Elvis Pharaoh: The Pyramid Obsessions Of Nicolas Cage

Editor's Note: This is another "moldy oldie" from a few years back, but I enjoyed making the Nic Cage/Elvis/Pyramid connections here.

Is it ironic that the star of the Illuminati-mythos movies National Treasure and National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets is now creating himself a pyramid-shaped tomb? TMZ reports that Nicolas Cage is in the process of building a 9-foot tomb for himself in New Orleans.

scene from National Treasure

Of course, the central symbol of the logo for the National Treasure movies is a pyramid with an all-seeing eye on the top. Did Cage have the tomb built in imitation of Egyptian pharaohs? Was he was aware of the more occultic/metaphysical meanings behind the pyramid shape? And with so many personal crises of late, is Cage's sudden attention paid to his afterlife digs evidence of some sort of morbid preoccupation with death?

1992's Honeymoon in Vegas, Nic in Elvis drag

Lisa-Marie Presley & Michael Jackson wed in 1994

Lisa-Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage wed in 2002

As an aside, one of Cage's idols is Elvis Presley. Cage not only based his role in the movie Wild at Heart on Elvis, and dressed as the musician in Honeymoon in Vegas, but had married his daughter Lisa Marie in real life. Presley also had a preoccupation with death, and a knack for overspending and building ostentatious monuments to himself. Additionally, in the musical Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Pharaoh is depicted as Elvis.

And we find a connection between Cage and another "musical Pharaoh," Michael Jackson. Jackson was also married to Lisa Marie Presley, also built monuments to himself (compare Neverland to Graceland), also had a morbid preoccupation with his own death, and was also facing enormous bankruptcy and debt as does Cage at present. Jackson referenced Ancient Egypt extensively in the video "Remember The Time," and there is even a statue unearthed from the period that bears an uncanny resemblance to him. The Cage/Jackson connection deepens when we consider that the former's uncle Francis Ford Coppola directed the latter's 3-D video Captain Eo.

















Ghost Rider's obsession with Karen Carpenter mirrored Cage's own.

To add one more doomed pop idol to the Nick Cage mythos, we need look no further than the movie Ghost Rider. Cage insisted on making the character Johnny Blaze a fan of Karen Carpenter*, who died young of anorexia – mirroring his own idolization of the pop chanteuse. He also went so far as personally calling Karen's brother Richard and ask him if he could use the song "Superstar" in the movie. Adding to the morbid overtones, Ghost Rider premiered at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

2007's Ghost Rider & 2009's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Cage and Ghost Rider co-star Eva Mendes recently reteamed on another film, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. The plot of the movie is about a desperately addicted cop whose life is falling apart - a mirror to Cage's role in Leaving Las Vegas (Honeymoon in Vegas being the syrupy-sweet flip-side). The director of "Port of Call New Orleans" is acclaimed director Werner Herzog, who, in his longtime collaboration with doomed actor Klaus Kinski, is no stranger to working with intense individuals. When the director of the original Bad Lieutenant, Abel Ferrara, was asked about his thoughts of this new film, he said "I wish these people die in Hell. I hope they're all in the same streetcar, and it blows up." Of course, Cage's pyramid tomb is located in New Orleans.

Nick Cage skydives with Elvi in Honeymoon in Vegas...

...tries to prevent an air disaster in Con Air...

...lies in the aftermath of the airplane disaster at the World Trade Center...

...and fails to prevent the plane crash he anticipated in Knowing.

Much more could be written about the intersection between Nick Cage, mystical symbolism, and his own morbid preoccupations. One could get into the symbology of the National Treasure films as well as The Wicker Man, Knowing, World Trade Center, and the Philip K. Dick-based Next, for instance. One could discuss his purported plans for a Ghost Rider sequel that involved a DaVinci Code type plot. One could delve deeper into his obsession with Superman. Whatever the case, Cage is one of the larger-than-life Hollywood icons rife with uncanny connections and metaphysical connotations. Despite his current troubles, Cage's fascinating story isn't over by a long shot.

* Karen Carpenter also makes an appearance in another recent movie with morbid syncs and overtones, "Dark Shadows"










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