Nicolas Cage is venturing into new territory as he has launched his own bourbon.
The actor, 59, has trademarked his name for the alcohol brand in a surprising career move, which has been a passion project of his, insiders have said.
“It’s become the ‘in thing’ in Hollywood to have your own brand of drink,” a source told The Sun.
“It can be extremely lucrative. Nic is a whisky and bourbon man and is branching out into that.
“He has great taste so this will be good stuff.”
Cage’s new business venture comes after publicly having issues over the years with his own personal alcohol use.
Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis claimed that the actor, who starred in the 1995 film as an alcoholic screenwriter, drank on the job as a way of getting into character.
“He wanted to do the entire film drunk,” Figgis told The Telegraph last year.
“I told him, ‘I need you to be completely compos mentis’, but he did one scene off his face.
“He drank a bottle of vodka before it. I was very angry with him because he didn’t tell me.
“Somebody got injured and he smashed the equipment.”
In 2021, Cage was filmed being booted out of a Las Vegas restaurant after drunkenly arguing with staff, and at one point had been mistaken for a “homeless man”.
The actor previously shared his struggles with substance abuse in 2007.
Cage said at the time: “In my twenties I went through a period of drinking and drug-taking. It didn’t make me happy but I wanted to experience them to know how they would make me feel.”
The actor revealed that he never went to any form of rehab and admitted to going through “years of experimenting” with drugs and alcohol.
Last year, Cage referred to himself as a “really obnoxious, arrogant, mad man” while referencing an old interview of himself, and assured that he is "nothing like that person” now, suggesting his relationship with alcohol has changed for the better.
Cage joins several stars who have their own alcohol brands, including David Beckham, Kylie Minogue and Kendall Jenner.
