Question: Which Ghost Rider is your take?

Johnson: Mine's the original. Mine's Johnny Blaze. It's pretty the classic story, very few changes. It's all about selling your soul. In our case, it's the father, not the step-father, who has lung cancer, having to the leave the girl behind and having to hit the road.

Question:What I got from the Danny Ketch era, which I love graphically and I always thought was beautiful, was some of the looks -- the spike jacket. This isn't the blue, full-body jumpsuit. And the motorcycle he had in the early comics, I wasn't a big fan of that and I thought we could do better. But the actual look, with the chain around his head and spikes, that was all the later stuff from the Ketch years, which I liked a lot.

And the Caretaker from the Ketch years is a character I always liked a lot and wanted to find a way to use him, as was Blackheart.

So a lot of it was taking from later, but the origin and the heart was taken from Johnny.

Question: Eva, can you tell us about your character?

Mendes: I play Roxanne Simpson, Johnny Blaze's long-lost love. I was really kind of happy that Mark took kind of a chance on me. The original Roxanne was actually his step-sister, correct? So you changed that. That's kind of weird. I'm open, but I'm not that open. So I'm glad he changed that story point.

The girl in the comic book was blonde hair/blue eyes and differently visually than I so I'm glad he took a chance and gave it a little flavor, a little spice.

Question: Nic, do you still have Ghost Rider comic books?

Cage: Oh, absolutely. I would never sell those. They're in a special room upstairs, framed and on the wall.

Question: How do you like having your own action figure?

Cage: I'm thrilled with that. I haven't see it. I heard about it. I think that's fun.

Johnson: Is that your first one?

Cage: I'm not sure. I don't know. I imagine it probably is. Certainly first super-hero action figure.

Question: Is there a chance for a crossover any of the other Marvel characters since it's happens in the comics?

Johnson: I'd love that. That would be so cool.

Cage: I would like to see that, actually have the comic-book characters team up. Once again I'm speaking to the Ghost Rider, we all know that Ghost Rider could kick Spider-Man's ass with one look. I want to see that happen.

Question:Eva, what was the allure of being in a comic-book movie?

Mendes: Two other allures are sitting right next to me. I'm a huge Nic Cage fan. And Mark Steven Johnson, I love this dude.

I really didn't know much about comic books at all. Speaking to these guys and getting into a little bit. I wanted to have some kind of affect, like a little super-hero entity. I wanted an extra arm so something. But I really enjoy playing Roxanne.

Cage: Eva brought a lot of fun to the character and the movie. There's great scenes with her and a magic 8-ball, those things...

Mendes: Clarify that!

Cage: You know, the toy, where you would play and ask questions.

Question: What was it like working with Peter Fonda?

Cage: It was great. I'm such a fan of Peter. I grew up watching Peter Fonda. To me, it was a perfect choice because he was Captain America (in Easy Rider). If there was going to be a Luciferian version of a bike film, that would be the perfect choice to get Johnny Blaze to sell his soul, it would be Captain America.

Question: The movie originally was supposed to come out this year. Are you finished with it?

Johnson: We're close now, but we still wouldn't have been ready. Actually, we really lucked out. The movie was supposed to come out in August. They saw the movie and really liked it and pushed us up to July, which is second week of Pirates of the Caribbean, where nobody wants to be.

But most importantly, they liked the movie and there are things I really wanted to get in the movie, some really great bike stuff, that was really expensive and big-ticket stuff. And they let us do that.

And like I said, the flaming skull went down to the wire to get it just perfect. It's a hard thing, as you know. If that doesn't work, that character doesn't work and the movie doesn't work. We were so close and didn't want to rush it.

Question: are you interested or signed for sequels?

Cage: My theories on sequels is they have to be better than the original. So I'm open, I just have to see a script and talk about. But I love working with Mark and Eva and it would be great to do something again. I just want to make sure we can improve even on the original, whatever you can do to keep going and make it one step better. And I think the original's really good, so it would mean a lot of sitting down and thinking about it.

Question: What are your favorite comics?

Cage: The Ghost Rider. I like the monsters. I just liked them. When I was a kid, I fantasized about being able to turn into the monster to scare the bully away. I think little boys and girls, when they see the werewolf movies like The Wolfman, it's very exciting.

Monsters are fun to play and with Ghost Rider, I got a chance to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I got to be in a horror film in the grand sense of The Wolfman and a comic book-based movie.

So, yes, to answer your question, Ghost Rider and the Hulk. Those were my real introductions into the comic-book world because they stimulated my imagination so much.

Question: Do you ride motorcycles?

Cage: Absolutely. I've since stopped riding as much as I once did because I have a baby boy.

Question: Nic, you have a Ghost Rider tattoo on your arm?

Cage: I have flaming skull on my arm, yes, but it's whatever you want it to be.

Question: Does it show up in the movie?

Cage: No, my tattoos are for me.

Johnson: That was the great irony, that we have to cover up his flaming skull tattoo for a Ghost Rider movie.

Question: Are you worry these hell-type movies are over-exhausted? Will Ghost Rider be in hell?

Johnson: For myself, I liked Constantine. I thought it got a bad rap. I think it's a better movie than most people give it credit for. But there have been a lot of movies about this subject and it's tough because you have to build your own world. I never wanted to go into hell and I never wanted it to be Spawn. That's not what we wanted to make.

I wanted to make something on this world. It's far-out enough with the flaming skull and the Hellcycle, we don't need to be going there, too.

We just had to create our own version of this. I thought using End of Days is always fascinating and fallen angels is fascinating. That's a really fantastic world. And to put that in the shape of a Western, this Gothic Western, which I've never seen before. There's nothing like it, you know.

Cage: You have to find the right balance. It's a very fine line and you have to blend the joy of absurdity and comedy with truly scary imagery. I think the best example of that I've seen before was American Werewolf in London.

That was my template in my mind's eye that I wanted to aspire to get into that zone. Because I loved that movie when I went to see it. I never forgot it.

Johnson: I've always said that's the closest to our movie as far as tone goes, American Werewolf in London. It's got that feel. You're laughing, and it's really scary and intense and you're on the edge of your seat.

Question: Would you be interested in doing another comic-book movie?

Cage: Absolutely. I think that the comic book movie is a wonderful way to entertain a lot of people. People love comic books on the film. I knew it was going to happen because I was an enthusiast at a young age. I knew, with modern technology, when they started taking Batman to the screen, and Spider-Man, they were going to be enormous.

The thing about comic book films is that it's a fantasy world. And it's thoroughly entertaining and it doesn't rely on gratuitous violence and you can charm children and adults alike. I'm very happy for it. I think it's almost a perfect medium for film, the comic book-based story structures. I would be happy to do more.

I think I would like to try to even generate my own. Why just the other day, yesterday in fact, my son Weston and I had a meeting with Virgin Comics. I said I wouldn't announce it but I will announce it, Weston has developed a character and they agreed to five issues of it, so we'll see how that works out.

Johnson: Eva, would you do one?

Mendes: I just need some kind of power. Give me some kind of visual cool power, sure.

Question: Comics have been called the modern mythology. How does Ghost Rider fit in?

Johnson: What makes this one so different for me, because there's a couple of different themes in the movie, is that this one's really about choice. It's something that Nic came up during the shooting about second chances and about everyone deserves a second chance. It's a big theme in the movie, shown obviously in the most graphic way we could and the most horrifying and most interesting.

There are really big themes in this film. When you're dealing with heaven and hell, you're in a big playground. It's not a character who puts on spandex and fights evil. It's so different.

People keep saying comic-book movies and super-hero movies. It is, obviously it's a comic book, but he's a super-hero of a very different sort. I think there hasn't been one like it in quite a long time.

I alway feel like Nic is the Lon Chaney of his generation in a way. I hope that's a compliment to you. It's the biggest compliment I can give. You see quick-cuts of him transforming and it's fantastic. If it was black-and-white, it'd be awesome, like Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi.