‘Ghost Rider’: Nicolas Cage Believes R-Rated Version Would Work

Nicolas Cage believes that an R-Rated version of Ghost Rider would have been much more successful.

Nicolas Cage is a national treasure, pun intended. He’s got the unhinged loner shtick down to a science. And while the life-long comic book fan doesn’t have a cape and cowl franchise to call his own, he did make two infamously memorable Ghost Rider movies once upon a time. And while they weren’t critical successes by any means – they still have their fans. Now, Cage reveals that had Ghost Rider would have been much more successful had it been made with an R-rating.

In an interview with Yahoo, Cage notes that an R-rating for Ghost Rider would have given allowed the creative team more leeway to take it down the necessary dark roads that the character needed to ride and, more so, it simply doesn’t make sense to make a family friendly movie about a guy who sold his soul to the devil. As Cage notes:

“Had Ghost Rider been made in R-rated format, the way they had the guts to do with Deadpool, and they did it again today, I’m fairly certain it would be enormously successful…it’s very hard to take a family of children to a movie — and they made it a PG-13 movie — about a superhero who, oh, by the way, also happens to have sold his soul to Satan.”

He’s got a point. A true to character Ghost Rider flick should be able to use blood and gore and the devilishly macabre to illustrate his point. Cage then goes on to say that the movies would have been remembered better and aged more gracefully had they had the opportunity of an R-Rating despite taking a financial hit in terms of losing out on commercial opportunities.

“So it’s not going to be the most commercial concept or vehicle…But it certainly is the most interesting, and the most thought-provoking. I think if you look back on the movies today, they age well.”

Well-argued Mr. Cage. Logan probably didn’t sell many action figures but who is ever going to forget that movie?

What do you think? Do you want to see an R-rated Ghost Rider movie? Sound off in the comments below!

Source: Yahoo!