Nicolas Cage Quotes

The first time I went out under the spotlight, I was proper freaked out.

Being at the centre of a film is a burden one takes on with innocence the first time. Thereafter, you take it on with trepidation.

When I meet people for the first time, I'm friendly but shy. I'm much less outwardly nervous than I used to be, but I still get anxious sometimes.

I have played in matches where individuals have frozen and gone into their shells: they don't want the ball, they don't communicate, and they don't do their jobs. Fear turns them to stone.

There are times when I do feel very nervous when I start a film. And I feel very nervous before the release. I do get stuck in some scenes, but that's very natural and human. It happens to all the artistes in the world.

I've been nervous a number of times. Your first start. Playing in the Super Bowl. Your first Super Bowl. Very nerve-racking. The one thing that you can always fall back on is that you know what you are doing. You know how to play the game.

The terror of performing never goes away. Instead, you get very, very comfortable being terrified.

I don't feel like I ever really do get past the nervousness. I'm always nervous. Something about being nervous keeps you on the edge, and I've always felt like I worked better under pressure.

The first time I performed musically, I threw up.

I love working with a cast and a group of people every day, which is different than recording because you're usually pretty isolated and alone. They serve as a good balance for each other.

The first time I was flown to L.A. for a screen test was an incredibly nerve-racking experience.

In 2004, I went onstage for the first time. They put a mike in my hand and pushed me out the door into the crowd. I did the three songs I had recorded and got out. It was the worst day of my life.

I've gotten to work with amazing people. I would say usually we get to a point before we get into the studio where there isn't that sense of anxiety or nervousness of who they are because I don't think it would be as productive in the studio if that was the case. But maybe meeting someone like Neil Young for the first time made me anxious.

The first time onstage, a light went on. 'OK, this is my thing. I'm comfortable here. This is my thing.'

First time I walked out on the Opry stage, Vince Gill was there. He kind of 'daddied' me through the whole thing. My knees were knocking. I walked out there, and I was literally shaking. They say it's the spirits or the ghosts. And out of respect for that whole establishment, I was really really nervous.

The first time you meet someone, the conversation is sort of on life support. You're just trying to live another moment in the life of the conversation.

The first time I got up in front of an audience was terror, abject terror, which continued for another four or five years. There still is, a little bit.

Auditioning is the worst.

When I won my way to the international science fair, I didn't want to embarrass myself. It was the first time I was going to be away from home, the first time taking an airplane. I went to the local library, checked out every single etiquette book, and I read those books like I was uncovering some sort of treasure.

I did green screen for the first time! I wouldn't like to do a whole movie of green screen, though. You kind of forget the plot a little - like being in a Broadway play and doing it over and over and forgetting your line halfway through.

I felt tight from the beginning of the match to the end. I couldn't relax.

I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse, but every time I show up on set it still feels like the first time.

After I directed for the first time, I wanted to call every director I'd ever worked with and apologize. In television you are tasked with shooting 42 minutes, or whatever, in eight days. That's not a lot of time.

The three-thousand hitting thing was the first time I let individual pressure get to me. I was uptight about it. When I saw the hit going through, I had a sigh of relief more than anything.

For Devil's Backbone I loved it but I felt very pressured but so I was neurotic on the shoot.