STARZ’s ‘American Gods’ Almost Starred Nicolas Cage

Nicholas Cage is a busy man these days. He was just in Snowden, and has another three or four films coming out within the next month or two. None of them look that great, but still. Say what you will about the guy, you can’t say he doesn’t put in work. One thing he has yet to tackle, though, is television. He almost took the leap from film to the small screen, he recently revealed in an interview with L.A. Times. Which show? None other than STARZ’s new Neil Gaiman adaptation American Gods.

Apparently, Cage was offered the role of Mr. Wednesday, which has since gone to Ian McShane (not a bad switch, STARZ). He had this to say regarding American Gods:

“You know, it’s a good point and I’ve been invited many times to go on a show, one of which was on Neil Gaiman’s American Gods to play Mr. Wednesday, which was a great part, beautifully written. And I said no. And William Friedkin, we’ve been talking about doing different things.

The actor went on to talk a bit about some of the apprehensions he has about doing TV:

“It probably would be good for me globally as a career move to do television, and never say never — I probably will one day. But the idea of being stuck in one city for months on end playing a part — while that might be interesting, I could see where I might start to feel trapped.

And he gives an honest assessment of his feelings toward the TV medium in general, still clinging towards the prestige of films:

“I’m just still a little bit of a snob. I mean, I’m holding on. Again, I’m never going to say never but I’m, like, kicking and screaming that I just want to stay in movies.”

I have a feeling he will make the jump sooner rather than later, especially when he realizes he can probably find far meatier roles in some TV projects than the straight-to-DVD roles he is currently fond of.

A recently released ex-convict named Shadow meets a mysterious man who calls himself “Wednesday” and who knows more than he first seems to about Shadow’s life and past

American Gods makes it’s premiere in 2017 on STARZ.

Source: L.A. Times