VIDEO: Nicolas Cage talks his ‘Nouveau Shamanic’ acting style

Nicolas Cage is one of Hollywood's most enigmatic quantities. The Oscar-winning actor and star of such gems as "Con-Air" and "Gone in 60 Seconds" has made a career out of manic performances that both audiences and critics aren't really sure how to label. Is he a genius? Is he absolutely insane? Or both?

Well, fans of Cage's work may finally have their answer thanks to a recent interview the actor gave while promoting his new film, "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance."

In the interview, Cage describes the "Nouveau Shamanic" acting technique that he employed while filming "Ghost Rider." Cage plays Johnny Blaze in the film, a motorcyclist who sold his soul to the devil and now rides the Earth as a flaming, skeletal avenger. To get into the role, Cage painted his face white and black out his eyes (sort of like the Baron Samedi spirit of voodoo lore) and attempted to intimidate his fellow actors by refusing to talk to them on set.

Oh, but there's more. So much more. You can see the actor talk about his strange (yet effective) technique below:

Cage even goes so far as to describe what actual shamans do as "crazy" or "psychotic," but then brushes that off as mere "semantics."

Speaking of crazy: sewing ancient Egyptian relics into your costume? First off, it's awesome that Cage even has those kinds of artifacts just lying around, but for him to actually use them as part of his performance is amazing. Pure Cage. If any other actor did this, people would call him insane, but this kind of behaviour is par for the course when talking about Nicolas Cage.

Part of what makes Cage so great is how far he goes for his roles. He famously ate a live cockroach for the 1989 film "Vampire's Kiss." The performances might be over-the-top weird and just hammy as hell, but they're never, ever dull. For some examples of Cage's acting extremes be sure to watch this hilarious highlight reel of some of his truly wild performances. (Warning: Includes some not-safe-for-work language.)

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