Nicolas Cage has been known to make some pretty outrageous purchases throughout his career. Many of those purchases lead to his ultimate bankruptcy, and his rise back to stardom after taking every movie role available to bounce back. The list of purchases included everything from a collection of multimillion-dollar mansions, a castle, several yachts, more than 50 cars, a jet, and an island. Beyond real estate and common assets, Cage also acquired bizarre collectibles such as a $276,000 T-Rex skull and a range of exotic animals.
The most iconic of his pets was an Octopus that he named Cool, priced at $150,000 which he claimed helped him become a better actor. He housed Cool in the mid-80s in one of two large aquariums he had in his Hollywood apartment. Note this was when he was launching his career in his 20s, before he was an A-lister with millions to blow on mansions and castles. So we imagine he must have prioritized his aquatic buddies to make room for them in an apartment.
Cage hasn’t mentioned the octopus in years, but we’d guess like some of his snakes and other exotic pets, he might have given Cool to a zoo. And while he originally said that it cost him $150,000, he has in recent years joked about it costing $80… Regardless of the price, the octopus was real and pretty cool.
In April 2023, Nicolas Cage was interviewed by 60 Minutes, where he gave the first public look at his exotic pets.