Nicolas Cage Joins ‘Left Behind’ Cast For His Pastor Brother; Cage Shares His Bro ‘Inspired’ Him To Look At ‘Left Behind’

Nicolas Cage reportedly took on the challenge of taking the lead role of Rayford Steele in the biblical thriller, "Left Behind," because of his admiration for the script and for another chance to work with director Vic Armstrong once again. However, it turns out that the Academy Award-winning actor has a more personal motivation.

Cage said during a press conference, "My brother, Marc, is a Christian pastor, and he was very excited about this. He said, 'You know, Nicky, you've really got to do this.'"

"I'd already wanted to make the movie because I thought it was such a great script and an opportunity again to do something challenging," Nicolas Cage said. "But, when I saw how passionate Marc was, I thought, "Well, yeah. I want to make this movie for my brother, too.'"

In a Facebook video, the 'Stolen' actor made pretty similar comments, saying that it was his brother who "inspired me to look at 'Left Behind.'"

Nicolas Cage's brother, Marc Coppola, otherwise referred to as "The Cope," is most likely more famous as an actor and classic rock DJ on WAXQ-Radio of New York City.

Jordin Sparks, who is Cage's co-star in the film, shared that she was also inspired to be part of the movie's cast, remembering how she felt when she read the "Left Behind" books back when she was a teenager. The film is actually based on the books of the same title.

Sparks, who plays the role of Shasta Carvell, one of the airplane passengers, said, "I just remember being so affected by the thought of, 'Wow. What if my closest friends just disappeared one day? What if they just weren't here?'" said the "American Idol" winner. "As a kid, that's definitely very scary. You might think, 'It's just in a book,' but, you know, when you read the Bible and you take those things to be the truth, you know it is definitely something that you can think of and go, 'Wow, that could actually happen.'"