Nicolas Cage regrets eating cockroach in old film: 'I’ll never do that again'

Renfield actor Nicolas Cage recalled an old project in which he had to go beyond lengths that he still regrets as an artist.

During the promotions of his new horror-comedy film Renfield, Cage revealed a major regret which was captured in his 1988 film, Vampire's Kiss.

Renfield, features Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as the title servant, R.M. Renfield.

The film showcased Hoult’s character as an insect-eater, which is quite similar to Cage, who ate a cockroach in his movie Vampire’s Kiss.

"I’ll never do that again,” Cage confessed to Yahoo Entertainment. “I’m sorry I did it at all."

In Vampire’s Kiss, Cage's character was showcased as someone who believes to have transformed into a vampire.

So he wanders through the streets of New York with fake fangs and eating roaches. The insect-eating part was not real, transformed from a planned swallow of a raw egg.

"I saw it as a business decision, because when people see the cockroach go in my mouth… [they] really react," Cage said.

Unfortunately, the scene required another take. "I ate [roaches] twice because the director did it as a prank," Cage recalled.

"If you could get rid of your fear, your phobia of eating insects, you could solve world starvation," the actor claimed.

"High protein, no fat, excellent nutrients, abundance. They’re everywhere! But nope — not gonna happen."

Meanwhile in Renfield, the bugs that Hoult's character was required to eat were made from food that humans normally eat.

"The cockroaches I got to eat in this were caramel," Hoult said. "I also had crickets that were actually quite yummy; they were salt and vinegar flavored or barbecue smoky flavored."