What made you decide to shoot in Victoria and how did the shoot go?

We started scouting Texas where the movie is set and everywhere else, and to be honest with you it first was for monetary reasons. It was cheaper to go to Australia and I thought, 'No, it has to be here.' Then I went to Australia and everyone goes to Sydney which is beautiful, but I went to Melbourne and I just fell in love. It's this gorgeous place, one of the greatest cities in the world and it looks like so many different cities. It was so beautiful and the people were so cool, and the whole movie became a love affair with Melbourne. It's the best.

Did you like shooting there?

What's not to like? Everyone was like, 'Whatever you need. Were just happy you're here bringing money to the economy and helping everyone out.' It was just fantastic. We're all homesick for Melbourne. We talk about that all the time. It really became – when you watch the scenes like you did today on the bridge, everything is a valentine to Melbourne, Australia. It really is.

How do you want audiences to see this movie? Do you want them coming in with the comic book knowledge?

You can't because it's too small. As much as I love them and I'm one of them we're a very small percentage. You have to go beyond that otherwise you're making it for too small of an audience. So, again, you want to come back to the basic tenants of what the movie is about – what would you do for love? That's what the movie is about. Would you sell your soul for love? Would you ride through hell for love? What would you do? That's what the movie is truly about and once you do that with it everyone can relate to it. You see it in the poster. It's not the Ghost Rider on the Hell Cycle. It's Nick [Cage] and Eva [Mendes] faces and the Ghost Rider is this big. There is a reason for that. The Ghost Rider is important obviously since the movie is called 'Ghost Rider,' but you want to know that it's about these two people. It's about love. It's about Johnny making a deal for the love of his father and then he continues to fight because of the love he has for his girl. That's what the movie is about.

Nick is something of a nerd for the comic, isn't he?

A nerd? Yeah, he loves it.

Was it a big surprise to have a big star who loved the comic book as well?

Yeah, but that's really common. A lot of the actors like me grew up with it. So it's a big thing in America. You grow up with comic books. You learn to read with comic books. It's pictures and words which is the perfect thing. You go from storybooks to comic books and Nick was involved before I was involved. So it wasn't like, 'Oh, who's going to be Ghost Rider.' It was, 'Nick is Ghost Rider and I hope that he likes my take on it.' So I came into it that way.

Knowing that Nick was involved did you write the script catering to him, and did you write the script before or after Nick was on?

Well, Nick was always involved. He was involved with the Norrington version.

So you had Nick in mind the whole time?

Absolutely. I mean, you write the best Johnny Blaze that you can and to be honest, it's funny because you have all your weaknesses as a writer and your strengths as a writer and I remember writing Johnny Blaze for the first time and he was drinking Jack Daniels out of the bottle and chain smoking. I remember giving Nick the first draft and he was really honest about it. He was like, 'I don't know anyone who drinks Jack Daniels out of a bottle.' I thought, 'I don't either, but they're always in the movies. Who does that?' No one does that. He was like, 'I don't chain smoke.' So then you start talking to Nick and he brings something different to it. Then Nick starts saying really far out things, and they're so far out there that they're honest. I mean, it's like when Johnny Depp in 'Pirates' does this sort of gay, drunk Keith Richards and the studio freaked out and the studio was like, 'What are you doing?!' He was just doing something different, but there was something in that character that made it honest. Nick did the same thing. He was just like, 'I feel like if you didn't know that any minute you were going to turn into the Ghost Rider, what would that be like?' Nick said, 'I think that it would be like I'm in a dentist chair and that musak is playing and at any minute you're going to go and it's going to be painful and horrible. So you're going to try and calm yourself and keep yourself safe because at any minute you're going to change.' I thought that was really smart and interesting and different. Nick always brings that.

What did you learn from 'Daredevil' that you applied to 'Ghost Rider?' Did you ever go back and look at what the fans didn't like about 'Daredevil' to make sure that you got it right here?

Well, it's night and day to be quite honest with you. With 'Daredevil,' I really owe Fox because I know that I've slammed them in the past which isn't fair because it was a very tough shoot and I had to fight for everything, as I've said in the past, on that movie. They didn't want a costume. They didn't want horns. They didn't want anything. So everything in that movie was a fight which is very difficult. There are things in the movie that I'm very proud of and then things that didn't work. It was a very, very difficult shoot. This movie is even bigger. It's a much bigger movie. A bigger star, a bigger everything, but they got it at the studio which made it much easier for me. So, as far as what I learned, it was so much. I went from directing only one small movie to suddenly directing a $75 million movie and now I'm doing a $100 million plus movie, but I knew about visual FX. I knew about action. I knew about so much more than I did back then. So, the answer is that even though it was a bigger movie it was much easier this time.

So there was never a sort of Judge Dredd moment where they said, 'We love the film, but we can't have it like this?'

No, no, and I wouldn't have done that again, to be honest with you, because I've already been through that. Last time it was like, 'We love "Daredevil," but we don't want to do horns and a costume. It's silly.' It was like, 'But that's it. That's the character.' That's the hard part. Fans get angry and are like, 'He's in a leather costume. That's not what the comic is.' You want to say, 'Look, I love you guys, but you don't understand. There was no costume! I fought just to get a costume and just to have the horns and the double d. That was months of fighting.' Again though, no one is the bad guy here. They gave me a big shot and they were very supportive in the end, but these movies are difficult. They're very hard. Sony is very supportive. They really get it and Marvel… of course Marvel is your biggest heroes. Again, they had so much success with 'Spider-Man' they trusted that there's a reason that these characters stick around. I mean, it's not like – again, the other characters have amazing storylines, amazing villains and they've been around for years. 'Spider-Man' is like the rogue's gallery. Take your pick. There are so many great people to pick from. 'Ghost Rider' doesn't have that. You say, 'Who's the greatest "Ghost Rider" villain?' People go, 'What?' 'Ghost Rider' has existed solely because of the image of the flaming skull and the Harley. There is just something about it that's a very visual image that sticks in your head. People get it for tattoos. They put it on their motorcycles and has been around forever because of that image. So that tells me that it's going to translate to film better than most.

Did this sort of prep you for doing 'The Preacher' because that's the whole heaven and hell thing, right?

Well, 'The Preacher' is something that I've always wanted to do. 'The Preacher' is the greatest, but it is so difficult, and I love it more than anyone does. I remember reading a script a while ago that was going to go to film and I was like, 'How do you make a two hour movie of "The Preacher?" You can't do it.' So when I went into HBO I said very simply, 'Here is the comic. There’s seventy something issues here. Seventy five issues plus the four issues of killers.' I said, 'Every issue is an hour.' It's a six year show and HBO, God bless them, went, 'Cool.'

So are you staying really loyal to the whole storyline?

Not loyal. Exact. So it's like we had our first meeting the other day. I keep waiting for them to go, 'We're not doing this!' I want to be having sex with a meat person. If I can do that I've made my mark on the world. So it's like everything is so out there and this is it. They were like, 'God bless.' I was like, 'Fucking HBO has balls.' They were like, 'Bring it. Do it.' It's just like 'Daredevil,' it's just like 'Ghost Rider,' no one comes to your door and rings the doorbell and goes, 'Hey, you wanna do these movies?' I'm the last guy, but I'm the guy who gets it done because I care and I do it. So people have tried to make 'Daredevil' and they've tried to make 'Ghost Rider' and it hasn't happened, but I got them made. 'Daredevil' was with mixed results and 'Ghost Rider' I hope much better and 'Preacher' I hope to be exact. In fact, today I emailed Kevin Smith and I said, 'Dude, I just got "Preacher." You know you love it. If it goes would you please direct an episode?' I want to go to Kevin. I want to go to Robert Rodriguez and do guest directors. I think that would be really cool. I want it to be a prestige thing. 'You love "Preacher?" Come do a show.' Usually it's a guest actor. I want it to be a guest director. I want to keep the spirit of it, keep the vibe of it, but also know that there'll be a different imprint every time when it comes to directing the show. My job is to help write the shows. I'm working with Garth [Ennis] everyday. He's a big part of it to make sure that it's exactly what we want and then let the director put his imprint on it, but it's got to be a book.

Continued on the next page --------------------->

<<< Page 1

Page 3 >>>