I just stumbled across this Jon Turteltaub interview... must have missed it at the time! this part stands out for me:
It's fun watching him develop the sorcerer character as the movie goes on. It seems like it would be interesting to watch that process happen too.
And he was really good at driving that personally, understanding that. Even that joke where [Jay Baruchel] says "Are you insane?" and he puts his fingers up [in a "little bit" sign]-- Nic added that. Nic is very aware of the perception out there of Crazy Nic Cage. I really deeply believe this is one of the most perfect blends of actor and character I've ever seen.
I love reading John Turteltaub interviews, he is so entertaining and informative, while being quite open, which is unusual for directors, I think. Interesting that he predicted that they would get a beating on opening day too. I like this:
Is there more of him in Balthazar than we might expect? Put it this way: there's a lot more Nic in Balthazar than in Benjamin Gates.
And I'm glad they did not have a monster coming out of the ground!
-- Edited by Lady Trueheart on Wednesday 9th of March 2011 11:26:42 PM
Yes, that is such an interesting and revealing comment isn't it..... I remember reading before that Ben Gates was more of a challenging character for Nic to bring to life perhaps as he was less of a darker or edgy character ( don't quote me on that, memory plays tricks on me sometimes )......but he did an awesome job of it!!
I would love to see these two work together again not just on NT3 but something else...did I read a rumour somewhere about Turteltaub ~ Wolfman ~ Nic? ( or maybe I dreamt it?!)