By Charles BradleyThursday, February 22nd 2007, 17:30 GMT
American movie star Nicolas Cage, the grand marshal for last weekend's Daytona 500, has told autosport.com that he would "leap at the chance" to make a film about motorsport.
Cage, star of blockbusters such as 'Gone in 60 Seconds', 'The Rock' or 'Ghost Rider', gave the "Gentleman, start your engines" command in his own inimitable fashion before the 49th running of the stock car classic on Sunday.
When asked if he would like to emulate Steve McQueen, who committed the Le Mans 24 Hours to celluloid in 1971, Cage told autosport.com: "I would love to. I would leap at the opportunity if someone came to me with a script about racecars and this great sport, I would participate straight away. Whether it was Le Mans, Daytona, Formula One all of it.
"I've been out on the track at Willis Springs, nothing like this incredible magnitude of course, but I've had moments out there where I've experienced what it's like to try and stay alive and not think about anything but going fast and not hitting the wall.
"It's oddly relaxing! So I'd like to try and do that in a movie somehow."
Cage's latest film, 'Ghost Rider', is on general release in the USA. In it, he plays a circus motorcycle stuntman who has been cursed by Satan.
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Take heed of these words, my friends.... "You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give" Kahlil Gibran
