You must have seen those spoof videos of Ghost Rider where the animation is poor and the skull is weird. Yeah, that could have been a reality for Nicolas Cage in his 2007 film Ghost Rider.
CGI was a big deal back then as everyone wanted more realism in the trending superhero genre. From Superman to the birth of the MCU, CGI improved drastically over the years but for Ghost Rider and Nic Cage, it was tougher than they originally expected!
Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider Could Have Turned Out Bad!
Admittedly, the first film isn’t considered a gold standard for anti-heroes but it became a cult-classic film for the people as it found fame slowly over the years. Today, Nicolas Cage is often remembered as the iconic Ghost Ride.
As stated earlier, CGI was a big deal, and having a skull that’s literally on fire for almost 70% of the film was not an easy task. From adapting the character onto the big screens to finding the right tone, Ghost Rider was a tough job.
Director Mark Steven Johnson revealed in an interview with ComicBook that the hardest part of the movie was nailing the fire CGI over Johnny Blaze’s head when he became Ghost Rider.
There really wasn’t much discussion in regards to what the character of Ghost Rider should look like. It’s a flaming skull on a motorcycle. That’s what’s so appealing about it. So I never wanted to stray from that. We didn’t know at the time how hard CGI fire would be.
He further continued,
That proved to be a lot more difficult than we thought. I was really happy with the look of Ghost Rider and the Hellcycle over all. Story wise we struggled to find the right tone. But visually I think we honored the character.
It certainly seems that Mark Steven Johnson learned from his past mistakes as the director is also responsible for creating the 2003 Ben Affleck film Daredevil.
The film was heavily criticized for its poor CGI quality and found average success with the audience. Nicolas Cage in Ghost Rider, on the other hand, received acclaim for its usage of CGI.
Although there are reports of other actors wanting to portray the role of Ghost Rider in the future MCU, none could do what Nicolas Cage did just to channel his inner Johnny Blaze!
Nicolas Cage Spent A Night In Dracula’s Castle!
With Johnny Blaze finding fame, people knew that if a sequel were to be created, things would have to intensify. In 2011, a sequel was released titled Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence.
The film featured scenes like Ghost Rider turning a crane into his personal vehicle and pissing fire. However, the film also starred Idris Elba as Moreau. The filming took place in Romania and Elba had an iconic story to share about the place.
During a Reddit AMA, the Luther actor revealed that he asked Nicolas Cage once why he was showing signs of tiredness. Well, Cage’s iconic answer was enough to spook everyone.
I was like, ‘Hey Nic, man, how you doing, man?’ And he said, ‘I’m alright,’ and I said, ‘You seem a little spooked out,’ and he said, ‘Yeah man, I went up to Dracula’s castle… the ruins up in the mountains, and I stayed the night.’
According to The Dark Tower actor, Nic Cage did this so that he could channel his inner Johnny Blaze.
I said ‘What?! Why!?’ And he said ‘I just had to channel the energy, and it was pretty spooky up there.’ We were shooting in Romania, Transylvania, and he just went up there to spend the night, as you do. And then he walked away. True story.
For some context, the castle is referred to as Bran Castle, and outside of Romania, it is referred to as Dracula’s Castle (although the connection is debatable).
Starring Nicolas Cage and Idris Elba, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence received a rating of 4.3/10 on IMDB and 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. The 2011 film is available to rent on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
