Nicolas Cage on Becoming a Girl Dad and What He Wants to Do Next (Exclusive)

The actor welcomed his first daughter with wife, Riko Shibata, in September.

Nicolas Cage is all about being a girl dad! ET spoke with The Old Way star about welcoming his latest bundle of joy and how having a daughter informed his performance in the Western.

The film sees Cage as retired gunslinger, Colton Briggs, who is forced to face the consequences of his past when the son of a man he murdered arrives to take his revenge. Briggs must take up arms once more after his wife is killed, and is joined by his young daughter, to take on the task.

"It's interesting, because I had never had a daughter until now. And when I was filming the movie, I was with my wife and it just magically happened after the movie was over that she gave birth to our daughter. It's a new adventure," Cage said of his daughter, August's, influence on his performance after welcoming the baby girl with wife Riko Shibata in September. 

He continued, "I had experiences raising my boys, but my interest in the movie was just that -- I like the Paper Moon movie, and I like the idea of family drama, and in this case, it's about two people, a family of a father and a daughter, and they are social misfits."

At the core of the film is two people who, though seemingly incapable of love, find that with each other in what Cage called a "sad tragedy."

"They have this inability to feel love, they have a propensity towards violence, and they are outcasts," Cage shared. "And yet somehow, through this adventure, they find this road trip they find themselves on together, they learn to love. I thought that was nice. I thought that transformation in the movie, but learning to love through this sad tragedy, and also this road trip people -- two people that are incapable of that kind of feeling is poignant."

While August is the couple's first child together, Cage is already a dad to Weston, 31, and Kal-El, 16, from previous relationships.

The film also served as Cage's first Western, and though the Oscar winner, 59, admittedly joked that he's not getting any younger, there's still a few genres he'd like to take on.

"One that has come up a bit is the musical. I have not done that." he revealed. That would be fun. I’d like to try that. I’m not the greatest singer in the world, but I’d still like to try it. I like the flair and the pizzazz and the razzle-dazzle of musicals, but that would be the only one that I don't think I’ve explored yet."

See Cage channel his inner cowboy in The Old Way, in theaters now and on demand Jan. 13.

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