Seth Rogen said thatNicolas Cage auditioned for "The Green Hornet " using a Jamaican accent.- Rogen added that the monologue Cage recited was "not in the script."
- Rogen also said that Cage wanted to be bald and have "tattooed hair" for the movie.
Seth Rogen says Nicolas Cage quite literally went off-script when Cage auditioned for 2011's "The Green Hornet" with a made-up monologue in a fake Jamaican accent.
Rogen recalled the audition during a wide-ranging chat on "
"There's a lot of Nicolas Cages," Rogen told host
Rogen (who co-wrote the movie and played Britt Reid/Green Hornet, the main role) told Stern and Quivers that Sony, the movie studio behind "The Green Hornet," wanted to cast Cage in the superhero film in an unspecified role. This led to a string of phone calls between the two actors.
"And then we get a phone call that [Cage] wants to play a white Bahamian man," Rogen said about one of their conversations. "It was pitched as a white, Jamaican guy, basically."
"Doing the [Jamaican] accent and all this stuff just seemed like it was a world of trouble," Rogen continued, adding that Cage's pitch was an immediate "red flag."
Rogen said that shortly after the phone call, the pair met for dinner at then-Sony executive Amy Pascal's home.
According to Rogen, within minutes of him and his cowriter Evan Goldberg arriving at Pascal's house, Cage started "reciting a monologue in a Jamaican accent, a monologue that is not in the ['Green Hornet'] script."
"At which point, I'm like, 'I don't think he's even read the script,'" Rogen continued as Stern and Quivers laughed.
Representatives for Cage didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment regarding the audition.
Rogen remembers Cage looking 'sullen' when Rogen and the rest of the dinner group didn't react positively to his monologue
Rogen said that the group that had gathered at Pascal's house for dinner didn't react as favorably to Cage's "Green Hornet" audition as Cage might have hoped, with most of them saying nothing at all.
Cage, on the other hand, looked like he had "landed a backflip" and was "waiting for applause" when he had concluded the monologue, according to Rogen.
The "Knocked Up" actor added that after taking in the group's non-reaction, Cage (who, ultimately, didn't appear in the 2011 film) left abruptly.
But clearly, the memory of Cage's audition lived on - for both actors. The following year, when "Spring Breakers" (2012) was released, Rogen said that Cage asked him if James Franco's character in that film was based on Cage's performance during their "Jamaican meeting."
Rogen (who wasn't involved with "Spring Breakers" in any professional capacity) said he told Cage that Franco's character was based on a "Florida rapper" but added that Cage "very clearly didn't believe me, and that was apparent."
Rogen said Cage also talked about getting 'tattooed hair' for his theoretical role in 'The Green Hornet'
Cage's vision for his proposed "Green Hornet" character didn't stop with the accent. Rogen said Cage also wanted his potential "The Green Hornet" character to be bald with "tattooed hair" and "big fake" lips.
However, Cage moved on quite quickly from that idea because according to Rogen, Cage actually wanted "tattooed hair" in real life.
"I remember laughing hysterically when he said it on the phone and then stopping and realizing it wasn't a joke," Rogen said.
Rogen added on Tuesday that while he's very open to working with Cage in the future, he would be "very surprised" if Cage felt the same way, given their previous interactions.
Kat Dennings previously called an audition with Cage one of her 'best memories'
Cage is no stranger to memorable auditions.
"Dollface" actress Kat Dennings told Vanity Fair in February that she had to "mime" getting away from Cage during an audition, which she described as one of her "best memories," because he refused to touch her.
The scene Dennings was auditioning with involved her being physically restrained by Cage.
"I'm ready to get into like the physicality of the scene, but I realized pretty quick that that actor is not going to touch me. He's also not going to be near me. He was at the other end of the room, which seemed to be his choice," Dennings said, adding that she was "pretty young" at the time.
Dennings said that she is "very grateful" that she got to be in the same room as Cage, who she described as "respectful."
She didn't name the movie they were auditioning for, but added that it was directed by a "hugely famous director" and was later nominated for several Oscars.