Nicolas Cage Is 'Lord of War'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Taking an inside look at the seedy world of arms-dealing, "Lord of War" (search) straps on the Uzi this weekend and hopes to make a killing at the box office.
Nicolas Cage (search) plays a wily dealer, trying to balance domestic responsibilities with staying one step ahead of the law.
"It's not something you really read about or see on TV — who's subsidizing these gun sales to oppressive dictators around the world. It made me interested in doing the movie, because I thought it was an important topic that might make more people aware of it," Cage told FOX News.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In making the film, director Andrew Niccol (search) learned that people in the weapons trade run a tight ship.
"I actually had to deal with real arms dealers to get the film made, to get all [the] guns needed for the movie. When a guy said 'I can deliver you 50 tanks' — one private guy who owned 50 tanks in the Czech republic — and 'I'll get them there on Tuesday at 9 a.m.,' sure enough, there they are all [were] perfectly lined up," Niccol said.
And even though the film is fictional, it does make a point about the role superpowers play in funding certain wars.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's so startling to know that the permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations are the biggest arms dealers in the world, so they are really the "In-security Council," Niccol said.
But Cage wants to remind audiences that this is just a movie.
"The research that Andrew Niccol did on this film — he's standing by it — he won't back down that this is the truth, so who knows what happens. The bottom line is it's an entertaining thriller," Cage said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FOX News Mike Waco and Anita Vogel contributed to this report.