Nicolas Cage made his first U.S. TV talk show appearance in 14 years when he visited "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on ABC on Wednesday night.
The actor admitted it was a "big night out for me" as he shared a series of outlandish anecdotes that included talks about spending around $80,000 on a two-headed snake and the time he donated $20,000 in gambling earnings to an orphanage.
During his appearance, talk turned to Cage's eclectic pet collection, at which point he shared how he came to own the two-headed snake, according to the Daily Mail.
"It's weird. What happened — and it's odd," he began, explaining that one night he dreamed about two-headed eagles, then the following day his manager at the time received a phone call from someone wanting to know whether Cage was interested in buying the snake.
When asked how much it cost, Cage was reluctant to say but after being pressed admitted it was "four times the amount" he had donated to the orphanage.
"They would fight," Cage said of the snake. "One head was more dominant than the other. Why? It was going to the same stomach. But I would have to put a spatula between the two heads to feed them and it just got a little too freaky for me. So I took it to the Audubon Zoo … it lived for 14 years and it died just recently."
Cage also revealed that he owned an African pied crow that had just recently expanded its vocabulary.
"He likes to say hi to me when I walk in the room," Cage said. "He's very smart, and when I leave he says bye. I didn't teach him the words. He just came with the vocabulary. And then one day he called me an a-hole and I don't know why. It just came out."
Commenting on the night he managed to turn $200 into $20,000 on a game of roulette at a casino in the Bahamas then donated it all to the orphanage, Cage said it was a magical experience.
"The next day, I said this is so special, I'm going to go — I found an orphanage. I went across Nassau Harbor. I met all the children and I said to the head mistress this is for you. And put $20,000 cash in her hand, and I never gambled again because it would have ruined the magic of that night."
That was over three decades ago and in a previous interview Cage said he never gambled again.
"Because if I did, it would ruin the power of that moment," he said at the time.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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