Nicolas Cage used a Saturday-morning Spotlight panel at New York Comic Con to make two pieces of news: he says he did not sign an AI waiver for Prime Video's Spider-Noir, and he thinks he will probably do a season of HBO's True Detective. Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter both covered the appearance.
Cage is currently working on the film Perish, according to both outlets.
A line drawn on AI
Asked how a performer holds up in a fast-changing industry, Cage turned to artificial intelligence. Per both reports, he described Amazon as a very AI-friendly company and put its investment in OpenAI at 50 billion dollars. That figure is Cage's own, and neither outlet independently verified it in the material reviewed here.
Cage said he did not agree to the waiver that would have let the studio use AI on Spider-Noir, which both outlets describe as a single-season series. “I am not an AI-friendly actor,” he said, as quoted by Deadline. He added that he probably won't work with that studio again, and that he is fine with that.
His preferred alternative is younger filmmakers. Cage said he wants to collaborate with Gen Z directors who are forging their own path, whether through YouTube culture or elsewhere, and who make work "from scratch and by hand." The Hollywood Reporter noted that his remarks came as studios lean further into AI.
True Detective on the horizon
The True Detective comments came while Cage discussed balancing film and television. He said necessity drives his choices, meaning supporting his family and not stacking too many movies back to back. That, he said, points him toward another TV season, and he said he might do True Detective. He joked about being the first to announce it.
Deadline reported that Cage has apparently been in talks for a role since last year, and The Hollywood Reporter tied his remarks to talk of a fifth season. He also said, "We'll see if I want to get together with it," which leaves some room. HBO did not immediately respond to The Hollywood Reporter's request for comment.
Dreams, gestures and memes
The panel ranged widely, according to The Hollywood Reporter, from Con Air and Ghost Rider to Leaving Las Vegas and Valley Girl. Cage said a dream about protecting a baby helped him unlock his character in Perish, in which he said he wears a rainbow fur coat.
He also said he dislikes directors who lean on line readings. On the upcoming film The Prince, he said a director was unsure about his unusual hand gestures, and he predicted audiences will see that they work. Separately, he said he doesn't understand the meme pairing him with Pedro Pascal from The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
Why it matters: a high-profile actor publicly tying his casting decisions to AI terms is a notable data point as performers weigh what they will sign. Cage framed his stance as a personal choice, and the sources do not say whether others on Spider-Noir signed or what the waiver covered beyond his description.
Reporting sources: Deadline, “Nicolas Cage Didn’t Sign AI Waiver For ‘Spider-Noir’ & “Probably” Won’t Work Again With “AI-Friendly” Amazon; Teases ‘True Detective’ Role” · The Hollywood Reporter, “Nicolas Cage Teases ‘True Detective’ Role, Says He “Probably” Won’t Work With Prime Video Again After Refusing to Sign AI Waiver for ‘Spider-Noir’”.