There is an undeniable abundance of people named Nick in this world. There is also a great number of people named Nick whose surnames begin with the letter C, but two of the most famous ones are certainly Nicolas Cage and Nick Cave.
Apparently the similarity of these two celebrities' names has had a profound impact on the lives of at least one of the people in question: Cage has claimed that he's "mistaken for" Cave on a regular basis.
UPDATE (5/12, 1:06 p.m. ET): In his latest post on the Red Hand Files, Cave responded to Cage's claims in his interview with The Guardian, writing, "There has always been a persistent and somewhat perplexing confusion surrounding our names."
The musician went on to recount an incident from "years ago" when he was living in São Paulo, Brazil, when a drunken, down-on-his-luck stranger named Diego mistook him for Cage. He started crying and told Cave that his wife had kicked him out, but she loved Cage; her favourite movie was Peggy Sue Got Married.
"I was about to explain that he'd made a mistake and mixed me up with the actor, Nicolas Cage, but he looked up at me with such a pitiful mixture of tragedy and wonder that I didn't have the heart," the singer-songwriter wrote. "Eventually, Diego decided he should go back home and tell his wife, Ana, that he'd met her favourite actor, and that Nick Cave [sic] says he's not stupid, and that he's a good guy," which Cave even wrote in a note to her, signed Nic Cage.
Cave concluded, "Anyway, these confusions between me and Mr. Cage happen fairly often. But I don't mind. I'm a fan. Have you guys seen Mandy? My God. What a film."
"I don't think a day goes by that I'm not mistaken for Nick Cave," the actor told The Guardian's Rich Pelley, responding to a fan-submitted question in a new interview while promoting new film The Surfer.
Reflecting on a chance encounter with the musician, Cage continued, "I do remember that Cave was very nice. We were at an animal sanctuary, I believe — I think Sealy Animal Hospital in Texas — and he was terrific. I said hello and wanted to shake his hand. I said: 'Only one letter separates us — G. Nick Cave, Nick Cage.'"
The actor is famously an animal lover, revealing in 2022 that he has a pet crow (and self-identifies as goth). As far as I know, he hasn't claimed the title, but I'm sure some would argue that Cave is pretty goth too. They also kind of have similar hairlines?
As per NME, Cave has also spoken out about how people get him and Cage mixed up "all the time." In a 2022 Red Hand Files post, the Bad Seeds frontman wrote, "Like, I'll be going through customs and the customs officer will look at my passport and say, 'Happy to have you with us, Mr. Cave. Loved you in Face/Off.' Or whatever. Sometimes it can be a bit of a pain in the neck, but you get used to it."