If there’s one actor who knows how to handle chaos, it’s Nicolas Cage. However, even he wasn’t ready for a swarm of bees to crash the set of his upcoming horror movie, The Carpenter’s Son, a religious horror-drama in which he plays Joseph, the biblical figure. While internet sleuths might be tempted to call the bee attack karma, the Ghost Rider vet insists this wasn’t a case of divine retribution. Still, I have to admit, what took place behind the scenes on this 2025 movie release sounds even wilder than the infamous The Wicker Man bee scene.
Cage recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly, during which he opened up about the now-infamous bee incident that unfolded while filming on a remote mountaintop. Naturally, everyone’s first thought was his iconic line from The Wicker Man, “Not the bees!” but the Renfield star was quick to shut that down with a laugh. The Carpenter’s Son, he clarified, is not a comedy, and the bee attack wasn’t part of some elaborate meta bit. It was, quite simply, a logistical fail. He recalled:
Well, what I would say about that, rather than some sort of mystical intervention, is that it was just stupid location scouting, and someone didn’t do their research.
Of course, the leading man isn’t mad at the bees, heck, he even sympathizes with them, which is somehow the most Nic Cage thing I’ve ever heard. The longtime Hollywood fixture continued:
The bees there, by the way, are protected. I would be pissed off too, if I was a bee and there was a film crew going into my hive and shining lights on everything. It was ridiculous. I don’t know whose idea it was. And then they kept saying, ‘Go back and shoot there with all the bees,’ and people were getting stung and getting sick. I mean, it was really not smart. It wasn’t any kind of divine mystical intervention. It was just stupidity. There was no regard for nature and our brothers and sisters in the animal kingdom.
Leave it to Cage to acknowledge our “brothers” and “sisters” in the animal kingdom. You have to admit, its pretty awesome to see an actor give it up for the animals while calling out the less than thought out plan by the production.
But the bee (wasp?) talk didn’t end with Cage. Director Lotfy Nathan told EW that the real mess came later, when another location—an elaborate leper colony set—had to be shut down thanks to a fresh swarm of angry wasps, allegedly drawn in by chemicals used in set dressing. The moment they arrived on set, production halted. The filmmaker added:
Around the middle of production, we showed up for our first day at a new location, a remote mountain top where a set for a leper colony was constructed. Apparently, some chemical the art department used for finishing touches on the set ended up attracting a swarm of wasps overnight, which no one noticed until the morning we were set to shoot there. We had to shut it down that day, which was a real mess. There was a lot of gossip about it being ‘divine intervention’, but most likely just a bunch of angry wasps.
For those who might not know, The Carpenter’s Son was written and directed by Lotfy Nathan, inspired by the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Set during the lost years of Jesus’ boyhood, the film follows a young Christ (Noah Jupe), his mother (FKA Twigs), and his earthly father, Joseph (Nicolas Cage), as they navigate a world caught between divine mystery and human fear. Blending religious mythology with horror-genre tension, the film explores themes of faith, power, and identity through a dark, unsettling lens.
Despite what sounds like a cursed shoot, in the vein of say, The Passion of the Christ, Cage maintains that nothing truly supernatural happened. No hauntings, no omens—just bees doing what bees do. So, yes, The Carpenter’s Son had its share of production drama, but The Kiss of the Vampire star wants fans to know the film itself is no joke. He describes it as intense, vulnerable, and emotionally raw, adding:
…Everybody approached this movie as though the material was something sacred, and they were very careful with it. There was no wink, there was no smirk.
In other words, the bees may have been buzzing, but there’s nothing ironic about the Longlegs star’s latest role. Just commitment, chaos and a deep reverence for the story being told.
Fans of some of the best horror movies can catch the upcoming Nic Cage project, The Carpenter’s Son, when it arrives in theaters on November 14.