Axl Rose isn’t only a rock star — he is also a figure who has significantly impacted popular culture throughout the years. With Guns N’ Roses, he made timeless hits like ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine,’ ‘November Rain,’ ‘Welcome To The Jungle,’ and ‘You Could Be Mine,’ which are all still popular in today’s music scene. Noted as one of the greatest leads in rock, Rose’s ventures aren’t limited to music. He also appeared in several movies, TV shows, and video games.
Rose didn’t forget to adapt to the changes in the mainstream. He has re-invented himself and helped Guns N’ Roses appeal to a new generation of fans and other market fields. As it seems, their music also appealed to a movie star: Nicholas Cage. It turns out that the award-winning actor was a fan of Rose’s music and stage shows. He even showed up at a GN’R show and took the stage, joining the band to take a bow. But before that appearance, Cage made a heartfelt speech about Rose and his impact on him.
In 2014, when Axl Rose won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, Nicholas Cage presented the GN’R icon with his award, saying there are infinite reasons to love him. Following that, he admitted Axl was his inspiration source with his ‘cobra-like onstage movement’ when he studied for his role in ‘Ghost Rider.’ Cage added that the GN’R icon inspired him not only with his music but also with his purity and passion.
“His voice, poetry, composition, piano playing, moves, guts, originality — there are infinite reasons to love Axl Rose,” Nicholas Cage said during his speech. “When I was prepping for my role in ‘Ghost Rider,’ I took some cues from Axl’s cobra-like onstage movement. Axl inspires me, not just with his music but the purity and passion that he embodies in rock n’ roll. Trends may come and go, but Axl Rose is always one hundred percent himself.”
Two months later, Axl Rose joined Revolver Magazine for an interview. During the conversation, Revolver asked him about his thoughts on Nicholas Cage’s speech. As it turns out, Rose and Cage hadn’t met before, and he hadn’t heard anything the actor said about him during the show. Still, the rock icon admitted that it was probably better that he didn’t hear the speech as it would embarrass him a lot.
“He’s a big fan,” Rose said about Nicholas Cage. “We hadn’t met before, but it’s my understanding that he reached out wanting to do it. So it came together, and we met before the show, and it was really cool. But I didn’t hear anything he or Dice said about me onstage. It didn’t come through my in-ear. And really, anything they did say that was complimentary, it’s probably better that I didn’t hear it, so I wasn’t more embarrassed.”
The interviewer then asked Rose about Nicholas Cage’s remarks about him being the inspiration source for his role in ‘Ghost Rider.’ “He told me that before the show!” exclaimed Rose, admitting he didn’t know that his stage moves inspired the actor. “Because we were talking about some of his movies, and I said I really liked the second ‘Ghost Rider.’ And so he told me about it. He said it was like I was in his movie.”
So, Axl Rose wasn’t aware that his stage shows influenced Nicholas Cage when he prepared for his role as Johnny Blaze. The singer revealed he was a fan of the second ‘Ghost Rider’ film, so hearing that from Cage was probably flattering. ‘Ghost Rider’ wasn’t the only film the actor was inspired by Rose, though — Nick also admitted trying to imitate Axl Rose’s vocalizations in ‘Mandy.’
