Around 2014, after Nicolas Cage had a string of box office flops with the likes of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” the actor started becoming the face of straight-to-VOD action movies. Those roles piled up in the dozens as reports surfaced that Cage blew his $150 million fortune, owed the IRS $6.3 million in property taxes and was taking every acting role he could in order to get out of debt. The actor recently clarified this period of his life in an interview with GQ magazine.

“I’ve got all these creditors and the IRS and I’m spending $20,000 a month trying to keep my mother out of a mental institution, and I can’t,” Cage said about his debts. “It was just all happening at once.”

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Cage said that he refused to get to the point where he would have to file for bankruptcy, even if people in his life were telling him he should. That’s where the endless string of Cage-starring VOD movies came in handy, although the Oscar winner stressed that he never took on a role he didn’t believe in — even if the role was helping him avoid bankruptcy.

Read more: Variety