29 OCTOBER 2001
Nicolas Cage was yesterday honoured with the 2001 American Cinematheque Award. Accompanied by his current girlfriend, the newly-blonde Lisa Marie Presley, the charismatic actor received the gong off comic genius Jim Carrey at a ceremony held in the Beverly Hilton Hotel and hosted by Samuel L Jackson.

Nicolas’ friends and colleagues say the annual award – presented to “an extraordinary artist currently making a significant contribution to the art of the Moving Picture,” according to the American Cinematheque website - was a long time coming.

“The thing about Nic Cage,” said director John Woo, who has worked with Nic on Face/Off and the upcoming Windtalkers, “is he is always focused. And he has no ego. He plays no games and he knows what he is doing. The other thing is he always surprises me.”

Woo says he gave the talented actor “freedom to go by his own instincts” during the filming of their latest collaboration. “On the set of Windtalkers I knew he was going to have something unexpected. So, I set up three or four different camera angles in case he did something wild.”