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Actor reveals bizarre fear resurfaced during filming in WA

Actor reveals bizarre fear resurfaced during filming in WA

Perth Now05-05-2025

Star of new psychological thriller The Surfer Nicolas Cage admits he feared surfers during his younger years.
The 61-year-old actor explained how the movie, an Australian-Irish co-production filmed in Western Australia, relates to his own childhood in California.
Recalling spending weekends at Santa Monica Pier, Cage told Extra he admired boardriders but was also scared of them.
'I was quite young, but I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get past the group that was surfing, or, you know, the line, if you will. It was quite intimidating,' he said.
'I had a lot of admiration for surfers and for what they do, but I also feared them as a young man because they were pretty jacked up, both mentally and physically.'
In the new movie, Cage plays a man who revisits his childhood beach to surf with his son. The actor's character is pushed to his limits amid an escalating conflict.
'It's a human condition, it's a human story to think that you can repair things if you just work hard enough and buy back that house or it'll fix my marriage or it'll repair my relationship with my son ... and that desire to belong, to belong to something, to belong to anything,' the actor said.
Cage has previously described having a student-like approach to acting.
The star has achieved huge success in the film business but acknowledges he's still developing his skills.
'I certainly can't think in those terms like I've done it all,' Cage told Entertainment Tonight in 2023, despite having previously won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, among other accolades.
'I've always had the mantra that I'm a student. I've viewed my path and film-making as a student. I would never call myself a master.'
The veteran star also revealed he's always had an inquisitive mind.
'I always have something to learn, always want to learn. So, 60 is coming up for sure, so my goal is to read more. I've been lagging in that department. I'd like to read a book a week.'

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Looking for a new book? Here are 10 recent releases

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Looking for a new book? Here are 10 recent releases
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This week's book reviews range from magical realism and Australian grunge to a study of WWII's aftermath and a guide to talking your way out of trouble from a criminal defence lawyer. Happy reading! FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen Shokoofeh Azar Europa Editions, $49.99 Shokoofeh Azar fled Iran for Australia after several arrests and the translator of this novel, composed in Farsi, has chosen to remain anonymous, citing security concerns. Azar's forced exile has sparked her creative fire, and The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen blends fabulism, romantic and supernatural elements with a gimlet-eyed view of the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath. It follows a family from Iran's Zoroastrian minority, with Shokoofeh narrating her story beginning as a teen in an opulent mansion, closed and cloistered (the mansion was sealed by her aunt, in one of the novel's many vivid digressions). 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The precise, unsentimental portrait of Melbourne youth culture at the time will immediately seduce and appal anyone who lived through it (raises hand), and for others, it serves as a welcome addition to the contemporary Australian grunge literature from that epoch – Luke Davies' Candy or Christos Tsiolkas' Loaded, say – which tended to be male-dominated. 1945 The Reckoning Phil Craig Hodder & Stoughton, $34.99 The title notwithstanding, much of Phil Craig's study of World War II and its aftermath deals with the war years leading up to 1945. And necessarily so. For what he is examining is the way in which, even as the war was being fought (and his descriptions of the action bring home just how bloody and violent it was), the peace was being planned. It's an epic canvas, ambitious, in some ways even Tolstoy-esque, taking in Europe, the Asia/Pacific and the quiet English countryside. There are many moving parts (possibly too many), but his main focus is on India and the ultimate establishment of the post-colonial state. Two figures loom large: the problematic Subhas Chandra Bose, who spent much of the war in exile in Nazi Germany and was leader of the Indian National Army (which fought with the Japanese), and Colonel Kodandera Subayya 'Timmy' Thimayya, who decided to fight with the British, defeat the Japanese, then negotiate the peace. Two divergent paths, same goal – independence. Along the way he incorporates the tales of ordinary people – such as a very astute English nurse – caught up in extraordinary times. On both a narrative and thematic level, this is skilfully told history for the general reader. The better sporting tales tend to be about more than just sport, and this is the case with Katrina Gorry's record of a sporting life that has taken her to the world stage as a member of the Matildas and current captain of West Ham United. 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On Democracies and Death Cults Douglas Murray Harper Collins, $34.99 A key contention by British neo-conservative Douglas Murray in this study of the October 7 attack in Israel is that the region, and the West for that matter, is caught up at present in a Manichean struggle between good and evil – terms he endows with a kind of metaphysical truth – between countries such as Israel that stand for Life, and Hamas, which stands for the cult of Death and martyrdom. Not that he hasn't got extensive, boots-on-the-ground knowledge of the complexities of the situation. He's a seasoned journalist who went to Israel and Gaza after the attack and interviewed both victims and terrorists, citing examples – and it's deeply disturbing – of how exultant the Hamas attackers were. But the result is an emphatically one-sided assessment that excuses the horrifying, ongoing slaughter in Gaza of thousands of Palestinian civilians as a necessary war of survival between Life and the cult of Death. And Netanyahu, whom he interviewed, emerges as a dedicated war leader – never mind that the ICC has issued a warrant for his arrest as a war criminal. Highly contentious. Often as not, this jaunty, serious and funny description of life as a criminal defence lawyer reads like dispatches from the law zone. Kalantar, an advocate and public speaker, recalls the day he decided to become a lawyer. He was seven, wrongly accused of making a face to his teacher and betrayed by a classmate, the injustice staying with him. Mind you, he initially took a wrong turn into banking, before an inspiring lecturer guided him into law. It's shot through with lessons from the coalface, especially in regard to making assumptions about accused clients – one, in particular, whom he dubs Genghis Khan, whose responses (through an interpreter) to questioning he completely misread. In another poignant episode, he outlines the way two close brothers fell out over the contents of their mother's will. 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Pseudoscience is in danger of destabilising the gains of science since Jenner's day, and this is both a reminder of the massive health achievements of the modern era and a timely wake-up call.

Sad career update as Nick Kyrgios dropped from major roles
Sad career update as Nick Kyrgios dropped from major roles

Perth Now

time4 hours ago

  • Perth Now

Sad career update as Nick Kyrgios dropped from major roles

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has reportedly been dropped as a commentator for this year's Wimbledon coverage by two media outlets. BBC and ESPN advised the 30-year-old that they will not be requiring his services for the tournament. It comes after his appearance in last year's event evcopped lots of backlash, with many criticising his casual approach, and bold fashion displays. Some circles in the UK, including politicians and anti-violence against women organisations, were also outraged by his appointment after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his former girlfriend in 2021 — the charges were later dropped. Nick Kyrgios Credit: Instagram It has been a rough year for Kyrgios who has also faced a spate of injuries relating to his wrist and knees. The injuries have have restricted his playing ability and he has not played a grand slam singles match since 2022. The injuries and his loss of media roles has prompted speculation that his playing career and broadcasting career may be coming to an abrupt end. Kyrgios also split with former flame Costeen Hatzi in April, with pictures of the couple largely deleted from both their Instagram accounts.

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