Nicolas Cage to Star in, Produce Amazon Fantasy Drama

Nicolas Cage will play a dragon in his next TV project.

The actor will star in and executive produce a drama in development at Amazon based on Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer’s novel Highfire. The lead character, which Cage will voice, is a vodka-swilling, TV-loving dragon who lives in seclusion in the Louisiana bayou.

Davey Holmes (Epix’s Get Shorty, Shameless) is adapting the novel and will executive produce. The project comes from MGM/UA Television.

Published in January, Highfire is set in a world where dragons once ruled the earth, and Lord Highfire ruled the dragons. Now, however, all Highfire rules is his shack in Honey Island Swamp. He now goes by “Vern” and spends his days hiding out among the alligators, watching cable TV and drinking obscene amounts of vodka. Vern is prepared to do whatever it takes, even if that means violence, to protect his own hide. Vern’s world soon collides with that of Squib, a teenager mixed up in running booze for the local mob, and their mutual struggle for survival becomes entangled in a most unlikely friendship.

Cage and Holmes executive produce with Andrew Mittman of 1.21, who has an exclusive production deal at MGM/UA Television.

Highfire is the second TV project Cage has signed on to recently. He’s also set to play Tiger King subject Joe Exotic in a scripted series from CBS Television Studios and Imagine Television. His recent film credits include Primal, Grand Isle and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Cage is repped by WME, Stride Management and Goodman Genow. Holmes is repped by Felker Toczek.

Deadline first reported the news.

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