Tom Waits Presents SFFILM Award To Nicolas Cage, Discusses Lil Mama’s “Lip Gloss” With Iggy Pop

Tom Waits made a rare public appearance at the SFFILM Awards on Monday evening, presenting a lifetime achievement award to Nicolas Cage. Waits and Cage go way back — they appeared in 1983’s Rumble Fish together (directed by Cage’s uncle Francis Ford Coppola) and before that Cage worked as Waits’ driver for a time.
“He was the same as a teenager. It was troublesome for his family and other people around him,” Waits said during his speech, per The San Francisco Chronicle. “He needed some kind of a swimming pool to put that (talent) all in, and I’m sure glad that he has that now.”