Q: Eva, can you tell us a little bit about your character Roxanne? She's a TV reporter?
Mendes: Yeah, I play Roxanne Simpson, Johnny Blaze's long-lost love. I was really happy that Mark took a chance on me because the original Roxanne was actually his step-sister, correct? So you changed that. That's kind of weird. I'm open but I'm not that open. [laughter] So I'm glad you changed that story point. And the girl in the comic book was blonde-haired, blue-eyed and different visually than I and gave her a little flavor, a little spice.
Q: Nic, do you still have your Ghost Rider comic books?
Cage: Oh, absolutely. I would never sell those. They're in my special room upstairs. Framed and on
the wall.
Q: Is there a chance of a cross-over with any other Marvel characters and franchises since it happens so often in the comics?
Johnson: Man, I'd love that.
Cage: Look, I would actually like to see it. To actually have the comic book characters team-up? Because, and once again I'm speaking to the
Ghost Rifer family, we all know that Ghost Rider can kick Spider-Man's ass! With one look. And I want to see that happen.
Q: Eva, what was the allure for you to do a comic book movie?
Mendes: Well, two of the allures are sitting right next to me. I'm a huge Nic Cage fan, and Mark Steven Johnson, I love this dude. I really didn't know much about comic books at all and then speaking to these guys and getting into it a little bit. Honestly, I wanted to have some kind of effect. I had a little superhero envy because I wanted some kind of extra arm. I don't know. Something! But I really enjoyed playing Roxanne. She's lovely. She's a reporter. She doesn't have fire coming out of her skull.
Johnson: I remembered you saying, "I don't want to be just the chick." Cut to you later with the dress torn and the shotgun. Shooting Blackheart.
Mendes: "Johnny! Johnny! Save me!" But it was fun.
Cage: Eva added a lot of fun to the character and to the movie. There's great scenes of her with a magic eight ball. The toy you would ask questions to. A lot of humor to it.
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Cage and Peter Fonda in Ghost Rider.[/SIZE]
Q: How was working with Peter Fonda?
Cage: It was great. I'm such a fan of Peter. I grew up watching Peter Fonda. For me, it was the perfect choice in that he was Captain America [in
Easy Rider] and I thought if there was going to be a Luciferian version of a bike film then that would be the perfect choice to get Johnny Blaze to sell his soul to Captain America.
Johnson: It's actually our first crossover. With Captain America. [laughter]
Q: Mark, how about the delay of the movie? Is there still a lot more work to do?
Johnson: No, we're close now but we still wouldn't have been ready. We actually really lucked out. We were supposed to come out in August. They saw the movie, really liked it and pushed us up to July, which was the second week of
Pirates of the Caribbean. Most of all they liked the movie and there are things I always wanted to get in the movie, some really great bike stuff, which was very expensive and pick-up stuff. It was great that they gave us a couple of days to pick that stuff up and the flaming skull was literally still being worked on. It went down to the wire to get it perfect. It's a hard thing, as you know, if that doesn't work the character doesn't work and the movie doesn't work. So we thought we were so close we just didn't want to rush it.
Q: Are you open for a sequel and are you guys all signed for one?
Johnson: Not sure.
Cage: My theory on sequels is that they have to be better than the original so I'm open. I just have to see a script and then talk about it. But I loved working with Mark, Eva. It would be great to do something again. I just want to make sure we can do something to improve even on the original. Whatever you can do to keep going, make it one step better. I think the original's really good so it would mean a lot of sitting down and thinking about it.
Q: Who are your favorite comic book characters?
Cage: Well, Ghost Rider. But I liked the monsters as a kid. I fantasized about being able to turn into the monster to scare the bully away. I think little boys and girls when they see the werewolves movies, like
The Wolf Man, it's very exciting. Monsters are fun to play. And with
Ghost Rider, I got a chance to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. I got to be in a horror film, in the grand sense of
The Wolf Man, and a comic book-based movie. So, yes, to answer your question, Ghost Rider, the Hulk. Those were my real introductions into the comic book world because they stimulated my imagination so much.
Q: How much violence is going to be in this since the comic book has quite a lot?
Johnson: Yeah, quite a bit. It's an intense movie. Even though we were here [Comic-Con] last year, I'm happy to be here even more this year because we get to show some stuff. Last we had nothing to show.