Nicolas Cage has revealed that he legally changed his name last year to distance himself from the famous Coppola family and establish his own identity in Hollywood.
The actor, born Nicolas Kim Coppola, told Variety that he preferred to be officially known as “Nick Cage” rather than carry the surname associated with director Francis Ford Coppola, his uncle.
“I’m Nick Cage. I changed my name legally last year. I’m Nick Cage in life, and I’m Nick Cage on camera. It’s better to be the patriarch of my own little family than the clown cousin on the fringes of somebody else’s family, so I decided I’m going to embrace it and be ‘Cage’,” he told the magazine.
Cage explained that he adopted his stage surname inspired by the Marvel character Luke Cage, as well as experimental composer John Cage, who was often referenced within his family.
Despite the change, the actor said he decided to keep the first name “Nicolas” in honor of his father, August Coppola, although he joked that he had always been bothered by the French spelling of the name because people often add an “h” when writing it.
During the conversation with Variety, the actor also discussed his upcoming project as the lead star of Spider-Noir, a live-action series from MGM+ and Prime Video based on the Marvel character.
Cage will play an aging and unlucky private detective in 1930s New York in an alternate version of Spider-Man. The actor previously voiced the character in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).
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