Why did Hollywood star Nicolas Cage eat live cockroaches?

Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage said that eating two cockroaches on camera during the making of his 1988 comedy 'Vampire's Kiss' remains a career regret. "I'll never do that again," Cage told Yahoo Entertainment, reports 'Variety'. "I'm sorry I did it at all."

'Vampire's Kiss' stars Cage as a literary critic who becomes convinced he is a vampire. The film's script originally called for the actor to swallow a raw egg, but Cage insisted it be a cockroach instead.

As he said on the film's DVD commentary track: "I saw it as a business decision because when people see the cockroach go in my mouth...(they) really react." In Cage's new film, 'Renfield', his co-star Nicholas Hoult is the one eating cockroaches. Although in this case, the cockroaches weren't real. "The cockroaches I got to eat in this were caramel," Hoult told Yahoo Entertainment.

"I also had crickets that were actually quite yummy; they were salt and vinegar flavored or barbecue smoky flavored." "(Nicholas) ate a potato bug, so he took it to another level," Cage added about his co-star. "(Potato bugs) are terrifying to me, and so are cockroaches."

How do potato bugs taste? "It wasn't good," Hoult said. "It didn't dry out so good, and tasted every bit of bug."

While Cage won't be eating bugs on camera again, he did tell Yahoo that eating bugs could solve a real-world issue. "If you could get rid of your fear, your phobia of eating insects, you could solve world starvation," Cage said. "High protein, no fat, excellent nutrients, abundance.

They're everywhere! But nope - not gonna happen."