Nick Cave Has An Incredible Story About Being Mistaken For Nicolas Cage And Going Along With It

In an interview from a few days ago, Nicolas Cage said that he gets mistaken for musician Nick Cave just about daily. Now, Cave has shared his perspective on their similar names, as well as a terrific story about one time he was mistaken for Cage.

In his The Red Hand Files newsletter, he told a story about being at a bar in São Paulo and meeting a man named Diego. Cave is a great storyteller, so here’s him recounting the tale:

“As he asked me my name, the barman leaned over and said to him, ‘Dude, you’re talking to f*cking Nick Cave!’ Diego suddenly became super-animated, jumping around on his stool, saying that he loved me, that he was my greatest fan, and so on and so forth. He kept looking at me, then at his drink, shaking his head in wonder and saying, ‘Nick Cave. F*cking Nick Cave.’ Anyway, we sat there talking for a couple of hours, getting completely pissed, and then Diego started to turn maudlin. I asked him again if he was alright, and he burst into tears and said, ‘My wife kicked me out. Told me never to come back. She says she hates me.’ I was drunk, so I hugged him and asked, ‘Why does she hate you?’ He said, ‘She thinks I’m stupid.’ Then he pointed at me and said, ‘But she f*cking loves you. Just completely loves you.’ I said, ‘Really?’ He replied, ‘Yeah, Peggy Sue Got Married is her favourite film. She’s watched it like a hundred times.’ Then Diego started crying again. I was about to explain that he’d made a mistake and mixed me up with the actor, Nicolas Cage, but he looked up at me with such a pitiful mixture of tragedy and wonder that I didn’t have the heart. ‘She just loves you, man,’ he said. Then he asked me about my acting career. I said something like, ‘I’m just an ordinary person like you. Hollywood is not all it’s cracked up to be. It can be a cruel place. It gets lonely sometimes,’ and so on. After a while, I began to warm to my theme. I told him that making Raising Arizona was the most extraordinary experience and a highpoint in my career, that John Goodman was a fascinating and complex character, and how it was a real privilege to work with the Coen brothers and that they were ‘masters of their craft’ and all this bullsh*t. Eventually, Diego decided he should go back home and tell his wife, Ana, that he’d met her favourite actor, and that Nick Cave says he’s not stupid, and that he’s a good guy. Then he suggested that I come home with him and put in a good word. I tried to dissuade him, telling him that it was impossible as I had to be on a movie set early in the morning. Eventually, he relented, and instead we got a pen and a piece of paper from the barman, and I wrote —

Dear Ana, Diego is not stupid. He’s a good guy. Love, Nic Cage.

Diego hugged and kissed me and stumbled out of the door, waving the note in his hand. The barman leaned over and said, ‘His wife’s got a point.'”

In a 2022 newsletter, Cave also wrote about the time he actually met Cage, and that’s also a pretty terrific story that’s told engagingly, so find that here.