Nicolas Cage has revealed his flaming skull in Ghost Rider was modeled on his own head. Nicolas - who portrays a skeletal motorcycle-riding vigilante with a flaming skull in the film - says producers used X-rays of his own body to create the fearsome character. He said: "They grafted my skull so you are actually seeing me in all those scenes. It's kind of wild."

The Con Air actor says he loved playing the fantasy character - based on comic book hero Johnny Blaze who sells his soul to the devil - because he was so human.

He said: "What I really love about this character is that we're all him. We all have human skulls, right? You've got one, I've got one and we've all got one and yet we look at it and go, 'That's scary'. And then after a little while you go, 'Wait a minute, that's beautiful. He's human and he's a total bad a**.' He's fighting the dark forces, but he's human. It's pretty neat."

The film - also starring Eva Mendes - hits the screens this Friday.