Cage's hot inspiration

Feb 18, 2007, 8:00 GMT

Nicolas Cage - © Glenn Harris / Photorazzi

Nicolas Cage got the idea for a hot coffee guzzling scene in his new movie from a mentally disabled man.

In 'Ghost Rider', Cage plays stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze who sells his soul to the devil to save his stepfather and becomes a demonic vigilante.

In one scene his character Blaze gulps scalding hot coffee straight off a stove and Cage, 43, got the idea for the sequence from a story his teacher mother told him about a person she once taught.

He told Britain's Guardian newspaper: "My mother was teaching mentally challenged adults how to dance. There was one man she told me about who took a hot scalding pot of coffee and just drank the whole thing down in one gulp and didn't think about it. And I thought, well, that's amazing. I've got to put that in a movie."

Earlier this week, Cage revealed his flaming skull in 'Ghost Rider' was modelled on his own head.

Producers used X-rays of his bones to create the vigilante's flaming skull head.

Comic book fanatic Cage, who has a tattoo of the Marvel character, said: "They grafted my skull so you are actually seeing me in all those scenes. It's kind of wild."

The film - also starring Eva Mendes - hits the screens this month.

(C) BANG Media International