At 62, Nicolas Kim Coppola frees himself from his illustrious surname and “legally” takes the name Cage

A cumbersome last name. It’s official, since “last year” Nicolas Kim Coppola a “legally” changed his name to Nicolas Cage. “I’m Nick Cage in life, and I’m Nick Cage on screen”proclaims the 62-year-old actor during an interview with Variety .

Member of the Coppola family and nephew of the legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Cage justified this choice by his desire to assume the pseudonym he chose to free himself from a prestigious affiliation. “It was a way to reinvent myself, to give myself a chance to prove that I could succeed on my own”declared the son of Auguste Coppola, brother of the iconic director.

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To distinguish himself, the actor starring in Black Spider was looking for a stage name « court et simple »like James Dean, he explained to Variety. For the first name, the aspiring actor nevertheless wanted to keep the one chosen by his father, Nicolas.

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Concerning the name, the filmmaker specifies that he took that of Cage in homage to the Marvel Comics character, Luke Cage and to the composer John Cage: “I thought he looked good. I grew up in a very avant-garde and artistic family, where we often talked about this artist and his experimental compositions”confides the actor of Sailor et Lula. As for the Nick or Nicolas dilemma, the actor does not decide. “I’m both!” I think people know me by both names”concludes the American star.