawsuits against the "Grease" actor alleging that he tried to have sex with them during a massage session. 

The first masseur says the actor touched the plaintiff and himself inappropriately while the second claims Travolta asked his butt to be massaged then attempted to get plaintiff number two to touch his scrotum. 

Travolta's reps claim that the first masseur's claims are completely fabricated but has not yet been reached about the second claim which just arose earlier today. Plaintiff one says he has proof and is asking for $2 million in punitive damages. 

Check out some other crazy legal battles brought upon celebrities, theaters, production companies and more. Some of them might actually have some merit (check out the guy who filed a lawsuit against rising movie snack prices) but most are just completely ridiculous.

Apparently "Drive" should have been more like "Fast and the Furious"

Michigan native Sarah Deming decided to sue the FilmDistrict, the distributors of the movie "Drive," because the movie trailer misled her into buying a ticket. She believed the resulting movie was nothing like she had expected from watching the trailer. Seriously. 

Here were her points of argument: 

1. The trailer promoted the Ryan Gosling film as more of a "Fast and the Furious"-type action flick which it definitely is not. 
2. "'Drive' bore very little similarity to a chase, or race action film … having very little driving in the motion picture."
3. "'Drive' was a motion picture that substantially contained extreme gratuitous defamatory dehumanizing racism directed against members of the Jewish faith, and thereby promoted criminal violence against members of the Jewish faith."

But Deming didn't ask for much in the suit, just the cost of her ticket and to halt production of misleading trailers from that point on. Here's the trailer that caused all this mess:

Lindsay Lohan sues a "milkaholic" baby

In the height of her ridiculousness, Lindsay Lohan decided to sue E*Trade for a commercial parody they did about a "milkaholic baby" named Lindsay that she believed was based on her wild days of partying and drinking.

She's not wrong.

Lohan sued the company for $100 million and demanded the commercial be pulled off the air. 

Here's the reason LiLo's lawsuit is stupid: When the E*Trade commercial aired, everyone knew about the actress' crazy ways and E*Trade later slammed Lohan by saying that she had already damaged her own reputation way more than the commercial ever could have done. The matter was settled out of court. 

Check out the LiLo-inspired commercial: 

Nicolas Cage does not steal dogs!

In her 2008 memoir "Body Heat," actress Kathleen Turner accused Nicolas Cage of getting arrested for DUI twice and for stealing a dog while working together on the 1986 film "Peggy Sue Got Married." 

Cage, not being one to take accusation of him being crazy lying down, filed a libel suit in the United Kingdom against the actress, her book publisher and The Daily Mail, who ran the excerpt about the DUIs and dog-napping. 

Even better, Cage actually won his suit. the British publishing company was ordered to print a correction on subsequent copies of Turner's book, Turner was told to apologize and The Daily Mail agreed to publish an apology and remove their article about the allegations. 

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

When an authentic Civil War photo emerged last year, everyone buzzed about the solider's resemblance to actor Nicolas Cage. 

But Cage isn't the only celebrity with a historical doppelganger.

Turns out there's a whole community of people, from TotallyLooksLike.com to YouTube, who post photos of famous people and their historical lookalikes. 

While some people think that the celebrities are actually vampires, others believe in the conspiracy theories that the famous people are clones or descendants of former politicians, artists, philosophers and even criminals.

But most just take it all in good fun. 

We selected some of the most uncanny doppelgangers from YouTube compilations. From Keanu Reeves to Ellen Degeneres, you'll definitely be shocked by the resemblance.

Here's Nic Cage and his doppelganger. Little is known about the man besides that he supposedly served in the Civil War.

Here's Justin Timberlake, who uncannily resembles this old-time criminal in a mug shot.

Rupert Grint from "Harry Potter" looks like Scottish painter Sir David Wilkie.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Get excited.

Sylvester Stallone confirmed to Spanish site, El País, Nicolas Cage will appear in the next installment of "The Expendables." 

Jason Statham, Liam Hemsworth, Bruce Willis, and Chuck Norris all joined the sequel's testosterone-heavy cast this summer which earned $289.5 million worldwide.

Stallone's also vying for Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes, and Mickey Rourke to join the crew.

Many sites are reporting Stallone made the reveal on a Facebook page, which is nothing more than a fan page.

Here's a rough translation of his interview with El Pais:

"We are preparing the film with the same passion and commitment as the two before it. We have already confirmed Nicolas Cage, a master actor who adds an intellectual aspect to the group. Hopefully, we can land Harrison Ford, Wesley Snipes and Mickey Rourke. That is the great mission of the producer. We will continue with the same narrative scheme, the agility and the frenzy, which are inherent elements to the saga."

Stallone also hinted at a fourth film in the franchise:

Will it definitely be the last?

"I can't guarantee. In theory, it was to be two installments, but the public's love [for the franchise] encouraged us to work on a third. I guess as long as we amuse ourselves by offering fun and people, we can continue playing 'The Expendables'. For now we are not as expendable as we should be and as some critics want us to be."

SEE ALSO: How Disney took down Denzel Washington's "Flight" this weekend at the box office >

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Before Nicolas Cage was a demonic vigilante in two already-forgotten "Ghost Rider" movies, the actor wanted to be Superman. And almost was, until Warner Bros. pulled the plug on "Superman Lives!"

The "Con Air" star was cast as the Man of Steel in the 1998 Tim Burton movie that, obviously, never made it to the big screen after falling apart in pre-production.

Also read: Even Nicolas Cage Seems Restrained in Oddly Tame 'Ghost Rider' Sequel

Much like the title of film, however, Cage's Superman still lives through old photographs that surfaced online this week.

The suit is noticeably more plastic and Cage's hairline is noticeably more receding than Henry Cavill's in Zack Snyder's upcoming "Man of Steel." But the question is, did we miss out on something great? Or was it a great idea for the studio to scrap the movie? 

Unfortunately (or fortunately), we'll never know. It's just another secret chapter in Cage's long and fascinating career.

Please follow The Wire on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Italian neuroscientist Sergio Canavero believes he's found a way to medically swap heads and bodies, reports Quartz.

Yes, just like Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in Face/Off. But Canavero's process is about replacing the entire head, not just a face.

Canavero has based his procedure off of a 1970 study in which a Dr. Robert White transplanted one monkey's head onto another's body, but obviously Canavero's process has been adapted for human use. He outlines it from beginning to end in a medical journal called Surgical Neurology International.

It begins by cooling the patients' bodies to 18 degrees Celsius, severing their spinal cords, pulling a switcheroo, and pretty much gluing the new head/body match together with an "inorganic polymer glue."

This procedure is outlined based on research on dogs and guinea pigs.

But to reconnect every single artery, muscle, and all that other bodystuff in your neck – surely this is beyond the scope of modern medicine, right? Canavero acknowledges the difficulty but maintains that it's quite possible. He says that as long as at least a few connections are made, a patient would have "some voluntary control of locomotion," and that the electrical stimulation of the spinal cord can help nerve cells learn their new roles.

So whether you want a new head or a new body, it appears that you're that much closer to achieving it.

Join the conversation about this story »

Nicolas Cage made an epic appearance at a Guns N' Roses concert this weekend at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

If being accompanied by Andrew Dice Clay, holding a cane, wearing a cowboy hat and chaps wasn't enough, the actor wore a T-shirt with his own face on it underneath his Mardis Gras beads.

Guns N' Roses posted the picture to their Instagram account, simply stating, "Mr Nicolas Cage and Mr Andrew Dice Clay."

The unlikely duo then joined the band on stage for a final bow.

It's almost as mindblowing as that time Macauley Culkin wore a photo of Ryan Gosling wearing a photo of Macauley Culkin.

SEE ALSO: LL Cool J and T.I. Rapped Songs From 'The Music Man' At The Tony Awards And The Audience Went Wild

Join the conversation about this story »

The runaway success of "Dragon Blade," a Chinese film starring Adrien Brody and John Cusack, proved that two actors with middling success in their home country could find success overseas.

In fact, it feels like reaching out abroad is the best bet for many entertainers right now.

Today, studios count on a film's foreign box office even more than its domestic gross.

Stars who struggled in the United States can find a new life in unexpected places. Sometimes, they can do it by exploring a new medium, whether it be music or painting.

Here are eight American actors who have found surprising success overseas.

Nicolas Cage — China

In America, Nicolas Cage's over-the-top performances have made him both a punchline and a meme. China, however, takes the Oscar-winning actor a lot more seriously. It might have to do with the fact that many of his films, including "The Croods,""Ghost Rider," and "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" were just three of a handful of American films to make it past Chinese censors.

In fact, Cage is so well-liked in China that in 2013, he received the "Best Global Actor in Motion Pictures" Award at the Huading Awards Show.

He also stars in a car ad for Beijing Automotive.

His upcoming "Outlander," an American-Chinese-Canadian co-production, will be released in China on April 3.

Here's the trailer:

David Hasselhoff — Germany 

In America, Hasselhoff fame has gone up and down multiple times. In the 1980s and '90s, he starred in hit shows "Knight Rider" and "Baywatch." Lately, he is probably best known for an infamous YouTube video in which he drunkenly eats a cheeseburger.

But even when he was down stateside, he maintained a loyal following in Germany.  

On New Year's Eve in 1989, Hasselhoff performed a tune called "Looking for Freedom" for a newly reunited Berlin. That year, the song became Germany's top selling single, and Haselhoff proved that if its not working as an actor, you can always try and write a pop song. 

Here is Haselhoff singing at the Berlin Wall:

Halle Berry — China

Similar to Adrien Brody, an Oscar win unfortunately didn't bolster Halle Berry's career for long. While she does star in a few of the "X-Men" movies, she also won a Razzie for her performance in 2004's "Catwoman."

Berry was up for a much more prestigious award in 2014: she won a Global Icon award at China's Huading Film Awards. When she got onstage, she said she felt like "an original Beatle" in China.  

This could be perplexing to some, given that a few of her recent starring vehicles ("Catwoman," "The Call," "Perfect Stranger") didn't even play in China. Yet, "Cloud Atlas" made the bulk of its $103 million foreign box office gross in China.

John Cusack — China

As mentioned earlier, Cusack has found surprise stardom in China, thanks to his starring role in "Dragon Blade." In recent years, Cusack has starred in a wide array of projects, ranging from blockbusters to independent films, that have been met with mixed box office and critical success in America.

Part of Cusack's viability overseas may be because he is already a proven box office draw in China: "2012" was a big hit when it was released there back in 2009.

Perhaps Cusack's collaboration with Jackie Chan was inevitable. After all, Cusack has been an admirer of martial arts and has used it in his movies since the days of "Grosse Pointe Blank":

Jerry Lewis — France

France's love of Jerry Lewis is like folklore at this point, but it is no myth. Lewis has been a fixture in French culture since the 1960s, where many French critics and historians have praised his work, with some saying they prefer him over Woody Allen. His popularity hasn't wained there: an annual Jerry Lewis film festival is held every year in Paris.   

Here is Jerry entertaining paparazzi (who are clearly huge fans) in Paris:

Kevin James — Germany

Haselhoff isn't the only one who's big in Germany. Comedian Kevin James has been a fixture in Germany since "The King of Queens" became one of the few American sitcoms to truly succeed there.

His movies such as "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" (which was promoted more heavily on James than Adam Sandler) and "Zookeeper" (where it made its highest foreign gross) attract big audiences in Germany, based on his name alone. American humor tends to get lost in translation when crossing overseas, and while James is much maligned in America, his brand of slapstick doesn't require a translator.

Here is Kevin James making an appearance on the popular German TV show "Wetten, dass..?" ("Wanna Bet?") alongside Cameron Diaz:

Clint Eastwood — Italy 

Clint Eastwood is currently having a career renaissance behind the camera with "American Sniper," which recently became the 

highest-grossing film in the US in 2014. It also opened to big numbers in Italy.

It may be because Eastwood has been a huge star over there since the 1960s, when Sergio Leone's "The Dollars Trilogy" first cemented him as a movie star. Eastwood is the rare actor who went abroad in order to become a star in his home country.

Sylvester Stallone — Russia

Sure, the Soviet Union might have once been Rocky Balboa's enemy, but in recent years, Stallone's films have gained something of a following in Russia.

Outside of the "Expendables" franchise, his "Grudge Match" earned its highest overseas total there (at just $2.8 million, though) while his 2013 film "Escape Plan" trailed China for second place. Russians also saw a side of Stallone that Americans never get to witness: a 2013 exhibit in St. Petersburg displayed paintings by Stallone.

His artwork might not have received positive reviews, but Russians from all across the country still came to see it.

Check out some of Stallone's art below:

SEE ALSO: This movie starring Jackie Chan, Adrien Brody, and John Cusack is huge in China right now

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Forget IMAX — The Next Big Thing For Movie Theaters Is 4DX

There was a time, not too long ago, when Nicolas Cage was but an actor.

Sure, he was an Academy-Award-winning actor, thanks to his performance in Leaving Las Vegas, and had a coterie of memorably batshit performances to his name in movies like Vampire’s Kiss, Wild At Heart, Rumble Fish, and Moonstruck—but he was still just an actor. 

Then something strange happened. 

As Cage’s career plummeted spectacularly, he increasingly became less of an actor than an icon, a sentient meme, a walking punchline, and a pop-culture phenomenon.

A good percentage of the Internet decided that it was obsessed with Cage and his never-ending eccentricities, and created an endless series of memes, gags, catchphrases, and inside jokes regarding his increasingly inexplicable life and career, which includes everything from marrying Elvis’ daughter to buying a bunch of castles in Europe that he is apparently financially obligated to make 10 movies of varying quality each year to support.

Last year, Cage reached a new low by venturing into the world of Christian film with a gritty reboot of Left Behind  that offered the surreal spectacle of an Academy Award-winner still capable of great acting (as evidenced by his return-to-form performance as a grizzled man of darkness in David Gordon Green’s strangely underrated comeback film Joe) sopping up Kirk Cameron’s sloppy seconds, cinematically speaking. 

Cage cultists are a passionate breed, always wondering how things burned, raging that various insane acts will not result in a return of honey production, and eating live cockroaches for the sake of ghoulish authenticity. Now in a particularly over-the-top display of Cage-love, a graphic designer named Thom Malone is launching a crowd-funding campaign to create a 71,017 square-foot mosaic of Nicolas Cage’s face that will break the Guiness World Record for largest mosaic.

On his Kickstarter page, Malone explains that he originally put this campaign on Kickstarter “as a joke between some friends,” but after receiving $27,000 in pledges in one week—seriously, Internet?—he decided to remount it for real, “with an actual plan in place to make this happen.” That plan apparently necessitates some $41,000 U.S. for “printing the photos, making the rewards, and obtaining permits and materials to build the mosaic.”

Contributors will also be featured on the mosaic, so if you’ve ever wondered what a 71,017 square-foot mosaic of the world’s most beloved cult actor—along with 180,000 photos of his most devoted fans—looks like, then you needn’t wonder any longer.

As with all Kickstarters, there are plenty of rewards for contributors, including posters of the mosaic, a “Necklas Cage” (locket with Cage’s face inside), a cup of Joe (coffee mug with Cage’s face from the film Joe), and for slightly higher rollers, a trip to the unveiling of the world’s largest mosaic in Ontario, Canada, on Labor Day Weekend 2015. 

SEE ALSO: 8 American actors who are shockingly huge stars overseas

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The world's first custom pancake printer has already made over $320,000 on Kickstarter

Nicolas Cage has been in a lot of movies over the course of his more than 30-year career. Some of them have been great, some of them fell just short of that, and others are straight up terrible. That said, he’s bound to have some personal favorites, and in a recent interview, he revealed four roles that are especially near and dear to his heart.

Talking to Time recently about his upcoming role in the new political drama, "The Runner," about a fictional politician in the wake of the BP oil spill, he fielded a question about his favorite roles. He said:

"There’s a few of them, sure. I thought that Werner [Herzog] and I got up to something special in 'Bad Lieutenant.' Certainly Mike Figgis and I found something pretty emotionally naked in 'Leaving Las Vegas.' I was very happy with 'Vampire’s Kiss,' which in my opinion was almost like an independent laboratory to start realizing some of my more expressionistic dreams with film performance. Then using what I had learned in 'Vampire’s Kiss' and putting it into a very big action movie in the form of 'Face/Off' with John Woo. If you look at those two movies back to back, you can see where I stole from my performance in 'Vampire’s Kiss.'"

That’s certainly an interesting variety of roles and films, some critically acclaimed, others less so, with one bona-fide cult classic in the mix. So lets take a closer look at each of them.

"Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call—New Orleans"

When you put an out-there actor like Nicolas Cage together with a filmmaker like notorious German auteur Werner Herzog, you’re bound to get something interesting. Cage plays a manic, corrupt detective in the Big Easy coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He dives into his character like a cracked-out Jimmy Stewart, and his performance harkens back to some of his riskiest roles. It toes the line of being too over the top, as he’s pasty, emaciated, and constantly sweating, but his drug-induced paranoia and delirium is not something you’ll soon forget.

"Leaving Las Vegas"

As the role that won Cage an Oscar, his turn in "Leaving Las Vegas" is, obviously, his most critically acclaimed. Cage plays an alcoholic screenwriter who has lost everything and ventures to Sin City to drink himself to death. He researched the role by binge drinking for two straight weeks and having a friend videotape him so he could analyze his speech patterns. His performance is deep and understated, which, for a career as full of bananas, gonzo turns as Nicolas Cage’s, makes it something of an anomaly.

"Vampire’s Kiss"

In 1989’s "Vampire’s Kiss," Cage plays a literary agent who is gradually going insane. When he encounters a vampire, well, you can imagine how things go off the rails from there. If "Leaving Las Vegas" is his most subtle role, this is the polar opposite. This is Nicolas Cage cranked up all the way; chaotic and mad and absolutely bonkers. He’s deranged to the point that it can be legitimately disconcerting at times, and be dominates the black comedy, to both its benefit and detriment.

"Face/Off"

Easily Hong Kong action legend John Woo’s most successful American movie, Cage’s turn in "Face/Off" boggles the mind. At some point in the movie you realize that you’re watching Nicolas Cage play John Travolta playing a character pretending to be another character. Your perception of individual scenes constantly shifts as you dig through the layers of which actor is playing which character pretending to be which other character. And all of this craziness is wrapped up in a slick action vehicle that leaves you a lot to chew on.

SEE ALSO: A graphic designer wants to create the world's largest mosaic of Nicolas Cage's face

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 9 things you didn't know about Starbucks