Nicolas Cage Abstains From 'Intimacy' and Alcohol to Prepare for Roles: 'Put Yourself in the Middle of Sin City and Say No'

Nicolas Cage shared some insight on how he gets into the right headspace when taking on a new character.

In an interview, the Longlegs star revealed he'll completely change his lifestyle to spark his "creativity and imagination."

"It's interesting living in Las Vegas. I’ve been here for 14 years, off and on for 17," the movie star, 60, spilled. "You think about monks like Thomas Merton who’s in a Trappist monastery and he’s meditating all day, every day, and of course he’s writing brilliantly. But to me, if you really want to spiritually ascend, put yourself in the middle of Sin City and say no."

"Say no to that whiskey on the rocks, say no to that strip club, say no to that casino," the dad-of-three continued. "Just be completely dry with everything. I mean everything: intimacy, everything. See what that’s like."

His preparation method has likely changed over the years, as has the star's acting philosophy.

"In the beginning, I was trying to make a big noise and be punk rock," Cage admitted. "With David Lynch, I was trying to do what Andy Warhol did by taking a giant icon — in this case, Elvis — and try to do that with film performance. I wanted to just break out of a 1970s naturalism that everyone became obsessed with."

Nowadays, the National Treasure lead said he's in a place that includes more "quietude and gentleness."

"So, where do I go from here? I don’t know. Do I try television? I’ve never done that. That’s scary. Do I try Broadway?" he pondered.

When it comes to choosing and accepting roles, Cage asks himself a few questions, such as: "Am I going to grow in some way from this experience? Is there something here I haven’t done before? Does it make me uncomfortable in some way?"

The Oscar winner revealed that he follows advice he once received from late music icon David Bowie: "I asked Bowie, 'How did you keep reinventing yourself?' He said, 'I just never got comfortable with anything I was doing.'"

One thing that Cage is growing more accustomed to outside of his career is raising his first daughter, whom he shares with wife Riko Shibata.

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"This is all different levels of worry and protection and taking it into overdrive," he admitted in a past interview of how parenting August, 22 months, has been different than raising his two older sons.

The Wall Street Journal spoke to Cage.