Seth Rogen says Nicolas Cage had idea for controversial role that ‘set off alarms’

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

Seth Rogen has revealed that Nicolas Cage wanted to play a “white Jamaican guy” in the 2011 superhero film The Green Hornet.

During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show to promote his new essay collection, Yearbook, Rogen said that Cage had expressed interest in appearing in the movie with him.

Cage’s first idea, recalled Rogen, was to appear as a bald character with hair tattooed onto his cranium. He then allegedly came up with another concept: “A white Jamaican guy.”

“It set off a lot of alarms to us,” Rogen said. “Not that a white Jamaican guy is bad, but doing the accent and all that stuff seemed like a world of trouble.”

Rogen said Sony chief Amy Pascal invited him and Cage to her house to discuss the role, where Cage then recited a monologue in a Jamaican accent.

“We were all just like, what’s happening?” he said. “A monologue, I should add, that was not in the script – nor did it have anything to do with the script. At which point I was like, ‘I don’t think he’s read the script!’ There was no indication he had any idea what film we were trying to make, other than it was called The Green Hornet and there was a villain in it.”

The Independent has contacted Nicolas Cage’s representatives for comment.

Also in the radio interview, Rogen described a “bizarre” meeting he had with Tom Cruise, in which the actor allegedly tried to convince him of the merits of Scientology.