Cage wants to stir imaginations with films

NEW YORK, March 23 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Nicolas Cage says science-fiction movies like "Knowing" allow him to express himself in an abstract way while still pleasing audiences.

"Good science fiction is intelligent. It asks big questions that are on people's minds. It's not impossible. It has some sort of root in the abstract. So, automatically, you're getting closer to potentially divine sources of interest because it is abstract. It's one of the only ways that a film actor can express himself in the abstract and have audiences still go along for the ride. They don't contend it. They accept it, that they're going to go places that are a bit more of the imagination, a bit more out there and that's more and more where I like to dance," Cage told reporters in New York recently, while promoting "Knowing" -- a film about the possibility of predicting the future -- which was No. 1 at the U.S. box office when it opened this past weekend.

Cage said he also likes this type of film because he was getting "a little tired of movies where I had to shoot people."

"I got to thinking about the power of film and what that power is," Cage said. "So, I thought if it was this powerful, the power to change people's minds, then perhaps I should just be a little more responsible with that power. That's not to say that I don't believe in freedom of speech. I do. It's just that, at this point in my life, in my interests, I would rather entertain you with the spectacle and with the imagination, as opposed to servicing your blood-lust appetites. But that's not to say that I might not find myself in that situation again."