Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage is the most fascinating cautionary tale in Hollywood. At his peak, he was earning $20 million per film and had a net worth approaching $150 million. Then he went on what can only be described as the most unhinged shopping spree in entertainment history.

The shopping list reads like a fever dream: a $276,000 dinosaur skull (a T. Rex head that turned out to be stolen and had to be returned to Mongolia), two European castles (one in Germany, one in England — combined cost around $10M), a $150,000 pet octopus (he claimed it helped his acting), nine Rolls Royces, a private island in the Bahamas, shrunken pygmy heads, the first Superman comic for $150,000, and — the pièce de résistance — a pyramid-shaped tomb in a New Orleans cemetery where he plans to be buried.

The IRS came calling with a $14 million tax bill. Properties went into foreclosure. The castles were sold at a loss. Cage's response? He started saying yes to every movie offered, cranking out 3-5 films per year to pay off debts. That's why you've seen him in roughly 47 direct-to-video action movies since 2010. At $25M, he's clawed his way back from near-zero, but he burned through more money than most A-listers will ever earn.