Nicolas Cage as Ben Gates in National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Was a sequel to the first National Treasure an easy sell for you?

I didn’t have any expectations for the first film and I was somewhat surprised, happily surprised, that it caught on the way it did and, yeah, I was very pleased to have a chance to play such a positive character again. When I read the first script I thought it was a fresh concept — here’s this man who’s really interested in history and is a bit of a square, but also is an archeological detective of sorts, a treasure hunter and even a glorified criminal, but who isn’t violent in any way. There are worse things to do than stimulate young people to look into their history books.... I also thought he was a character I could grow with.

How so?

I always try to find a way to play characters that are somehow synchronised with my own life and whatever I may or may not be going through so I can play them honestly. I figured this character of Benjamin Gates could grow just by virtue of the fact that there was some depth to him in the first place and that I have changed so much in the three years since I made the first movie.

In the first film Ben Gates had to steal one of America’s great historical treasures. Have you upped the ante on Book of Secrets?

Yeah, on the first one the bar was, how do we steal the Declaration of Independence? What they wanted to do on this one was to top that somehow. I’m not sure how much I should give away about this, but the concept in Book of Secrets is basically, how do you kidnap the President of the United States? (Laughs). I also think we’ve upped the ante with the historical concept of this one because the story revolves around the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and some missing pages from the diary of John Wilkes Booth (President Lincoln’s assassin). Those missing pages are a historical fact and there is still a lot of speculation about that fateful night Lincoln was shot at the theatre and who was involved and what they might have been looking for. So it makes for a wonderful and exciting and really interesting tale. There’s a nice, complicated weave.

How about the action?

The chases and getaways in the first National Treasure were a big part of the fun. I think there’s a wow factor to the spectacle this time around. The set pieces are gorgeous. The Black Hills in South Dakota, that’s a really amazing visual experience, and we shot there, on Mount Rushmore. Washington photographs well each and every time I see it in a movie and this isn’t an exception. There are great shots of us in front of the White House. We’re also going to be in London shortly and Buckingham Palace plays into it, and then we’re in Paris. So it’s big.

This is the fifth time you have worked with Jerry Bruckheimer...

Jerry is someone I kind of came up with. I remember auditioning for him for a movie called Thief of Hearts, which is such a long time ago. I didn’t do the film, but I would see him around town and he was always a very nice man and easy to talk to.

Does making a big action film differ from doing a small, art-house film?

A big difference on a film such as National Treasure is that you will sometimes get new pages of dialogue on the day you’re actually filming them. The writers sort of respond to what’s already been shot and how it’s working out and I think it keeps things fresh and spontaneous but it’s always a bit of a high-wire act.

And you like that?

Yeah, there’s a level of adrenaline to it that gives me an edge that I enjoy, though I don’t know if I would feel very confident if it was not Jerry producing. Somehow you know with Jerry that the work will get done and it will be satisfying and entertain people.

How do you feel about Helen Mirren playing your mother?

I first saw her in a movie called Excalibur years ago and I loved her in that. And I could see where she could be my mother because we have a similar aquiline nose and long face. I remember with Jon Voight on the first film, I said, ‘Look I don’t care who you cast to play my father as long as he’s the greatest actor in the world.’ When Jon’s on, there is no one any better. And the same for my mother. I said, ‘I don’t care who you cast as long as she’s the greatest actress in the world.’ And the same thing with Helen: when she’s on, there is no one any better.

She’s very down to earth, very easy to talk to, very friendly, and has a shocking sense of humour at times, which is arresting and fun (laughs). She’s a force to be reckoned with, a big deal, and you could easily be intimidated by someone of that calibre, and yet within a second she puts you at ease.

Between Helen Mirren, Jon Voight, Ed Harris and Harvey Keitel, do you ever worry they will steal all your scenes?

(Laughs) The more you encourage someone to be great in a movie the better that movie will be, however it happens. You know, it’s one of the more obnoxious things about film actors when they get competitive and start to worry about being upstaged and who’s going to look at them, who gets the last word. To me that’s when acting becomes kind of adolescent and makes me not want to be an actor, so I try to do everything I can to not be that way.

You’re obviously comfortable in many different film genres...

It’s clear to me that I’ve successfully pissed everybody off! I’ve pissed off the fans of Leaving Las Vegas and I’ve pissed off the fans of National Treasure, because I keep doing a little bit of everything and inevitably everybody gets upset at some point. But I’m not interested in a career based on one kind of movie. I’m the kind of person who needs to keep a sense of adventure and exploration going and it doesn’t mean it’s always going to work, but it is going to keep me interested, and that’s my main goal. I’m not sure people always get it, but I’m genuinely interested in punk rock, rebellious, avant-garde films and I’m genuinely interested in big adventure movies. That’s how I grew up. I like both. So, you know, I’m planning to keep pissing people off.