At the recent Book of Secrets press conference in L.A., we caught up to the insanely busy Cage who talked openly about everything from making a sequel and returning to play Ben Gates to his upcoming film Bangkok Dangerous, the best Christmas gift he ever received, and whether or not he's open to doing a sequel to Ghost Rider.

[WARNING: Minor spoilers below...]

Nicolas Cage on why he signed on for a sequel and why the film is different than the original:

"You may be aware that I’ve not done a sequel before, and the reason being that, generally speaking, I never like to repeat myself. In this case, I do believe that if you’re going to do a sequel it has to promise to be better than the original, or at least [be] as good. Largely, the fear with sequels is that people get lazy. They realize they have a winner, and then they just throw money at it and they don’t care. Fortunately, working with John Turteltaub in particular, he really cares about the story. I wanted to make sure that we could go in a direction that would raise the stakes, and also hopefully be more interesting. When they first presented the idea of Civil War, Confederate gold, John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln assassination, right off the bat, for me personally, that was more interesting, historically. I was excited by that. Then, they said, 'We have to rachet it up from stealing the Declaration of Independence, so we thought you should kidnap the President of the United States.' And then, I said, 'Whoa, hold on, new rules. How is Ben Gates going to kidnap the President of the United States?' And, I got nervous.

"Then I started thinking about it, and I started laughing, and I realized that that was the joy of it - that it was funny and it was absurd. When they cast Bruce Greenwood, I realized that there would be a level of believability because he looks Kennedy-esque. And, at the same time, he has a terrific gift for comedy and he would be able to embrace that Commedia dell’arte, if you will. So, to me, Book of Secrets is like a movie unto itself. When you change the treasure, you change the whole story, and you get new clues that are historically accurate, and you get new locations. Just the actors and the characters stay the same. So, having been a fan of Basil Rathbone and Sherlock Holmes, I thought, ‘Why not bring Ben Gates back as a modern version, if you will, an archeological version of a detective looking for [some type of way to open] the mysteries of these treasures?’ It seemed wonderfully positive. If John Turteltaub has a genius, it’s that he’s made movies without a gun that are entertaining and you can take the whole family. There’s worse things to do than to inspire, especially, the youngsters to look in their history books. So I thought, ‘Let’s go. Let’s do it.' So, I did it and I’m happy I did it."

Cage on drawing a younger fanbase since the first National Treasure:

"Children, to me, are of the utmost importance. They’re really the future, aren’t they? So, I want to treat that carefully. I’m one of those people that believes that the power of film is intense, and you have to really think about it responsibly. In this case, you want them to enjoy themselves with mom and dad, or the whole family, and also get them to look in their history books in a way that isn’t, ‘Oh, you must read, and you must learn.’ It helps them to enjoy the ride even more because there’s a level of believability to it. You wonder, ‘Wow, why are there missing pages in the Booth diary?’ Then, you go see the movie and you can use a little imagination, and it makes the ride more enjoyable. I’m always thinking about the kids if I make that sort of movie. Even with Ghost Rider, I was thinking about the kids.

"Walt Disney, for me, is a magnificent hero, of sorts, because he was probably the most influential artist of our time. He was such an influence that we don’t even think of him, sometimes, as a human being, but he did this amazing stuff. He took these great classic stories like Pinnochio, and Beauty and the Beast later, and Snow White and made them accessible to children. With Ghost Rider I was trying to do the one story he never did, probably for obvious reasons, which was Faust. I wanted to make that something where kids could go, ‘Well yeah, this is really just a myth.’ We’re all going to get in trouble, so how do you get past that? So, I was thinking about them there, too."

The most challenging scene while filming:

"Well, the most challenging sequence hands down was the platform, the balancing platform sequence, because it was a mathematical, physical conundrum to act. I had to try to keep in my head what happens in terms of leverage and physics if you step here and he goes up there or she goes down there. It just was a mess. It actually had to be reshot once or twice to get it to make sense for all of us. So that would be the sequence that comes to mind as the most challenging."

On whether he wanted to bring something new to Ben Gates:

"My first question to Jerry Bruckheimer was, 'It’s been three years. I’m not the same guy. How am I going to go back and do Ben Gates?' And he said, 'That’s it. The character has changed.' And, the response I got at Disney was that I seem lighter and I’m smiling more and I’m happier. I think the weight has been taken off of the character. He’s been accepted academically. He’s not considered a wacko anymore, like he was in the first movie. And so, he feels happier."

Cage on whether he's ready to do a sequel to Ghost Rider:

"All they have to do is call, and I would love to see that happen. That would be fun."

On Ghost Rider and being more open to doing sequels:

"If I think there’s room to grow with the character, and if you can make it better than the original, absolutely."

On the possibility of doing a another National Treasure after Book of Secrets:

"With National Treasure, I believe that it should become more and more ‘International Treasure.’ I was very happy to see that we went to London, England and Paris, France, but I’d like to see the movie go wider still. I’d like to go into Africa, Egypt, Asia, and keep going. My hope is that Ben is recruited and he gets a dossier from these other countries about their history, and has to download it and learn it, and then try to go on these hunts on their behalf. That would be a lot of fun for me."

Nicolas Cage Interview Page 2