Eva Mendes Talks About Her Character: “I play Roxanne Simpson, Ghost Rider’s - or Johnny Blaze’s - long-lost love. I think what changed… I was really happy that Mark took kind of a chance on me because the original Roxanne was actually his step-sister. He changed that so we’re no longer…that’s kind of weird like….I don’t know, I’m open, but I’m not that open. That was weird and I’m glad he changed that story point. The girl in the comic book was blonde-haired, blue-eyed, different visually than I, so I’m glad that he took a chance and gave her a little flavor, a little spice.”
Mendes says the allure of the Ghost Rider movie was getting the chance to work with Nicolas Cage and Mark Steven Johnson. “I’m a huge Nic Cage fan and obviously Mark Steven Johnson. I love this dude. I really didn’t know much about comic books at all and then speaking to these guys and getting into it a little bit; I just honestly, I wanted to have some kind of effect. I had a little superhero envy. I wanted some kind of like, I don’t know, an extra arm. I don’t know – something. No, but I really enjoyed playing Roxanne. She’s lovely. She’s a reporter. She doesn’t have fire coming out of her skull but she’s cool.”
Working with Peter Fonda: Cage loved the idea of casting Fonda in Ghost Rider. “He’s great. I’m such a fan of Peter. I grew up watching Peter Fonda and for me, it was a perfect choice in that he was Captain America. I thought if there was gonna be a Luciferian version of a bike film, then that would be the perfect choice to get Johnny Blaze to sell his soul – Captain America.”
How Close is Ghost Rider to Being Completed?: The film was delayed from its original 2006 release date and now won’t be hitting theaters until February 2007. Johnson’s actually happy with that development. “We’re close now but we still wouldn’t have been ready. We really lucked out because the movie was supposed to come out in August, they saw the movie, and they really liked it and pushed us up to July which is the second week of Pirates of the Caribbean – a place nobody wants to be in. But most importantly they liked the movie and there were things I wanted to get in the movie – some really great fight stuff that was very expensive – big ticket stuff, and they let us do that. It was great that we got a couple of days to go pick that stuff up. And like I said, the flaming skull was literally still being worked – it went down to the wire to get it just perfect. It’s such a hard thing, as you know. If that character doesn’t work, the movie doesn’t work. We were so close that we just didn’t want to rush it.”
The Status of Ghost Rider Sequels: Cage offered his opinion on sequels: “My theory on sequels is that they have to be better than the original, so I’m open. I just have to see a script and then talk about it. But I love working with Mark and Eva – it would be great to do something again. I just want to make sure we can improve even on the original. Whatever you can do to keep going and make it one step better. I think the original is really good so it would mean a lot of sitting down and thinking about it.”
Comparisons to Other Conflict-Based Comic Book Movies: Johnson says, “Well, for myself, I actually liked Constantine. I thought it got a bad rap. I think it’s a better movie than most people gave it credit for. But there have been a lot of movies about this subject, and it’s tough because you have to build your own world. I never wanted to go into Hell and I didn’t really want to be Spawn. That’s not what we wanted to make. I wanted to make something on this world. It’s far out enough with the flaming skull and the hell cycle that we don’t need to be going there, too. So we just had to create our own version of this, I thought, and I thought using end of days is always fascinating and the idea of fallen angels is fascinating. That’s a really fantastic world to put that into the shape of a Western – this gothic Western which I’d never seen before. It’s nothing like it.”
Cage added, “You have to find the right balance to get it. It’s a very fine line and you have to blend the joy of absurdity and comedy with truly scary imagery. I think the best example of that I’d ever seen before was American Werewolf in London. That was the template in my mind’s eye that I wanted to try to aspire to get into that zone. Because I loved that movie when I went to see it. I never forgot it.”
“I’ve always said that the closest to our movie as far as tone goes is American Werewolf in London,” agreed Johnson. “It’s got that feel. You’re laughing and it’s really scary and it’s really intense, you know? You can’t stop watching; you’re on the edge of your seat.”
Page 4: Nicolas Cage on Comic Books
