Nic Cage Just Too Tacky for the Rest of Us?

Unless you're a fanboy, there's a reason why people aren't bidding on the actor's foreclosed on spreads

By Josh Grossberg Apr 08, 2010 5:05 PMTags
Nicolas Cage, CastleAP Photo/Christof Stache, AP Photo/Evan Agostini

No matter how many national treasures you find, money can't buy you taste. We're eyeballing you, Nicolas Cage.

The Hollywood star's sprawling Bel-Air Tudor mansion, which he lost to foreclosure when the real estate market crashed, failed to sell at auction Wednesday—apparently because no one was willing to pay premium price for what one real estate agent described as a place decorated in "frathouse bordello."

There were no takers at the minimum bid of $10.4 million, per the Los Angeles Times—a relative bargain considering Cage forked over $35 million for the place. As a result, the auction shut down after a minute, and ownership of the estate reverted to the foreclosing lender.

In other words, any notion of a sale was gone in 60 seconds. (Sorry.)

As real-estate agent Brett Parsons mused to the Times, buyers appear turned off by the fanboy décor that graces the six-bedroom, nine-bath residence, which also includes a castle-like tower, a 35-seat home theater and an Olympic-size pool. The place retained such Cage touches as 300 framed comic book covers and elevated electric train sets choo-chooing around a breakfast room and two bedrooms—hence Parsons' "frathouse bordello" assessment.

The actor, who's in severe money trouble and embroiled in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against his ex-business manager for allegedly getting him into this money mess, also saw two other properties he owns in Malibu hit the auction block. But like the Bel-Air complex, the sale which started at a minimum $10 million failed to attract any bidders leaving the bank to repossess them in lieu of more than $8 million Cage owed on the spreads.

Expect to hear the announcement of another National Treasure sequel any day now.

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Everything you always wanted to know about Nic Cage is right here.