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Nicolas Cage Has Some Sage Wisdom for You

Nicolas Cage arrives at the premiere of the movie 'Joe' during the 39th Deauville American film festival on September 2, 2013 in Deauville, France.

Nicolas Cage stars in David Gordon Green’s new movie, Joe, where he plays, well, Joe, an ex-con who winds up mentoring Gary, a troubled 15-year-old boy. You know, “a waterfather.” Oh, are you not familiar with the term? Cage explains to Moviefone:

One of the things I like about the movie — my father used to say, “If you’re in the desert and you’re dying of thirst, are you going to drink a glass of blood or you going to drink a glass a water?” meaning, sometimes your very own family that you’re close to can be toxic. They take your success or your potential as a personal insult on their failure, and they beat you up or they say you’ll never make it. That’s not a glass of blood you want to drink if you’re dying of thirst in the desert. But Joe provides, like, a glass of water. He’s what I call in the abstract a “waterfather.” He becomes a surrogate father and he sees the potential in Gary.

Don’t drink glasses of blood, guys.

Nicolas Cage Has Some Sage Wisdom for You