Nicolas Cage Says He Has No Regrets Over Two Iconic Roles He Passed On

The Oscar-winning actor opened up about a pair of career-defining near-misses, insisting the decisions still sit well with him decades on.

Nicolas Cage revealed he turned down two roles that became iconic in Hollywood history.
Cage told interviewers both decisions were right for him at the time and he stands by them.
The actor did not specify which projects he passed on during the conversation.
Cage has built one of the more unpredictable filmographies in mainstream cinema over four decades.
The comments surfaced in coverage from Page Six dated May 28, 2026.

There is a particular corner of Hollywood mythology reserved for the great near-misses — the roles that went to someone else and became someone else’s career. Nicolas Cage has apparently been living comfortably in that corner for years, and he seems unbothered by it.

In a recent interview flagged by Page Six, Cage confirmed he had passed on two roles that went on to become iconic, declining to name either project but showing no visible sign of a man who has spent evenings haunted by what might have been. “Both those decisions were the right ones for me, and I’m happy with those results,” he said.

The remarks land in a career that has never exactly suffered for want of memorable choices. Cage won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Leaving Las Vegas in 1996, went on to headline everything from The Rock to the National Treasure franchise, and spent a stretch of the 2010s becoming an internet archetype before engineering what most critics now call a genuine late-career resurgence — anchored by the 2021 A24 film Pig and followed by a string of projects that put him back in serious-film conversation.

Which two roles he passed on remains unspecified, which will keep the fan forums busy. The actor is currently attached to several upcoming productions, with release dates expected later in 2026.