Nicolas Cage says Christopher Nolan and other A-list directors cut contact after he rejected their films

• Cage, 62, claims Nolan stopped calling after he turned down 2002's Insomnia
• He also named Paul Thomas Anderson and Woody Allen as directors who cut contact
• Insomnia starred Al Pacino and the late Robin Williams, grossing over $113 million worldwide
  

Nicolas Cage has claimed that several of Hollywood's most celebrated directors — among them Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Woody Allen — have refused to work with him after he turned down their projects.

The Nolan connection: Insomnia

Cage, 62, made the revelation in a Q&A with the New York Times published on Saturday. He alleged that Nolan stopped returning his calls after he starred in the 2002 psychological thriller Insomnia, a critically acclaimed and commercially successful film that starred Al Pacino and the late Robin Williams, grossing over $113 million worldwide.

"Most of them, they get their feelings hurt and don't call you back. It's happened a million times to me." He also named Anderson and Allen as directors who similarly distanced themselves after he declined their offers.

"They don't call me back. The Paul Thomas Anderson movie was a very early movie. He'd shown me a short film with Philip Baker Hall — who was in 'Hard Eight.' And we were going to do something and it didn't work out."

The exception: David O. Russell

The one director Cage singled out for praise was David O. Russell, with whom he is now set to collaborate on Madden — an upcoming film in which Cage portrays legendary American football coach John Madden.

Russell, he said, is the only director who has ever come back to him with another project after previously being turned down — an act Cage described as a mark of genuine character.

"Anyway, David did call me, and it showed a lot of class that he would call me back and invite me again, and I didn't want to say no to him again because I have great respect for his talent."

Cage did not disclose which of Russell's earlier films he had declined, but noted the rejection had taken place "a million years ago."

"It was a good movie, and he offered it and I said no, and he's the only director that I ever said no to who actually came back and offered me another movie."

Nolan's reputation and The Odyssey

Nolan, 55, is well regarded for assembling star-studded casts and maintaining long-term working relationships with actors including Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Tom Hardy.

He recently addressed the casting of his highly anticipated new film, The Odyssey, due for release on 17 July — specifically the decision to cast musician Travis Scott as a bard in his adaptation of the ancient Greek epic.

"I cast him because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap," Nolan explained to Time magazine.