Nicolas Cage reveals he went searching for the Holy Grail: 'It was almost like National Treasure' 

He starred in the 2004 box office hit National Treasure, that followed his character Ben Gates on a journey to find a rumored treasure that dates back to the founding of the United States. 

And Nicholas Cage seems to have taken a lead from his fictional character. 

In an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday the 55-year-old revealed that he went on a ‘grail quest’ to find the Holy Grail. 

Finding the Holy Grail: In an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday Nicolas Cage revealed that he went on a ‘grail quest’ to find the Holy Grail 

Though he didn’t specify when this journey took place, he did say it was during a stretch of years when he was meditating daily and not drinking.   

‘I went years where all I was doing was meditating three times a day and reading books on philosophy, not drinking whatsoever,’ he said. ‘That was the time when I almost went on — you might call it a grail quest.’

Cage continued: ‘I started following mythology and I was finding properties that aligned with that. It was almost like National Treasure.’

In the film, Ben Gates steals the Declaration of Independence to give him direction in his hunt for the fictional treasure.  

20054 hit: He starred in the 2004 box office hit National Treasure, that followed his character Ben Gates on a journey to find a rumored treasure that dates back to the founding of the United States (pictured on screen with Diane Kruger)

While the interviewer suggested he went on a metaphorical quest for the treasure, he was quick to clarify that he did indeed go to real places in hopes of finding it. 

He traced the Grail’s history through England and ultimately if it existed at all. 

‘It’s like when you build a library. You read a book, and in it there’s a reference to another book, and then you buy that book, and then you attach the references,’ the Valley Girl actor said. ‘For me it was all about where was the grail? Is it at Glastonbury? Does it exist?’

Taking a lead from his character: After meditating he went on his journey Cage said: ‘I started following mythology and I was finding properties that aligned with that. It was almost like National Treasure’ 

The Knowing star explained that there are many rumored references to the grail being in Glastonbury.  

‘If you go to Glastonbury and go to the Chalice Well, there’s a spring that does taste like blood,’ he said. ‘I guess it’s really because there’s a lot of iron in the water. But legend had it that in that place was a grail chalice, or two cruets rather, one of blood and one of sweat. But that led to there being talk that people had come to Rhode Island, and they were looking for something as well.’

Ultimately he found that his search for the grail was more metaphorical and took lessons he learned from studying to pose the theory that the Holy Grail is a metaphor for the Earth. 

We have the grail: ‘What I ultimately found is: What is the Grail but Earth itself?’ he said. ‘The metaphor for me is the earth. The divine object is Earth’ 

‘What I ultimately found is: What is the Grail but Earth itself?’ he said. ‘The metaphor for me is the earth. The divine object is Earth.’ 

Also in the interview, he opened up about his recent four day long marriage to makeup artist Erika Koike. 

 He said ‘I don’t really want to talk about it. I was pretty upset about that and the way things happened.’

They had been together since April 2018 and married in Las Vegas in March 2019, and he filed for an annulment just four days later, citing being too intoxicated to understand his actions and hinting he did not know about her relationship with another man.