title: No Time to Die

text: In July 2019, Dan Romer was announced as composer for the film's score, having previously worked with Fukunaga on "Beasts of No Nation" and "Maniac". Romer left the film due to creative differences in November 2019. Hans Zimmer replaced Romer by January 2020. It is the first time in the "Bond" series history that a composer has been replaced during post-production, and the second major personnel change for the film after Boyle's departure. Steve Mazzaro produced the score, while Johnny Marr played guitar. The "No Time to Die" score album was set to be released through Decca Records in March 2020 but was delayed to 1 October 2021 to coincide with the release of the film.


title: No Time to Die

text: In January 2020, Billie Eilish was announced as the performer of the film's theme song, with her brother, Finneas O'Connell, serving as co-writer as well as the track's producer. The song, which has the same title, was released on 13 February 2020. At the age of 18, Eilish is the youngest artist to record a Bond theme song. The song's music video was subsequently released on 1 October 2020. Despite the film's delay, the song was nominated for and won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, on 14 March 2021, six months before the film's release date, because the song itself was released during the 2019–20 eligibility period, in anticipation of the film's original April 2020 release date.


title: No Time to Die

text: The song "Dans la ville endormie" by French singer Dalida is heard briefly in the opening scene. Louis Armstrong's version of "We Have All the Time in the World" is a recurring theme included three times within the score and originally appeared in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", recalling both love and loss experienced by Bond following a similar poignancy in this film. The track is played in full during the closing credits.


title: No Time to Die

text: The Sony Pictures contract to co-produce the "Bond" films with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Eon Productions expired with the release of "Spectre" in 2015. In April 2017, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, and Annapurna Pictures entered a bidding competition to win the distribution rights. MGM secured the North American, digital, and worldwide television rights to the film through its distribution arm United Artists Releasing. Universal became the international distributor and worldwide holder of the rights for physical home media (DVD and Blu-ray) through its subsidiary Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, prior to its joint venture agreement in January 2020 with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.


title: No Time to Die

text: "No Time to Die" had its world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 28 September 2021, and was released in cinemas on 30 September 2021 in the UK and on 8 October 2021 in the US in 2D, RealD 3D, 4DX, ScreenX, Dolby Cinema and IMAX. The film also opened the same week in September in South Korea and the following week in October in Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Russia. China and Australia would see the release later in October and November 2021. The film had the highest box office opening weekend takings in the UK for any "Bond" feature.


title: No Time to Die

text: "No Time to Die" was originally scheduled for release in November 2019, but was postponed to February 2020 and then to April 2020 after Boyle's departure. The premiere in China and a countrywide publicity tour, planned for April 2020, were cancelled due to the early outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. By March 2020, the global spread of the virus and the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization prompted a joint open letter from two "Bond" fan sites addressed to the producers. The letter asked that the release be delayed to minimise the risk of spreading the disease and to ensure the film's commercial success. On 4 March 2020, MGM and Eon Productions announced that after "thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace" they had postponed the release until 12 November 2020 in the UK and 25 November 2020 in the US. "No Time to Die" was the first major film affected by the pandemic. According to "Deadline Hollywood", MGM and Universal needed to assure a strong performance across all international markets. It was hoped that the rescheduling to November would ensure all cinemas, particularly those in China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and France that were closed due to the pandemic, would be open and operational.


title: No Time to Die

text: In the early stages of the pandemic, an estimated 70,000 cinemas in China closed, and countries including Australia and the UK closed cinemas to minimise the spread of the virus. "Variety" said the studio had already spent $66 million on promoting the film, while "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that the delay cost MGM $30–50 million in wasted marketing costs, estimating that the global box office losses could have exceeded $300 million had the film stayed in its April 2020 slot. In October 2020, "No Time to Die" was delayed again to 2 April 2021. The decision to delay the release was made when it became apparent that theatrical markets, especially in the US, would not see full demand. After the delay was announced, the British chain Cineworld, the world's second-largest cinema chain, closed its cinemas indefinitely. Chief executive Mooky Greidinger said the delay of "No Time to Die" was the "last straw" for Cineworld following a string of other film delays and cancellations.


title: No Time to Die

text: In January 2021, the film was rescheduled to 8 October 2021. In February 2021, an earlier release date of 30 September 2021 was announced for the UK. In August 2021, it was announced that the world premiere would be held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 28 September 2021; whilst the release date in Australia was delayed from 30 September to 11 November 2021, in response to their national lockdowns. It was also screened at the Zurich Film Festival on the same day as the world premiere and the first "Bond" film to be in the official selection at a festival. The release in China was on 29 October 2021.


title: No Time to Die

text: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) released "No Time to Die" on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in the UK on 20 December 2021 and in the US on 21 December 2021. It was available from digital download services on 9 November 2021 in the US. The 31-day theatrical release window of the film is considered a relatively quick turnaround for a film of this size. One factor has been that "Bond" films attract an older audience and that demographic has been hesitant to return to cinemas during the pandemic.


title: No Time to Die

text: "No Time to Die" was the top-ranking film on Vudu and Google Play for two weeks and iTunes for five weeks. In the UK, it was the highest-selling digital title of 2021, with more than 430,000 units sold. Upon its release in disc format, "No Time to Die" debuted atop the "NPD VideoScan First Alert" chart for both the overall disc sales and Blu-ray sales in the US. According to "The Numbers", it sold a combined 380,902 Blu-ray and DVD units in the first week for a revenue of $9.7 million. It was the top-selling-title on both charts for three weeks. It also debuted at the first position on Redbox's disc rental charts and second on its digital charts. According to the NPD Group, it sold the eighth-highest amount of DVDs and Blu-rays in 2021, and the second-highest in December 2021.


title: No Time to Die

text: In the UK, it ranked atop the Official Film Chart for three weeks. The film was the highest-selling title on disc in the country during 2021 with 1.15 million units being sold, including 717,500 DVD and Blu-ray units being sold within two weeks. It was also the highest-selling Blu-ray title of 2021 with 237,000 units sold, in addition to becoming the highest-selling title on 4K Blu-ray in the first week of release and selling the highest number of discs for any title in first week of release since 2017 with 621,000 Blu-ray and DVDs being sold. In addition, it sold a combined 780,000 units across digital platforms and retail in the final week of 2021.


title: No Time to Die

text: , "No Time to Die" has grossed $160.9 million in the United States and Canada and $613.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $774.2 million. It was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2021. Because of the combined production and promotional costs of at least $350 million, it was estimated that the film would have needed to gross at least $800 million worldwide in order to break even.


title: No Time to Die

text: "No Time to Die"s opening weekend set a $119.1 million box office from 54 countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Spain, besting its $90 million projections. It was the first film since the COVID-19 pandemic that crossed $100 million in an overseas debut without the China market. "The Hollywood Reporter" stated the premiere was the biggest in the United Kingdom since the pandemic began. In the United States and Canada, "No Time to Die" was projected to gross $65–85 million in its opening weekend. The film made $23.3 million on its first day, including $6.3 million from Thursday night previews (which included $1 million from Wednesday previews), the best total of the franchise. It went on to debut to $55.2 million, topping the box office and marking the fourth-best opening weekend of the franchise. "No Time to Die" earned an additional $6.9 million on Columbus Day, bringing its four-day total in the United States and Canada to $62.2 million. "Deadline Hollywood" attributed the slight underperformance to the film's 163-minute runtime limiting the number of showtimes. "TheWrap" said that the opening was good news for cinemas, even if the studio did not break even during the film's theatrical run, and that it was an encouraging sign for upcoming adult-oriented pictures. The film fell 56% in its second weekend to $24.3 million, finishing second behind newcomer "Halloween Kills". "No Time to Die" was re-released in IMAX for the weekend ending on 23 January 2022 as part of the 60th anniversary of the "Bond" film series.


title: No Time to Die

text: "No Time to Die" became the highest-grossing film of 2021 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, surpassing "F9" on 17 October. In China, the film opened to a $28.2 million weekend, displacing "The Battle at Lake Changjin" from the top rank on the country's box office, despite 13% of cinemas being closed due to China's policies against local COVID-19 outbreaks. It remained atop the box office charts during its second weekend despite a drop of 59%, earning $11.4 million for a cumulative total of $49.2 million according to Artisan Gateway. It became the highest-grossing non-Chinese film of 2021 outside the United States and Canada on 14 November, earning an estimated $24 million for a cume of $558.2 million, which included $126 million in the United Kingdom, $70 million in Germany and $57.9 million in China. It also opened to an $8.2 million weekend in Australia, which was the biggest opening for any film since December 2019.


title: No Time to Die

text: During the weekend of 19–21 November, "No Time to Die" overtook "F9" to become the highest-grossing non-Chinese film of 2021, reaching a global cume of around $734 million as it grossed an estimated $2.6 million in the United States and Canada, as well as $13.4 million from 72 countries outside the two territories. It overtook "Spectre" the following weekend to become the third-highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom as well as the second-highest-grossing "Bond" film in the market with a gross of $129.9 million.


title: No Time to Die

text: "No Time to Die" has an approval rating of based on reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of . The critics consensus states: "It isn't the sleekest or most daring 007 adventure, but "No Time to Die" concludes Daniel Craig's franchise tenure in satisfying style." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 66 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 83% positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: No Time to Die

text: The film received praise from many film critics. Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" called it "an epic barnstormer" delivered "with terrific panache" and with "pathos, action, drama, camp comedy, heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action". Robbie Collin of "The Daily Telegraph" described it as "extravagantly satisfying", "often very funny" with gadgets "both improbable and outrageous", and that it has been filmed with "gorgeous" cinematography, starting with "a sensationally thrilling and sinister prologue" and ending with a "moving conclusion". Kevin Maher of "The Times" wrote: "It's better than good. It's magnificent"; he later named the film one of the best films of 2021.


title: No Time to Die

text: Barry Hertz of "The Globe and Mail" wrote that the film "makes sure that my eyes are following each and every oh-whoa stunt. As well as guaranteeing that I actually care about whether (or, really, how) Bond gets out of this one." Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote that the film "takes its place among the best of the entire series", and concluded "Craig leaves the series in a mammoth, 163-minute extravaganza that audiences will be enjoying for decades. It's a lovely thing to see." K. Austin Collins of "Rolling Stone" described the film as being "just fine: sometimes intriguing, sometimes not, sometimes boring, sometimes not", adding: "It's a bit more successful if we think of it instead as a tribute to the Craig era, and to the star himself." Michael O'Sullivan of "The Washington Post" gave the film 3/4 stars, writing that it was "a bit too long and a bit too complicated", but added that it was "also a fittingly complicated and ultimately perversely satisfying send-off for the actor". Peter Rainer of "The Christian Science Monitor" gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "It offers up the requisite thrills, stunts, and bad guys. Beautiful people abound, and 007 still knows how to fill out a tux." However, he questioned "Has James Bond become irrelevant?"


title: No Time to Die

text: Conversely, some critics found fault with the film. John Nugent of "Empire" criticised its length (2 hours and 43 minutes), asserting that the plotting and exposition in the middle third "doesn't justify that heaving runtime". Nevertheless, he thought the film "a fitting end to the Craig era". Kyle Smith of "National Review" also criticised the film's length, and described it as "the least fun and most somber excursion in the entire Bond series". Clarisse Loughrey of "The Independent" found it uneventful and disappointing: its core premise of a biological weapon of mass destruction was described as "generic spy nonsense", while she felt that Rami Malek "gives almost nothing to the role beyond his accent and stereotyped disfigurement makeup". David Sexton of "New Statesman" wrote that the film "shows signs of emerging from an over-deliberated, market-sensitised production process", adding: "It delivers the set-pieces without ever trying to connect them with any urgency, almost like an anthology or re-mix." Brian Tallerico of "RogerEbert.com" gave the film a score of 2/4 stars, writing: "For something that once felt like it so deftly balanced the old of a timeless character with a new, richer style, perhaps the biggest knock against [the film] is that there's nothing here that hasn't been done better in one of the other Craig movies."


title: No Time to Die

text: At the 94th Academy Awards, "No Time to Die" received nominations for Best Sound and Best Visual Effects, and won Best Original Song, becoming the third film to do so after "Skyfall" and "Spectre". The film's other nominations include five British Academy Film Awards (winning one), two Critics' Choice Movie Awards (winning one), and a Golden Globe Award (which it won).


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In the first few years of his career, he starred in a variety of films such as "Valley Girl" (1983), "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986), "Raising Arizona" (1987), "Moonstruck" (1987) and "Wild at Heart" (1990). During this period, John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 36 listed him as one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1984". For his performance in "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995), he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: He subsequently appeared in more mainstream films, including "The Rock" (1996), "Con Air" (1997), "Face/Off" (1997), "City of Angels" (1998), "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000), "The Family Man" (2000), "Windtalkers" (2002), the "National Treasure" film series (2004–2007), "Lord of War" (2005), "The Wicker Man" (2006), "Ghost Rider" (2007) and "Knowing" (2009). He received his second Academy Award nomination for his performance as Charlie and Donald Kaufman in "Adaptation" (2002). Between the 2010s and the 2020s, he starred in "Kick-Ass" (2010),


title: Nicolas Cage

text: "Joe" (2013), "Mandy" (2018), "" (2018) and "Pig" (2021), roles that increased his popularity and solidified his cult following.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage owns the production company Saturn Films and has produced films such as "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000) and "The Life of David Gale" (2003). He also directed "Sonny" (2002), for which he was nominated for Grand Special Prize at Deauville Film Festival. In October 1997, he was ranked No. 40 in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list; and the next year he was placed No. 37 in "Premiere"s 100 Most Powerful People in Hollywood.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage was born in Long Beach, California, to August Coppola, a professor of literature, and Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer. He was raised in a Catholic family. His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of German and Polish ancestry. His paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata. Through his father, he is a nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and of actress Talia Shire, and a cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert and Jason Schwartzman.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage's two brothers are New York radio personality Marc "The Cope" Coppola and director Christopher Coppola. He attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an early age and also attended UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of "Golden Boy". He said he started acting because he "wanted to be James Dean. I saw him in "Rebel Without a Cause", "East of Eden". Nothing affected me—no rock song, no classical music—the way Dean affected me in "Eden". It blew my mind. I was like, 'That's what I want to do'."


title: Nicolas Cage

text: At fifteen years old he tried to convince his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, to give him a screen test, telling him "I'll show you acting." His outburst was met with "silence in the car". By this stage of his career, Coppola had already directed Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and Robert De Niro. Although early in his career Cage appeared in some of his uncle's films, he changed his name to Nicolas Cage to avoid the appearance of nepotism as Coppola's nephew. His choice of name was inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage and composer John Cage.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage made his acting debut in the 1981 television pilot "The Best of Times", which was never picked up by ABC. His film debut followed in 1982, with a minor role as an unnamed co-worker of Judge Reinhold's character in the coming-of-age film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", having originally auditioned for Reinhold's part. His experience on the film was marred by cast members endlessly quoting his uncle's films, which inspired him to change his name. Cage's first starring role came opposite Deborah Foreman in the romantic comedy "Valley Girl" (1983), in which he played a punk who falls in love with the titular valley girl, a plot loosely inspired by "Romeo and Juliet". The film was a modest box office success and has been branded a cult classic. He auditioned for the role of Dallas Winston in his uncle's film "The Outsiders", based on S.E. Hinton's novel, but lost to Matt Dillon. Cage, however, would co-star in Coppola's adaptation of another Hinton novel, "Rumble Fish", in that year.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In 1984, Cage appeared in three period films, none of which fared well at the box office. In the drama, "Racing with the Moon" (1984), Cage featured opposite Sean Penn as friends who are awaiting deployment to the U.S. Marine Corps. Coppola's crime drama "The Cotton Club" saw him play a fictionalized version of mob hitman Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, earning praise from critic Paul Attanasio for "artully [using] his few moments to sketch a brawny, violent thug". His final release of the year was Alan Parker's drama "Birdy", in which he starred with Matthew Modine as two close friends and their trauma inflicted by serving in the Vietnam War. Cage lost weight for the role and had two of his front teeth pulled out to appear disfigured. Despite massively underperforming at the box office, the film, and Cage and Modine's performances, received positive reviews, with "The New York Times" critic Janet Maslin writing, "Mr. Cage very sympathetically captures Al's urgency and frustration. Together, these actors work miracles with what might have been unplayable."


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In 1986, Cage starred in the little-seen Canadian sports drama "The Boy in Blue" and his uncle's fantasy comedy "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1987) as the husband to Kathleen Turner's character, who has travelled back in time to their high school days. He then starred in the Coen brothers' crime comedy "Raising Arizona" (1987) as a dim-witted ex-con. Cage's biggest breakthrough came in 1987 with the romantic comedy "Moonstruck", in which he starred alongside Cher as a hot-tempered baker who falls in love with his estranged brother's widowed fiancé. The film was a hit with critics and audiences alike, earning Cage a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In 1989, Cage starred in the black comedy "Vampire's Kiss" as a man who falls in love with a vampire and soon begins to believe he himself is a vampire. The film was a major box office flop, but has developed a cult following largely due to Cage's surrealistic and over-the-top performance appearing in internet memes. Critic Vincent Canby felt the film was "dominated and destroyed by Mr. Cage's chaotic, self-indulgent performance". After filming the Italian drama "Time to Kill" (1989) in Zimbabwe, he starred in David Lynch's romantic crime film "Wild at Heart" (1990) with Laura Dern as a pair of lovers on the run from gangsters hired to kill Cage's character "Sailor" Ripley. Cage was drawn to the project because he was "always attracted to those passionate, almost unbridled romantic characters" and it allowed him to impersonate one of his heroes, Elvis Presley, in scenes in which Sailor sings. "Wild at Heart" received mixed reviews upon release, despite controversially winning the Palme d'Or at 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Cage would reunite with Lynch and Dern for the avant-garde concert performance "Industrial Symphony No. 1".


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Also in 1990, he starred as a helicopter pilot in the action film "Fire Birds", which was panned by critics and negatively compared to "Top Gun" (1986). Cage's next film, the erotic thriller "Zandalee" (1991), was released direct-to-video in the United States, where it did not receive a theatrical release. His "goofy 'everyman'" performance in the romantic comedy "Honeymoon in Vegas" (1992) garnered some positive critical notices, including from Roger Ebert, who defended Cage amidst some critics finding his acting "excessive" and earned Cage his second Gloden Globe nomination. He hosted an episode of the variety show "Saturday Night Live" to promote the film, his only time hosting the show. None of Cage's three films in 1993—"Deadfall" (directed by his brother Christopher), "Amos & Andrew" and "Red Rock West"—performed well at the box office; though the last-mentioned neo-noir thriller in which he played a drifter mistaken for a hitman was lauded by critics. The comedy "Guarding Tess" (1994) paired Cage with Shirley MacLaine as a Secret Service agent protecting a former First Lady; however, it was dismissed as being derivative by some critics. He next starred alongside Bridget Fonda in the romantic comedy "It Could Happen to You" as a cash-strapped police officer who offers to share his lottery winnings with a waitress and then the much-criticized box office flop Christmas comedy "Trapped in Paradise" with the "Saturday Night Live" actors Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey. According to Lovitz, Cage directed portions of the film because its director, George Gallo, offered little direction.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage's performance as a psychopathic criminal kingpin in the crime film "Kiss of Death" (1995) was seen by many critics as the film strongpoint, but his most acclaimed performance yet came in the drama "Leaving Las Vegas" as an alcoholic screenwriter who falls in love with a prostitute in Las Vegas. The role won Cage the Academy Award for Best Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. His other nomination was for his portrayal of real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and Kaufman's fictional twin Donald in "Adaptation." Other Cage films included Martin Scorsese's 1999 New York City paramedic drama "Bringing Out the Dead" and Ridley Scott's 2003 black comedy crime film "Matchstick Men", in which he played a con artist with obsessive–compulsive disorder. Most of Cage's movies that have achieved financial success were in the action/adventure genre. These include "The Rock", in which Cage plays a young FBI chemical weapons expert who infiltrates Alcatraz Island in the hope of neutralizing a terrorist threat, "Con Air", a film where he plays a former army ranger who has to stop hijackers on an airplane, "Face/Off", a John Woo film where he plays both a hero and a villain, "Gone in 60 Seconds", with Cage as a retired car thief, and "World Trade Center", director Oliver Stone's film about the September 11 attacks. The suspense thriller "8mm" (1999) is considered a cult film. He took the lead role in the 2001 film "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" and learned to play the mandolin from scratch for the part. He made his directorial debut with 2002's "Sonny".


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In his second-highest-grossing film to date, "National Treasure", he plays an eccentric historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States. In 2005, two films he headlined, "Lord of War" and "The Weather Man", failed to find a significant audience despite nationwide releases and good reviews for his performances. The 2006 remake of "The Wicker Man" was very poorly reviewed, and failed to make back its $40 million budget. The much-criticized "Ghost Rider" (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, fared better, earning more than $45 million (the top earner) during its opening weekend and over $208 million worldwide through the weekend ending on March 25, 2007. Also in 2007, he had a small but notable role as the Chinese criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu in Rob Zombie's fake trailer "Werewolf Women of the S.S." from the B-movie double feature "Grindhouse" and starred in "Next", which shared the concept of a glimpse into an alternate timeline with Cage's film, "The Family Man" (2000).


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In November 2007, Cage was spotted backstage at a "Ring of Honor" wrestling show in New York City researching for the lead role for "The Wrestler". However, Cage dropped out of production shortly afterward because he felt that he did not have enough time to prepare for the role and director Darren Aronofsky preferred Mickey Rourke for the lead role. Rourke would go on to receive an Academy Award nomination for his performance. In an interview with /Film, Aronofsky said of Cage's decision to leave the film that "Nic was a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but ... you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race."


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In 2008, Cage appeared as Joe, a contract killer who undergoes a change of heart while on a work outing in Bangkok, in the film "Bangkok Dangerous". The film is shot by the Pang Brothers and has a distinctly South-East Asian flavor. In 2009, Cage starred in the science fiction thriller "Knowing", directed by Alex Proyas. In the film, he plays an MIT professor who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions found inside the capsule that has already come true lead him to believe that the world is going to end at the close of the week and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction. The film received mainly negative reviews but was the box office winner on its opening weekend.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Also in 2009, Cage starred in the film "", directed by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog. He portrayed a corrupt police officer with gambling, drug and alcohol addictions. The film was very well received by critics, holding a rating of 87% positive reviews on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Cage was lauded for his performance, with Michael Phillips of the "Chicago Tribune" writing "Herzog has found his ideal interpreter, a performer whose truth lies deep in the artifice of performance: ladies and gentlemen, Nicolas Cage, at his finest." This film reunited Cage with Eva Mendes, who played his love interest in "Ghost Rider". In 2010, Cage starred in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", in which he played the sorcerer, and the next year, headlined the period piece "Season of the Witch", as a 14th-century knight transporting a woman accused of causing the Black Plague to a monastery. In 2011, Cage reprised his role in "Ghost Rider's" sequel "."


title: Nicolas Cage

text: He voiced the character Grug Crood in the animated film "The Croods", which was released in 2013. "The Croods" received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success grossing $585 million against a budget of $135 million. In the same year he starred as main character in "The Frozen Ground", a thriller crime drama film directed and written by Scott Walker in his directorial debut, based on the crimes of real-life Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen: The film depicts an Alaskan State Trooper, played by Cage, seeking to apprehend Hansen by partnering with a young woman, who escaped from Hansen's clutches. The film has received mixed reviews though Cage's performance was cited as a highlight and solid.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In 2013 he also starred in "Joe", an independent crime drama film directed and co-produced by David Gordon Green, adaptation from Larry Brown's 1991 novel of the same name. In this film Nicolas Cage is a tormented man who hires a 15-year-old boy (played by Tye Sheridan) and protects him from his abusive father. The film premiered at the 70th Venice International Film Festival on August 30, 2013, with a subsequent screening at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. It was a box office flop, grossing only $2.36 million from a $4 million budget, but received critical acclaim from critics, who praised Cage's performance and Green's direction.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: The 2016 black comedy "Dog Eat Dog", Cage's second film with Paul Schrader, reunited him with Willem Dafoe (after "Wild at Heart") as a pair of ex-convicts hired to kidnap a baby. The film had its premiere as the closing entry for the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2016. It was released on November 4, 2016, in the United States. Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing, "It's the right director for the right project and the result is Schrader's best for years: a lairy, nasty, tasty crime thriller built on black-comic chaos." Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote, "A rare film to have been shot in Cleveland, "Dog Eat Dog" definitely looks like it was shot on the cheap but puts what it needs to up on the screen with vigor and wit."


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage starred alongside Selma Blair and Anne Winters in Brian Taylor's horror comedy film, "Mom and Dad", which premiered in the Midnight Madness section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in theaters on January 19, 2018, and received positive reviews from critics, with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes defining his performance as "over-the-top." Director John Waters appreciated the film, naming "Mom and Dad" as one of the best movies of 2018, placing it fourth on his personal top list.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In 2018, Cage starred in the action thriller film "Mandy", which premiered on January 19 at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com praised the movie, writing that "for all of the endless feral performances that Cage has given, in movies good, bad and forgettable, Cosmatos' style-driven, '80s-tastic passion for weird worlds and characters takes full advantage of Cage's greatness, and then some." In October, Mandy's producer Elijah Wood announced the intention to sizing up an Oscar campaign for Nicolas Cage and for composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (who died in February of that year) but the film was disqualified because it was also released on VOD on September 14.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Later that year, Cage voiced Superman in the animated film "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies". He had originally been slated to portray Superman in Tim Burton's canceled Superman film, "Superman Lives", in the 1990s. He voiced an alternate monochromatic 1930s universe version of Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir in "" (2018). Cage based his vocal performance on films of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: On January 28, 2019, Viktor and Irina Yelchin premiered a documentary about their son Anton Yelchin, "Love, Antosha", at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary was directed by Garret Price and contains various interviews with some of Anton's friends and collaborators like Kristen Stewart, J. J. Abrams, Chris Pine, Jennifer Lawrence, Jodie Foster, John Cho and Martin Landau. Cage starred as the Narrator of the film, reading various Anton's writings.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In December 2018, it was announced that Cage had signed to play the lead role for Richard Stanley's "Color Out of Space", based on the short story "The Colour Out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft. This was Stanley's first feature film directed since his firing from "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1996). "Color Out of Space" premiered on September 7, 2019, in the Midnight Madness portion of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, where Cage was awarded for his role with the Creative Coalition's Spotlight Initiative Award. Following select preview screenings on January 22, the film was released in 81 theaters in the United States on January 24, 2020.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In December 2018, it was announced that Sion Sono was working on his first overseas production and English-language debut, "Prisoners of the Ghostland", starring Nicolas Cage. Cage defined the film "might be the wildest movie I've ever made." Its plot revolves around a notorious criminal, Hero (played by Cage), who is sent to rescue the governor's adopted granddaughter, who has disappeared into a dark region called Ghostland. The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 31, 2021.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In May 2020 it was announced that Cage would be playing the role of Joe Exotic in a scripted eight-episode Tiger King series, written and executive produced by Dan Lagana. It was announced that the project was scrapped in July 2021.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In April 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced a sequel to the film "The Croods". In September 2013, it was confirmed that Nicolas Cage would reprise his role in the sequel as Grug from the first film. "", directed by Joel Crawford, was released theatrically in the United States on November 25, 2020.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage produced and starred in the 2021 film "Pig", and received critical acclaim for his performance. He gained further acclaim for portraying a fictionalized version of himself in the 2022 action comedy film "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent".


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In November 2021, Cage was cast in the Universal Classic Monsters spin-off film, "Renfield". Cage will feature in a supporting role, to Nicholas Hoult's titular R.M. Renfield, as Dracula. The film will be directed by Chris McKay, with a script by Ryan Ridley, from an original story by Robert Kirkman. McKay and Kirkman will also produce the feature film alongside David Alpert, Bryan Furst and Sean Furst. The project will be a joint-venture production between Skybound Entertainment, and Universal Pictures. Principal photography began in early 2022.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage made his directorial debut in 2002 with "Sonny", a low-budget drama starring James Franco as a male prostitute whose mother (Brenda Blethyn) serves as his pimp. Cage had a small role in the film, which received poor reviews and a short run in a limited number of theaters. Cage's producing career includes "Shadow of the Vampire", the first effort from Saturn Films.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In early December 2006, Cage announced at the Bahamas International Film Festival that he planned to curtail his future acting endeavors to pursue other interests. On "The Dresden Files" for the Sci-Fi Channel, Cage is listed as the executive producer.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage, an avid comic book fan, auctioned a collection of 400 vintage comics through Heritage Auctions for over $1.6 million in 2002. In 2007, he created a comic book with his son Weston, called "Voodoo Child", which was published by Virgin Comics.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage is a fan and collector of painter and underground comic artist Robert Williams. He has written introductions for "Juxtapoz" magazine and purchased the painting "Death on the Boards".


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In February 2011, Cage said that, at a certain point in his career, he realized that he had developed his own method of acting, which he described as "Nouveau Shamanic." He noted, "at some point I'll have to write a book" about it. Cage later explained that he drew the inspiration for the name from the book "The Way of the Actor" by Brian Bates, in which he read about the parallel between the ancient shamans and thespians. In other interviews, Cage defined his acting style using terms such as German Expressionism or "Western kabuki".


title: Nicolas Cage

text: On some occasions, Cage stood up for his extreme method acting. For "Birdy", in order to physically feel the pain of his character (a veteran from Vietnam War), Cage removed two teeth, which would have had to be pulled anyway, without any anesthesia. He also spent five weeks with his face wrapped in bandages, receiving brutal reactions by various people for his aspect. When he took the bandages off, his skin was infected because of acne and ingrowing hairs.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: "Vampire's Kiss"' casting director Marcia Shulman declared that Cage asked to have hot yogurt poured over his toes to get excited during a love scene with Jennifer Beals. He also studied Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the UFC champion Royce Gracie, for his roles in action films. During an interview of 2013 for promoting "Joe", Cage revealed that he followed a diet based on red meat and steaks to gain weight for the role and to identify himself as a carnivore.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: According to "The Guardian" film critic Luke Buckmaster, "any casual observer can see that Cage is entertaining, charismatic and wildly flamboyant". Attributing it partly to the "well-cultured" background of Cage's family, Buckmaster said the actor "is clearly attracted to grotesque characters and is celebrated for his wild and unhinged approach to them. He has the presence of a leading man, and the eccentricities of a character actor." Actor Ethan Hawke stated in 2013 that Cage is "the only actor since Marlon Brando that's actually done anything new with the art", crediting him for taking film audiences "away from an obsession with naturalism into a kind of presentation style of acting that I imagine was popular with the old troubadours."


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Film director David Lynch described him as "the jazz musician of American acting". Many critics have accused Cage of overacting. Others, including Cage himself, have described his intentionally extreme performances as "mega-acting". After the actor's series of mainstream-marketed thriller films during the late 1990s, Sean Penn told "The New York Times" in 1999 that Cage was "no longer an actor" but "more like a performer". Despite this, in his speech after winning the Oscar for his performance in "Mystic River", Penn described Cage's work (in "Matchstick Men") as one of the best performances of 2003.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: During the 2010s, a growing number of film critics described Cage as one of the most underrated actors of his generation.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In July 2021, Cage told "Variety" that the commercial constraints that were imposed on his performances was the main reason he abandoned Hollywood and that he opted to work for low-budget independent films because it gave him more freedom to experiment and be fluid.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In 1988, Cage began dating actress Christina Fulton, with whom he has a son, Weston Coppola Cage (born December 26, 1990). Weston has been involved in two black metal bands, and appeared in his father's film "Lord of War" as a helicopter mechanic. Through Weston, Cage has two grandsons born in 2014 and 2016.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage has been married five times. His first wife was actress Patricia Arquette, whom he married in April 1995 and divorced in 2001.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage's second marriage was to singer and songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. (Cage, an Elvis fan, used Elvis as the inspiration for his performance in "Wild at Heart".) They married on August 10, 2002, and filed for divorce 107 days later on November 25, 2002. The divorce was finalized on May 16, 2004.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage's third wife was Alice Kim. They were married at a private ranch in northern California on July 30, 2004. She gave birth to their son Kal-El (after Superman's birth name) on October 3, 2005. They divorced in January 2016.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In March 2019, Cage married Erika Koike in Las Vegas, only to file for annulment four days later. He was granted a divorce from Koike three months later.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: On February 16, 2021, Cage married Riko Shibata. They announced in January 2022 that they were expecting a child, his third. Their daughter, August Francesca, was born on September 7, 2022.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage grew up in a family of Catholic background, but does not talk about religion publicly and refuses to answer religion-connected questions in his interviews. When asked about the film "Knowing" being a religion-themed film or not, Cage replied, "Any of my personal beliefs or opinions runs the risk of impinging on your own relationship with the movie. I feel movies are best left enigmatic, left raising more questions than answers. I don't want to ever preach. So [whatever you get] from the movie [is] far more interesting than [anything] I could ever offer."


title: Nicolas Cage

text: During his visit to University of California, Santa Cruz he stated that he is not a politically active actor and that he can do it in his work as he learned "more about nuclear power from the movie "The China Syndrome"". Cage endorsed Andrew Yang for president during the 2020 election.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage has been called one of the most generous stars in Hollywood. He donated $2 million to Amnesty International for them to use to offer rehabilitation shelters, medical services and psychological and reintegration services to some of the 300,000 children forced to fight in conflicts across the world. He has also donated $1 million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He became the first artist to support ArtWorks, an artist engagement program to raise awareness of fundamental rights at work, including freedom from slavery and from child labor.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage has also been honored with a Humanitarian award from United Nations for his works and appointed as a UN ambassador for Global Justice in 2009 and again in 2013. He led a campaign around the film "Lord of War" to raise awareness about international arms control, supported "Heal the Bay," the United Negro College Fund efforts, and the Royal United Hospital's Forever Friends Appeal to build intensive care units for babies.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Nicolas Cage was once considered one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, earning $40 million in 2009 according to "Forbes", although he failed to make "Forbes"' Top 10 List in 2014. Cage had a Malibu home where he and Kim lived, but sold the property in 2005 for $10 million. In 2004 he bought a property on Paradise Island, Bahamas. In May 2006, he bought a island in the Exuma archipelago, some southeast of Nassau and close to a similar island owned by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. He bought the medieval castle Schloss Neidstein in the Oberpfalz region in Germany in 2006 and sold it in 2009 for $2.5 million. His grandmother was German, living in Cochem an der Mosel.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In August 2007, Cage purchased "Grey Craig," a brick-and-stone country manor in Middletown, Rhode Island. With an estate occupying , the home has 12 bedrooms and 10 full bathrooms and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. It borders the Norman Bird Sanctuary to the west. The sale ranked among the state of Rhode Island's most expensive residential purchases. Also in 2007, Cage purchased Midford Castle in Somerset, England. Shortly after selling his German castle, Cage also put his homes in Rhode Island, Louisiana, Nevada, and California, as well as a $7 million island in the Bahamas, on the market.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: On July 14, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service filed documents in New Orleans in connection with a federal tax lien against property owned by Cage in Louisiana, concerning unpaid federal taxes. The IRS alleged that Cage failed to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax for the year 2007. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service had another lien for more than $350,000 in unpaid taxes dating from 2002 to 2004. Cage filed a $20 million lawsuit on October 16, 2009, against his business manager, Samuel J. Levin, alleging negligence and fraud. The lawsuit stated that Levin "had failed to pay taxes when they were due and had placed [Cage] in speculative and risky real estate investments 'resulting in (the actor) suffering catastrophic losses. Cage also faced separate lawsuits from East West Bank and Red Curb Investments for unpaid, multi-million dollar loans.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Samuel Levin filed a counter-complaint and responded to the lawsuit in a filing stating that he warned Cage that he was living beyond his means and urged him to spend less. Levin's filing states that "instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Cage (Coppola) spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences." Levin's complaint continued: "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."


title: Nicolas Cage

text: In his filing, Levin said that in 2007, Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces), 12 purchases of expensive jewelry, and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items." One of those items was a dinosaur skull of a "Tarbosaurus". After discovering that it was stolen, he returned it to the Mongolian authorities.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: According to Cage, he owned the "Most Haunted House in America," a home located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Known as "The LaLaurie House" after its former owner Delphine LaLaurie, the house was foreclosed and sold at auction on November 12, 2009, along with another New Orleans property for a total of $5.5 million, in the wake of Cage's financial problems. His Bel Air home, which had six loans totaling $18 million on it, failed to sell at an April 2010 foreclosure auction despite an opening offer of $10.4 million, substantially less than the $35 million that Cage had originally tried to sell it for. The home, built in 1940 for $110,000, had been owned at different times by Dean Martin and singer Tom Jones.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: The home eventually sold in November 2010 for $10.5 million. Another home in Nevada also faced foreclosure auction. In November 2011, Cage sold his "Action Comics" #1 in an online auction managed by Heritage Auctions for a record-breaking $2.16 million (the previous record being $1.5 million), to assist paying his tax liens and other debts. Cage purchased the comic in 1997 for $110,000. The comic had been stolen from him in 2000, and Cage had received an insurance payment on the item. In March 2011, it was found in a storage locker in the San Fernando Valley and was verified by ComicConnect.com to be the copy sold to Cage previously. Worth around $25 million by May 2017, Cage was reportedly "taking [film] roles left and right" in order to pay off his remaining debts. By 2022, Cage confirmed that he had finally paid off his debts and intended to be more selective with his film roles moving forward.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Kathleen Turner wrote in her 2008 memoir, "Send Your Roses", that Cage had stolen a chihuahua and was arrested twice for driving drunk while they filmed "Peggy Sue Got Married". Later she admitted Cage did not steal a chihuahua and she was sorry. Cage won a libel action against Turner, her publisher Headline Publishing Group and Associated Newspapers (whose publication the "Daily Mail" had repeated the allegations when they published an excerpt from the book). Christina Fulton sued Cage in December 2009 for $13 million and for the house in which she was living. The suit was in response to an order that she leave the dwelling; the order resulted from Cage's financial difficulties. The case was settled in June 2011.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: Cage was arrested in New Orleans' French Quarter district on April 15, 2011, for suspicion of domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace and public intoxication. A police officer was flagged down by onlookers after Cage allegedly grabbed his wife's upper arm while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol. Cage was held in police custody until a bail of $11,000 was posted by Duane "Dog" Chapman. He was later ordered to appear in court on May 31, 2011. The New Orleans District Attorney announced that the charges against Cage had been dropped on May 5, 2011.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: For his contributions to the film industry, Cage was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998 with a motion pictures star located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard. In May 2001, Cage was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Fullerton. He spoke at the commencement ceremony. Cage has also been nominated for an Academy Award twice. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film "Leaving Las Vegas" in 1995. He was nominated for a second one for his role in the film "Adaptation" in 2002.


title: Nicolas Cage

text: He also won a Golden Globe award, Screen Actors Guild award and many more awards for "Leaving Las Vegas". He has received nominations by the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA for his films "Adaptation", "Honeymoon in Vegas" and "Moonstruck." He has also won and been nominated for many other awards.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series "Moonlighting" (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero after his portrayal of John McClane in the "Die Hard" franchise (1988–2013) and other roles.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis's other credits include "The Last Boy Scout" (1991), "Death Becomes Her" (1992), "Pulp Fiction" (1994), "12 Monkeys" (1995), "The Fifth Element" (1997), "Armageddon" (1998), "The Sixth Sense" (1999), "Unbreakable" (2000), "Sin City" (2005), "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012), and "Looper" (2012). In the later years of his career, Willis starred in many low-budget direct-to-video films, which were poorly received. In March 2022, Willis's family announced that he was retiring after being diagnosed with aphasia, which affects language cognition.


title: Bruce Willis

text: As a singer, Willis released his debut album, "The Return of Bruno", in 1987, followed by two more albums in 1989 and 2001. He made his Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of "Misery" in 2015. Willis has received various accolades throughout his career, including a Golden Globe Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two People's Choice Awards. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. Films featuring Willis have grossed between US$2.64 billion and $3.05 billion at North American box offices, making him in 2010 the eighth-highest-grossing actor in a leading role.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Walter Bruce Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, on March 19, 1955. His mother, Marlene, was German, from Kassel. His father, David Willis, was an American soldier. Willis has a younger sister, Florence, and two younger brothers, Robert (deceased) and David. After being discharged from the military in 1957, his father relocated the family to his hometown of Carneys Point, New Jersey. Willis has described his background as a "long line of blue-collar people". His mother worked in a bank and his father was a welder, master mechanic, and factory worker.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis, who spoke with a stutter, attended Penns Grove High School, where his schoolmates nicknamed him "Buck-Buck". He joined the drama club, found that acting on stage reduced his stutter, and was eventually elected student council president.


title: Bruce Willis

text: After graduating from high school in 1973, Willis worked as a security guard at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant and transported crew members at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey. After working as a private investigator (a role he would later play in the comedy-drama series "Moonlighting" and the action-comedy film "The Last Boy Scout"), he turned to acting. He enrolled in the Drama Program at Montclair State University, where he was cast in a production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". He left school in 1977 and moved to New York City, where he supported himself in the early 1980s as a bartender at the Manhattan art bar Kamikaze while living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis was cast as David Addison Jr. of the television series "Moonlighting" (1985–1989), competing against 3,000 other actors for the position. His starring role in "Moonlighting", opposite Cybill Shepherd, helped to establish him as a comedic actor. During the show's five seasons, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy. During the height of the show's success, beverage maker Seagram hired Willis as the pitchman for their Golden Wine Cooler products. The advertising campaign paid Willis between $5 and 7 million over two years. Willis chose not to renew his contract when he decided to stop drinking alcohol in 1988.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis had his first lead role in a feature film in the 1987 Blake Edwards film "Blind Date", with Kim Basinger and John Larroquette. Edwards cast him again to play the real-life cowboy actor Tom Mix in "Sunset" (1988). However, it was his unexpected turn in the film "Die Hard" (1988) as John McClane that catapulted him to movie star and action hero status. He performed most of his own stunts in the film, and the film grossed $138,708,852 worldwide. Following his success with "Die Hard", Willis had a leading role in the drama "In Country" as Vietnam veteran Emmett Smith and also provided the voice for a talking baby in "Look Who's Talking" (1989) and the sequel "Look Who's Talking Too" (1990).""


title: Bruce Willis

text: In the late 1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues, "The Return of Bruno", which included the hit single "Respect Yourself" featuring the Pointer Sisters. The LP was promoted by a "Spinal Tap"–like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of Willis performing at famous events including Woodstock. He released a version of the Drifters song "Under the Boardwalk" as a second single; it reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, but was less successful in the US. Willis returned to the recording studio several times.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Having acquired major personal success and pop culture influence playing John McClane in "Die Hard", Willis reprised his role in the sequels "Die Hard 2" (1990) and "Die Hard with a Vengeance" (1995). These first three installments in the "Die Hard" series grossed over US$700 million internationally and propelled Willis to the first rank of Hollywood action stars.


title: Bruce Willis

text: In the early 1990s, Willis's career suffered a moderate slump, as he starred in flops such as "The Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990) and "Hudson Hawk" (1991), although he did find box office success with "The Last Boy Scout". He gained more success with "Striking Distance" (1993) but flopped again with "Color of Night" (1994): it was savaged by critics but did well in the home video market and became one of the Top 20 most-rented films in the United States in 1995. "Maxim" also ranked his sex scene in the film as the best in film history.


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 1994, Willis also had a leading role in one part of Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed "Pulp Fiction;" the film's success gave a boost to his career, and he starred alongside his "Look Who's Talking" co-star John Travolta. In 1996, he was the executive producer and star of the cartoon "Bruno the Kid" which featured a CGI representation of himself. That same year, he starred in Mike Judge's animated film "Beavis and Butt-head Do America" with his then-wife Demi Moore. In the movie, he plays a drunken criminal named "Muddy Grimes", who mistakenly sends Judge's titular characters to kill his wife, Dallas (voiced by Moore). He then played the lead roles in "12 Monkeys" (1995) and "The Fifth Element" (1997). However, by the end of the 1990s his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like "The Jackal" (which despite negative reviews was a box office hit), "Mercury Rising", and "Breakfast of Champions", as well as the implosion of the production of "Broadway Brawler", a debacle salvaged only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed "Armageddon", which Willis had agreed to star in as compensation for the failed production, and which turned out to be the highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide. The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game "Apocalypse". In 1999, Willis played the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film "The Sixth Sense", which was both a commercial and critical success.


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 2000, Willis won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on "Friends" (in which he played the father of Ross Geller's much-younger girlfriend). He was also nominated for a 2001 American Comedy Award (in the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series category) for his work on "Friends". Also in 2000, Willis played Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski in "The Whole Nine Yards" alongside Matthew Perry. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album. In the sequel, "Ocean's Twelve" (2004), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. In 2005, he appeared in the film adaptation of "Sin City". In 2006, he lent his voice as RJ the Raccoon in "Over the Hedge". In 2007, he appeared in the "Planet Terror" half of the double feature "Grindhouse" as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marked Willis's second collaboration with director Robert Rodriguez, following "Sin City".


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis appeared on the "Late Show with David Letterman" several times throughout his career. He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest. On many of his appearances on the show, Willis staged elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, having one side of his face made up with simulated birdshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting, or trying to break a record (a parody of David Blaine) of staying underwater for only twenty seconds.


title: Bruce Willis

text: On April 12, 2007, he appeared again, this time wearing a Sanjaya Malakar wig. On his June 25, 2007, appearance, he wore a mini-wind turbine on his head to accompany a joke about his own fictional documentary titled "An Unappealing Hunch" (a wordplay on "An Inconvenient Truth"). Willis also appeared in Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials. Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis has appeared in five films with Samuel L. Jackson (National Lampoon's "Loaded Weapon 1", "Pulp Fiction", "Die Hard with a Vengeance", "Unbreakable", and "Glass") and both actors were slated to work together in "Black Water Transit", before dropping out. Willis also worked with his eldest daughter, Rumer, in the 2005 film "Hostage". In 2007, he appeared in the thriller "Perfect Stranger", opposite Halle Berry, the crime/drama film "Alpha Dog", opposite Sharon Stone, and reprised his role as John McClane in "Live Free or Die Hard". Subsequently, he appeared in the films "What Just Happened" and "Surrogates", based on the comic book of the same name.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis was slated to play U.S. Army general William R. Peers in director Oliver Stone's "Pinkville", a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai massacre. However, due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, the film was cancelled. Willis appeared on the 2008 Blues Traveler album "North Hollywood Shootout", giving a spoken word performance over an instrumental blues rock jam on the track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)". In early 2009, he appeared in an advertising campaign to publicize the insurance company Norwich Union's change of name to Aviva.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis starred with Tracy Morgan in the comedy "Cop Out", directed by Kevin Smith, about two police detectives investigating the theft of a baseball card. The film was released in February 2010. Willis appeared in the music video for the song "Stylo" by Gorillaz. Also in 2010, he appeared in a cameo with former Planet Hollywood co-owners and '80s action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film "The Expendables". Willis played the role of generic bald man "Mr. Church". This was the first time these three notable action movie actors appeared on screen together. Although the scene featuring the three was short, it was one of the most highly anticipated scenes in the film. The trio filmed their scene in an empty church on October 24, 2009. Willis next starred in "RED", an adaptation of the comic book mini-series of the same name, in which he portrayed Frank Moses. The film was released on October 15, 2010.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis starred alongside Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and Frances McDormand in "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012). Filming took place in Rhode Island under the direction of Wes Anderson, in 2011. Willis returned, in an expanded role, in "The Expendables 2" (2012). He appeared alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the sci-fi action film "Looper" (2012), as the older version of Gordon-Levitt's character, Joe.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis teamed up with 50 Cent in a film directed by David Barrett called "Fire with Fire", starring opposite Josh Duhamel and Rosario Dawson, about a fireman who must save the love of his life. Willis also joined Vince Vaughn and Catherine Zeta-Jones in "Lay the Favorite", directed by Stephen Frears, about a Las Vegas cocktail waitress who becomes an elite professional gambler. The two films were distributed by Lionsgate Entertainment.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis reprised his most famous role, John McClane, for a fifth time, starring in "A Good Day to Die Hard", which was released on February 14, 2013. In an interview, Willis said, "I have a warm spot in my heart for "Die Hard"... it's just the sheer novelty of being able to play the same character over 25 years and still be asked back is fun. It's much more challenging to have to do a film again and try to compete with myself, which is what I do in "Die Hard". I try to improve my work every time."


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 2015, Willis made his Broadway debut in William Goldman's adaptation of Stephen King's novel "Misery" opposite Laurie Metcalf at the Broadhurst Theatre. His performance was generally panned by critics, who called it "vacant" and "inert". Willis was the subject of a roast by Comedy Central in a program broadcast on July 29, 2018.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Films featuring Willis have grossed between US$2.64 billion and $3.05 billion at the North American box offices, making him in 2010 the eighth highest-grossing actor in a leading role and 12th-highest including supporting roles. He is a two-time Emmy Award winner, a Golden Globe Award winner, and has been nominated for a Saturn Award four times.


title: Bruce Willis

text: In the later years of his career, Willis starred in many low-budget independent action-thriller and science fiction films. Described by Chris Nashawaty of "Esquire" as "a profitable safe harbor for actors of a certain age" similar to "The Expendables", most of these films were released direct-to-video and were widely panned by critics. For these projects, Willis would often earn $2 million for two days' work at an average of 15 minutes' screentime per film. Twenty of these pictures were produced by Randall Emmett. The films earned a "toxic" reputation for using Willis heavily in promotional materials but including him for minimal screen time (resulting in such films being referred to as "geezer teasers"), so much that "Cosmic Sin" (2021) stood out for including Willis in "roughly half" of the action.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Those working with Willis on the films later said he appeared confused, did not understand why he was there, and had to be fed lines through an earpiece. Days before Willis was scheduled to arrive on set for "Out of Death" (2021), the screenwriter was instructed to reduce his role and abbreviate his dialogue; at the same time, the director was told that he would have to complete all of Willis' scenes over one day of filming. The Golden Raspberry Awards, an annual award for the year's worst films and performances, created a dedicated category, the Worst Bruce Willis Performance in a 2021 Movie, for his roles in eight films released that year.


title: Bruce Willis

text: On March 30, 2022, Willis's family announced that he was retiring as he had been diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder caused by damage to the area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. The Golden Raspberry Awards retracted its Willis category, saying it was inappropriate to award a Golden Raspberry to someone whose performance was affected by a medical condition. At the time of his retirement, Willis had completed eight films awaiting release in 2022 and 2023.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis owns houses in Los Angeles and Penns Grove, New Jersey. He also rents apartments at Trump Tower and in Riverside South, Manhattan.


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 2000, Willis and his business partner Arnold Rifkin started a motion picture production company called Cheyenne Enterprises. He left the company to be run solely by Rifkin in 2007 after "Live Free or Die Hard". He also owns several small businesses in Hailey, Idaho, including The Mint Bar and The Liberty Theater and was one of the first promoters of Planet Hollywood, with actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Willis and the other actors were paid for their appearances and endorsements through an employee stock ownership plan.


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 2009, Willis signed a contract to become the international face of Belvedere SA's Sobieski Vodka in exchange for 3.3% ownership in the company.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis's acting role models are Gary Cooper, Robert De Niro, Steve McQueen, and John Wayne. He is left-handed. He resides in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles with his family.


title: Bruce Willis

text: At the premiere for the film "Stakeout", Willis met actress Demi Moore. They married on November 21, 1987, and had three daughters, including Rumer, who was born in August 1988. Willis and Moore announced their separation on June 24, 1998. They filed for divorce on October 18, 2000, and the divorce was finalized later that day. Regarding the divorce, Willis stated, "I felt I had failed as a father and a husband by not being able to make it work." He credited actor Will Smith for helping him cope with the situation. He has maintained a close friendship with both Moore and her subsequent husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and attended their wedding.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis was engaged to actress Brooke Burns until they broke up in 2004 after 10 months together. He married model Emma Heming in Turks and Caicos on March 21, 2009; guests included his three daughters, as well as Moore and Kutcher. The ceremony was not legally binding, so the couple wed again in a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills six days later. The couple has two daughters, one born in 2012 and another born in 2014.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis was a Lutheran, but no longer practices. In a July 1998 interview with "George" magazine, he stated: "Organized religions in general, in my opinion, are dying forms. They were all very important when we didn't know why the sun moved, why weather changed, why hurricanes occurred, or volcanoes happened. Modern religion is the end trail of modern mythology. But there are people who interpret the Bible literally. Literally! I choose not to believe that's the way. And that's what makes America cool, you know?"


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 1988, Willis and then-wife Demi Moore campaigned for Democratic Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis' Presidential bid. Four years later, he supported President George H. W. Bush for reelection and was an outspoken critic of Bill Clinton. However, in 1996, he declined to endorse Clinton's Republican opponent Bob Dole, because Dole had criticized Demi Moore for her role in the film "Striptease". Willis was an invited speaker at the 2000 Republican National Convention, and supported George W. Bush that year. He did not make any contributions or public endorsements in the 2008 presidential campaign. In several June 2007 interviews, he declared that he maintains some Republican ideologies.


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 2006, he said that the United States should intervene more in Colombia in order to end drug trafficking. In several interviews Willis has said that he supports large salaries for teachers and police officers, and said he is disappointed in the United States foster care system as well as treatment of Native Americans. Willis also stated that he is a supporter of gun rights, stating, "Everyone has a right to bear arms. If you take guns away from legal gun owners, then the only people who have guns are the bad guys."


title: Bruce Willis

text: In February 2006, Willis was in Manhattan to promote his film "16 Blocks" with reporters. One reporter attempted to ask Willis about his opinion on the Bush administration, but was interrupted by Willis in mid-sentence when he said: "I'm sick of answering this fucking question. I'm a Republican only as far as I want a smaller government, I want less government intrusion. I want them to stop shitting on my money and your money and tax dollars that we give 50 percent of every year. I want them to be fiscally responsible and I want these goddamn lobbyists out of Washington. Do that and I'll say I'm a Republican. I hate the government, OK? I'm apolitical. Write that down. I'm not a Republican."


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis's name was in an advertisement in the "Los Angeles Times" on August 17, 2006, that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.


title: Bruce Willis

text: Throughout his film career, Willis has depicted several military characters in films such as "In Country", "The Siege", "Hart's War", "Tears of the Sun", "Grindhouse," and "". Growing up in a military family, Willis has publicly sold Girl Scout cookies for the United States armed forces. In 2002, Willis's then 8-year-old daughter, Tallulah, suggested that he purchase Girl Scout cookies to send to troops. Willis purchased 12,000 boxes of cookies, and they were distributed to sailors aboard USS "John F. Kennedy" and other troops stationed throughout the Middle East at the time.


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 2003, Willis visited Iraq as part of the USO tour, singing to the troops with his band, The Accelerators. Willis considered joining the military to help fight the second Iraq War, but was deterred by his age. It was believed he offered $1 million to any noncombatant who turned in terrorist leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; in the June 2007 issue of "Vanity Fair", however, he clarified that the statement was made hypothetically and not meant to be taken literally. Willis has also criticized the media for its coverage of the war, complaining that the press were more likely to focus on the negative aspects of the war:


title: Bruce Willis

text: In 1996, Roger Director, a writer and producer from "Moonlighting", wrote a roman à clef on Willis titled "A Place to Fall". Cybill Shepherd wrote in her 2000 autobiography, "Cybill Disobedience", that Willis became angry at Director when he read the book and discovered the character had been written as a "neurotic, petulant actor."


title: Bruce Willis

text: Willis has won a variety of awards and has received various honors throughout his career in television and film.


title: Iran

text: Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. It covers an area of , making it the 17th-largest country. Iran has a population of 86 million, making it the 17th-most populous country in the world, and the second-largest in the Middle East. Its largest cities, in descending order, are the capital Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz.


title: Iran

text: The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which became one of the largest empires in history and a superpower. The Achaemenid Empire fell to Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC and was subsequently divided into several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire in the third century BC, which was succeeded in the third century AD by the Sassanid Empire, a major world power for the next four centuries. Arab Muslims conquered the empire in the seventh century AD, which led to the Islamization of Iran. It subsequently became a major center of Islamic culture and learning, with its art, literature, philosophy, and architecture spreading across the Muslim world and beyond during the Islamic Golden Age. Over the next two centuries, a series of native Iranian Muslim dynasties emerged before the Seljuk Turks and the Mongols conquered the region. In the 15th century, the native Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state and national identity, and converted the country to Shia Islam. Under the reign of Nader Shah in the 18th century, Iran presided over the most powerful military in the world, though by the 19th century, a series of conflicts with the Russian Empire led to significant territorial losses. The early 20th century saw the Persian Constitutional Revolution. Efforts to nationalize its fossil fuel supply from Western companies led to an Anglo-American coup in 1953, which resulted in greater autocratic rule under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and growing Western political influence. He went on to launch a far-reaching series of reforms in 1963. After the Iranian Revolution, the current Islamic Republic was established in 1979 by Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the country's first Supreme Leader.


title: Iran

text: The government of Iran is an Islamic theocracy that includes some elements of a presidential system, with the ultimate authority vested in an autocratic "Supreme Leader"; a position held by Ali Khamenei since Khomeini's death in 1989. The Iranian government is authoritarian, and has attracted widespread criticism for its significant constraints and abuses against human rights and civil liberties, including several violent suppressions of mass protests, unfair elections, and limited rights for women and for children. It is also a focal point for Shia Islam within the Middle East, countering the long-existing Arab and Sunni hegemony within the region. Since the Iranian Revolution, the country is widely considered to be the largest adversary of Israel and also of Saudi Arabia. Iran is also considered to be one of the biggest players within Middle Eastern affairs, with its government being involved both directly and indirectly in the majority of modern Middle Eastern conflicts.


title: Iran

text: Iran is a regional and middle power, with a geopolitically strategic location in the Asian continent. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the ECO, the OIC, and the OPEC. It has large reserves of fossil fuels—including the second-largest natural gas supply and the third-largest proven oil reserves. The country's rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 26 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Historically a multi-ethnic country, Iran remains a pluralistic society comprising numerous ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups, with the largest of these being Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Mazandaranis, and Lurs.


title: Iran

text: The term "Iran" derives directly from Middle Persian , first attested in a third-century inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam, with the accompanying Parthian inscription using the term , in reference to the Iranians. The Middle Iranian "ērān" and "aryān" are oblique plural forms of gentilic nouns "ēr-" (Middle Persian) and "ary-" (Parthian), both deriving from Proto-Iranian language "*arya-" (meaning "Aryan", i.e. "of the Iranians"), recognized as a derivative of Proto-Indo-European language ', meaning "one who assembles (skilfully)". In the Iranian languages, the gentilic is attested as a self-identifier, included in ancient inscriptions and the literature of the Avesta, and remains also in other Iranian ethnic names "Alan" ( ) and "Iron" (). According to the Iranian mythology, the country's name comes from the name of Iraj, a legendary prince and shah who was killed by his brothers.


title: Iran

text: Historically, Iran has been referred to as "Persia" by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who referred to all of Iran as (Ancient Greek: Περσίς; from Old Persian ), meaning "land of the Persians", while Persis itself was one of the provinces of ancient Iran that is today known as Fars. As the most extensive interaction the ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, the term persisted, even long after the Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC).


title: Iran

text: In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, "Iran", on Nowruz, falling on 21 March 1935 (Esfand 30, 1313), 4:43 pm Tehran time; effective 22 March (the Iranian New Year on Farvardin 1, 1314) that year. Opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision in 1959, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of "Encyclopædia Iranica", propagated a move to use "Persia" and "Iran" interchangeably. Today, both "Iran" and "Persia" are used in cultural contexts, while "Iran" remains mandatory in official state contexts.


title: Iran

text: Historical and cultural usage of the word "Iran" is not restricted to the modern state proper. "Greater Iran" ("Irānzamīn" or "Irān e Bozorg") refers to territories of the Iranian cultural and linguistic zones. In addition to modern Iran, it includes portions of the Caucasus, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.


title: Iran

text: The Persian pronunciation of "Iran" is . Common Commonwealth English pronunciations of "Iran" are listed in the "Oxford English Dictionary" as and , while American English dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster's provide pronunciations which map to , or likewise in "Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary" as . The "Cambridge Dictionary" lists as the British pronunciation and as the American pronunciation. Similarly, Glasgow-based "Collins English Dictionary" provides both English English and American English pronunciations. The pronunciation guide from Voice of America also provides .


title: Iran

text: The American English pronunciation may be heard in U.S. media. Max Fisher in "The Washington Post" prescribed for "Iran", while proscribing . "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language", in the dictionary's 2014 Usage Ballot, addressed the topic of the pronunciations of Iran and Iraq. According to this survey, the pronunciations and were deemed almost equally acceptable, while was preferred by most panelists participating in the ballot. With regard to the pronunciation, more than 70% of the panelists deemed it unacceptable. Among the reasons given by those panelists were that has "hawkish connotations" and sounds "angrier", "xenophobic", "ignorant", and "not... cosmopolitan". The pronunciation remains standard and acceptable, reflected in the entry for "Iran" in the American Heritage Dictionary itself, as well as in each of the other major dictionaries of American English.


title: Iran

text: The earliest attested archaeological artifacts in Iran, like those excavated at Kashafrud and Ganj Par in northern Iran, confirm a human presence in Iran since the Lower Paleolithic. Iran's Neanderthal artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic have been found mainly in the Zagros region, at sites such as Warwasi and Yafteh. From the tenth to the seventh millennium BC, early agricultural communities began to flourish in and around the Zagros region in western Iran, including Chogha Golan, Chogha Bonut, and Chogha Mish.


title: Iran

text: The occupation of grouped hamlets in the area of Susa, as determined by radiocarbon dating, ranges from 4395–3955 to 3680–3490 BC. There are dozens of prehistoric sites across the Iranian Plateau, pointing to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements in the fourth millennium BC. During the Bronze Age, the territory of present-day Iran was home to several civilizations, including Elam, Jiroft, and Zayanderud. Elam, the most prominent of these civilizations, developed in the southwest alongside those in Mesopotamia, and continued its existence until the emergence of the Iranian empires. The advent of writing in Elam was paralleled to Sumer, and the Elamite cuneiform was developed since the third millennium BC.


title: Iran

text: From the 34th to the 20th century BC, northwestern Iran was part of the Kura-Araxes culture, which stretched into the neighboring Caucasus and Anatolia. Since the earliest second millennium BC, Assyrians settled in swaths of western Iran and incorporated the region into their territories.


title: Iran

text: By the second millennium BC, the ancient Iranian peoples arrived in what is now Iran from the Eurasian Steppe, rivaling the native settlers of the region. As the Iranians dispersed into the wider area of Greater Iran and beyond, the boundaries of modern-day Iran were dominated by Median, Persian, and Parthian tribes.


title: Iran

text: From the late tenth to the late seventh century BC, the Iranian peoples, together with the "pre-Iranian" kingdoms, fell under the domination of the Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. Under king Cyaxares, the Medes and Persians entered into an alliance with Babylonian ruler Nabopolassar, as well as the fellow Iranian Scythians and Cimmerians, and together they attacked the Assyrian Empire. The civil war ravaged the Assyrian Empire between 616 and 605 BC, thus freeing their respective peoples from three centuries of Assyrian rule. The unification of the Median tribes under king Deioces in 728 BC led to the foundation of the Median Empire which, by 612 BC, controlled almost the entire territory of present-day Iran and eastern Anatolia. This marked the end of the Kingdom of Urartu as well, which was subsequently conquered and dissolved.


title: Iran

text: In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great, the son of Mandane and Cambyses I, took over the Median Empire, and founded the Achaemenid Empire by unifying other city-states. The conquest of Media was a result of what is called the "Persian Revolt". The brouhaha was initially triggered by the actions of the Median ruler Astyages, and was quickly spread to other provinces as they allied with the Persians. Later conquests under Cyrus and his successors expanded the empire to include Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper, as well as the lands to the west of the Indus and Oxus rivers.


title: Iran

text: 539 BC was the year in which Persian forces defeated the Babylonian army at Opis, and marked the end of around four centuries of Mesopotamian domination of the region by conquering the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Cyrus entered Babylon and presented himself as a traditional Mesopotamian monarch. Subsequent Achaemenid art and iconography reflect the influence of the new political reality in Mesopotamia.


title: Iran

text: At its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire included territories of modern-day Iran, Republic of Azerbaijan (Arran and Shirvan), Armenia, Georgia, Turkey (Anatolia), much of the Black Sea coastal regions, northeastern Greece and southern Bulgaria (Thrace), northern Greece and North Macedonia (Paeonia and Macedon), Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, all significant population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya, Kuwait, northern Saudi Arabia, parts of the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and much of Central Asia, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen.


title: Iran

text: It is estimated that in 480 BC, 50 million people lived in the Achaemenid Empire. The empire at its peak ruled over 44% of the world's population, the highest such figure for any empire in history.


title: Iran

text: The Achaemenid Empire is noted for the release of the Jewish exiles in Babylon, building infrastructures such as the Royal Road and the Chapar (postal service), and the use of an official language, Imperial Aramaic, throughout its territories. The empire had a centralized, bureaucratic administration under the emperor, a large professional army, and civil services, inspiring similar developments in later empires.


title: Iran

text: Eventual conflict on the western borders began with the Ionian Revolt, which erupted into the Greco-Persian Wars and continued through the first half of the fifth century BC, and ended with the withdrawal of the Achaemenids from all of the territories in the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper.


title: Iran

text: In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Achaemenid Empire, defeating the last Achaemenid emperor, Darius III, at the Battle of Issus. Following the premature death of Alexander, Iran came under the control of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. In the middle of the second century BC, the Parthian Empire rose to become the main power in Iran, and the century-long geopolitical arch-rivalry between the Romans and the Parthians began, culminating in the Roman–Parthian Wars. The Parthian Empire continued as a feudal monarchy for nearly five centuries, until 224 CE, when it was succeeded by the Sasanian Empire. Together with their neighboring arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantines, they made up the world's two most dominant powers at the time, for over four centuries.


title: Iran

text: The Sasanians established an empire within the frontiers achieved by the Achaemenids, with their capital at Ctesiphon. Late antiquity is considered one of Iran's most influential periods, as under the Sasanians their influence reached the culture of ancient Rome (and through that as far as Western Europe), Africa, China, and India, and played a prominent role in the formation of the medieval art of both Europe and Asia.


title: Iran

text: Most of the era of the Sasanian Empire was overshadowed by the Roman–Persian Wars, which raged on the western borders at Anatolia, the Western Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and the Levant, for over 700 years. These wars ultimately exhausted both the Romans and the Sasanians and led to the defeat of both by the Muslim invasion.


title: Iran

text: Throughout the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian eras, several offshoots of the Iranian dynasties established eponymous branches in Anatolia and the Caucasus, including the Pontic Kingdom, the Mihranids, and the Arsacid dynasties of Armenia, Iberia (Georgia), and Caucasian Albania (present-day Republic of Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan).


title: Iran

text: The prolonged Byzantine–Sasanian wars, most importantly the climactic war of 602–628, as well as the social conflict within the Sasanian Empire, opened the way for an Arab invasion of Iran in the seventh century. The empire was initially defeated by the Rashidun Caliphate, which was succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate, followed by the Abbasid Caliphate. A prolonged and gradual process of state-imposed Islamization followed, which targeted Iran's then Zoroastrian majority and included religious persecution, demolition of libraries and fire temples, a special tax penalty ("jizya"), and language shift.


title: Iran

text: In 750, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads. Arabs Muslims and Persians of all strata made up the rebel army, which was united by the converted Persian Muslim, Abu Muslim. In their struggle for power, the society in their times gradually became cosmopolitan and the old Arab simplicity and aristocratic dignity, bearing and prestige were lost. Persians and Turks began to replace the Arabs in most fields. The fusion of the Arab nobility with the subject races, the practice of polygamy and concubinage, made for a social amalgam wherein loyalties became uncertain and a hierarchy of officials emerged, a bureaucracy at first Persian and later Turkish which decreased Abbasid prestige and power for good.


title: Iran

text: After two centuries of Arab rule, semi-independent and independent Iranian kingdoms—including the Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, and Buyids—began to appear on the fringes of the declining Abbasid Caliphate.


title: Iran

text: The blossoming literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy and art of Iran became major elements in the formation of a new age for the Iranian civilization, during a period known as the "Islamic Golden Age". The Islamic Golden Age reached its peak by the 10th and 11th centuries, during which Iran was the main theater of scientific activities.


title: Iran

text: The cultural revival that began in the Abbasid period led to a resurfacing of the Iranian national identity; thus, the attempts of Arabization never succeeded in Iran. The Shu'ubiyya movement became a catalyst for Iranians to regain independence in their relations with the Arab invaders. The most notable effect of this movement was the continuation of the Persian language attested to the works of the epic poet Ferdowsi, now considered the most prominent figure in Iranian literature.


title: Iran

text: The tenth century saw a mass migration of Turkic tribes from Central Asia into the Iranian Plateau. Turkic tribesmen were first used in the Abbasid army as mamluks (slave-warriors), replacing Iranian and Arab elements within the army. As a result, the Mamluks gained significant political power. In 999, large portions of Iran came briefly under the rule of the Ghaznavids, whose rulers were of mamluk Turkic origin, and longer subsequently under the Seljuk and Khwarezmian empires. The Seljuks subsequently gave rise to the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia, while taking their thoroughly Persianized identity with them. The result of the adoption and patronage of Persian culture by Turkish rulers was the development of a distinct Turco-Persian tradition.


title: Iran

text: From 1219 to 1221, under the Khwarazmian Empire, Iran suffered a devastating invasion by the Mongol Empire army of Genghis Khan. According to Steven R. Ward, "Mongol violence and depredations killed up to three-fourths of the population of the Iranian Plateau, possibly 10 to 15 million people. Some historians have estimated that Iran's population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century." Most modern historians either outright dismiss or are highly skeptical of such statistics of colossal magnitude pertaining the Mongol onslaught on the Khwarazmian empire, mainland Iran and other Muslim regions and deem them to be exaggerations by Muslim chroniclers of that era (whose recordings were naturally of an anti-Mongol bent). Indeed, as far as the Iranian plateau was concerned, the bulk of the Mongol onslaught and battles were in the northeast of what is modern-day Iran, such as in the cities of Nishapur and Tus.


title: Iran

text: Following the fracture of the Mongol Empire in 1256, Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, established the Ilkhanate in Iran. In 1357, the capital Tabriz was occupied by the Golden Horde khan Jani Beg and the centralized power collapsed, resulting in the emergence of rivaling dynasties. In 1370, yet another conqueror, Timur from Transoxiana, took control over Persia, establishing the Timurid Empire which lasted for another 156 years. In 1387, Timur ordered the complete massacre of Isfahan, reportedly killing 70,000 citizens. The Ilkhans and the Timurids soon came to adopt the ways and customs of the Iranians, surrounding themselves with a culture that was distinctively Iranian.


title: Iran

text: By the 1500s, Ismail I of Ardabil established the Safavid Empire, with his capital at Tabriz. Beginning with Azerbaijan, he subsequently extended his authority over all of the Iranian territories, and established an intermittent Iranian hegemony over the vast relative regions, reasserting the Iranian identity within large parts of Greater Iran. Iran was predominantly Sunni, but Ismail instigated a forced conversion to the Shia branch of Islam, spreading throughout the Safavid territories in the Caucasus, Iran, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. As a result, modern-day Iran is the only official Shia nation of the world, with it holding an absolute majority in Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, having there the first and the second highest number of Shia inhabitants by population percentage in the world. Meanwhile, the centuries-long geopolitical and ideological rivalry between Safavid Iran and the neighboring Ottoman Empire led to numerous Ottoman–Iranian wars.


title: Iran

text: The Safavid era peaked in the reign of Abbas I (1587–1629), surpassing their Turkish archrivals in strength, and making Iran a leading science and art hub in western Eurasia. The Safavid era saw the start of mass integration from Caucasian populations into new layers of the society of Iran, as well as mass resettlement of them within the heartlands of Iran, playing a pivotal role in the history of Iran for centuries onwards. Following a gradual decline in the late 1600s and the early 1700s, which was caused by internal conflicts, the continuous wars with the Ottomans, and the foreign interference (most notably the Russian interference), the Safavid rule was ended by the Pashtun rebels who besieged Isfahan and defeated Sultan Husayn in 1722.