Nicolas Cage is at an age where he's "frightened" to take drugs.

The 58-year-old actor admitted while he hired family friend Tony Dingman to be his 'drinking coach' for 1995 movie 'Leaving Las Vegas', he didn't use a similar tactic for scenes in 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' in which Cage's character - a fictionalised version of himself - takes LSD.

Asked by Empire magazine if he had a coach for those scenes, he laughed: "No, at my age I'm pretty frightened to take a trip. I've never done anything like that.

"I once did something with mushrooms that didn't work out so well for me, so that scares me."

Playing himself on screen was a scary prospect, but Nicolas was keen to portray his younger self from an infamous appearance on the 'Wogan' show in 1990, which saw him bare his chest to host Terry Wogan

He added: "I can tell you I was really terrified of the whole thing. Of course, because I was so afraid of it, my instinct was to move toward it.

"I did want to play [youthful alter ego] Nicky. I thought it would be a fun experiment to go back and try to play that guy that was on the 'Wogan' show acting like a complete a**."

Despite taking on a satirical version of himself for the movie, Nicolas has insisted he doesn't enjoy watching his own films back.

He explained: "I try not to. Once I'm done with something I try to move on. I don't want to get stuck in a rut. I want to think about what's next."

Meanwhile, last year the Hollywood star admitted that he is glad to have left the "obnoxious" persona from the 'Wogan' appearance behind in real life.

He said: "That was Nic in 1990 and I’m so glad I’m nothing like that person anymore. But I was happy to bring him back. Actually, I have really quiet moments at home, reading with my cat."