The 'Mandy' actor realizes that he tends to be 'very self-destructive' whenever he doesn't have a job to do, and is determined not to be that kind of a man.

• Oct 2, 2018

AceShowbiz - Nicolas Cage takes as many acting jobs as he can as he fears that his "self-destructive" tendencies will lead him astray if he isn't busy.

Cage, 54, is starring in seven movies released in 2018, including his latest thriller, "Mandy", and already has four movies due out next year.

Despite previously hinting he may retire from acting to focus on directing and producing, he now says he loves having to turn up on set as it helps him keep his life on track and helps him avoid destructive behaviour.

The "Con Air" star tells The Guardian newspaper, "If I don't have somewhere to go in the morning and a job to do, it can be very self-destructive. Then I'm just going to sit and order two bottles of red wine and dissolve, and I don't want to be that person, so I have to work."

Cage credits his children, Weston, 27, and Kal-El, 13, with inspiring him to stay on the straight-and-narrow, adding, "I certainly have a work ethic, that I will say. I'm the first to arrive and the last to leave. But also I think my children are to thank for that."

In 2012 the star was hit with a mammoth $6 million (£4.4 million) tax bill, forcing the Oscar winner to sell many treasured items and keep up a hectic work schedule.

Earlier this year, he told British newspaper The Times that he's "trying to live a much more minimal lifestyle" in order to ensure he can choose projects more carefully and build an acting legacy.

The actor, who is a member of the famous Coppola movie dynasty, has reportedly bought more than a dozen houses, a Bavarian castle, two Bahamian islands, as well as more eccentric items like a dinosaur skull, shrunken heads, and a Lamborghini which once belonged to the Shah of Iran over the years, but is now committed to curbing his outgoings.