Report: Nicolas Cage Back to Work After Arrest

April 18, 2011— -- Nicolas Cage reportedly went right back to work on his latest film "Medallion" after his arrest over the weekend. The return to the movie set on Monday follows a weekend scene that could have been plucked out of Cage's Academy Award winning role in "Leaving Las Vegas." The actor was arrested in New Orleans for domestic abuse, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness.

According to police, Cage was heavily intoxicated and violent, arguing with his wife, Alice Kim, in a tattoo parlor and on the street, and pushing her. Later, he punched a few cars.

"He was running around and screaming in the street," a bartender at Harry's Corner in New Orleans, told People magazine.

The couple were fighting over which house they were renting in the French Quarter while Cage is in town filming new movie "The Medallion."

"Apparently he had mistaken the house of my neighbors for the other house up the block that he is actually renting," Peter Bennett, a local street performer who lives near the property, told People. "His wife was trying to persuade him from disturbing the elderly couple who do in fact live in that house."

Cage was actually renting the house three doors down.

When the police arrived, Cage started to get into the back of the police car then took off running toward the river, according to People. Police found him trying to get into a cab.

Longtime Hollywood publicist, who does not represent Cage, told GMA that Cage taunted police, saying "Go ahead, arrest me."

"They tried to send him home," Bragman said. "Then, finally, they did arrest him," Bragman said.

Kim has denied that Cage abused her and has declined to press charges.

An inmate who said he was in the holding area of the jail with the actor, told People, "He was drunk."

But he spent the evening chatting with sheriff's deputies instead of behind bars, according to the inmate. "He wasn't in a cell. He was behind the counter with all the other officers," he said.

In what sounds like one of Cage's post-Oscar flops, reality star Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman came to the financially strapped star's rescue, posting the $11,000 bond.

In a statement to E! News, Chapman said he bailed out Cage because, "I am a truly dedicated fan of Mr. Cage."

"I performed my duties as a bail bondsman and not in connection with our show. This is what I do for a living," he said. "There are two sides of my job: I release my clients after they have been arrested; and pick them up if they don't show up in court. I do not believe the latter will be the case for Mr. Cage."

Cage has been ordered to return to court on May 31.

Here's a look at Nicolas Cage's off-screen troubles.

1. Off-Screen/On-Screen Rage

While leaving a night club in Romania where he was promoting "Ghost Rider," the actor was filmed exploding into a rage during an altercation with a companion.

Cage was taped screaming: "I thought we were brothers, man," and "I'll die in the name of honor."

2. Financial Follies

After reportedly purchasing castles, islands, homes, a dinosaur skull, cars and boats, the actor hit the skids.

In late 2009, the federal government placed a tax lien on Cage's real-estate holdings, including an additional $6.7 million from 2008, according to reports.

Cage has admitted to owning the IRS a total of $14 million and has said that he is taking steps to repay the IRS, starting with switching business managers.

"Everybody makes mistakes. Its part of being human," Cage said on "Good Morning America" recently. "Some people say you have to be a sinner before you can be a saint," Cage said.

3. Movie Rut

His latest: "Drive Angry 3D," where he plays a guy who departs hell to find the Satanist that killed his child.

4. Tripping With His Cat

He said that after a daylong staring contest with the cat he "had no doubt that he was my brother."

Cage is no stranger to drugs.

He's admitted to using drugs in his 20's. When promoting "Bad Lieutenant" in Australia, Cage told reporters that doctors there "still use cocaine to clear your sinuses."

According to OK Magazine, Cage said he felt "invincible" and kept coming up with ideas after receiving the "cocaine solution" in his nose.

5. Marriages and Children

Cage has been married three times.

An early relationship with model Christina Fulton, produced a son -- Weston Coppola Cage.

His first marriage to actress Patricia Arquette ended in 2000 and lasted five years, but divorce papers revealed the pair had only cohabited for the first nine months of their marriage.

Cage's second marriage to Lisa Marie Pressley only lasted four months.

His third marriage was to Alice Kim, who he met in 2004 when she waited on his table at a Los Angeles restaurant.

Kim is, of course, now famous for the argument she had with her husband over the weekend which led to his arrest.

She refused to press charges against her husband in that incident.

The 47-year-old actor and Kim have one child together-- a son named Kale-El which was Superman's name as a child.

Which leads us to Cage, the comic book geek?

6. Comic Book Geek- Voodoo in New Orleans

Cage made news earlier this month when a missing mint copy of Action Comics No. 1 -- the comic book debut of Superman -- belonging to him surfaced in a San Fernando Valley storage locker.

The comic, which has been authenticated, was stolen from Cage more than a decade ago, according to Detective Don Hrycyk with the Los Angeles Police Department's Art Theft Detail.

Cage accepted an insurance payout after the theft, so it is unclear if he will regain his missing comic.

Most people don't know that Cage is a huge fan of comic books and has a tattoo of Ghost Rider on his arm. He developed a six-issue illustrated series called "Voodoo Child" with his son Weston.

Set in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina, the story focuses on a child who puts a voodoo curse on his soul before he is murdered by secessionist soldier

7. We Have Cage to Thank for "The Goddesses"?

Cage has recently been featured in Charlie Sheen's "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option" tour.

According to Sheen, Cage once helped him smuggle cocaine onto a plane and came up with the term "goddess." During his show in Columbus, Ohio Sheen said: "We're at this after-party and Nic Cage is over at the corner and he's showing a girl his watch," Sheen explained. "It was dark, but I knew exactly what he was doing. He has his wrist down here (Sheen brings wrist down to his crotch). So she just kind of pokes him in the chest and walks away. And his response was 'Well there goes a goddess, an absolute f***ing goddess.'"

Cage hasn't commented on the performance.