Cage told GQ magazine: "My cousin Roman Coppola said You should go hire Tony Dingman - who was at that time very drunk and also a poet - Hire him to be your drinking coach.
"So I had him on the set with me all the time the poor guy curled up in a foetal position in my trailer while I played bongos I was trying to get some rhythm for the character.
"But I would watch him and he d say the most poetic things like You do not kick the bar you lean into the bar because it s not Vino Veritas it s In Vino Veritas he d just spout all these things out and I put them in the movie."
Cage who won an Oscar a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for his performance said there were some scenes he shot while "completely hammered" because he wanted to be as "credible" as possible reports femalefirst.co.uk.
He said: "It was a four-week shoot - thank God it was a only four-week shoot - because there were a few scenes where I wanted to be hammered. Because I wanted to be out of control and have them photograph that so I could reach that credibility that authenticity.
"The scene that comes to mind is the casino scene where I flipped the table and had a blackout because I didn t know I was going to go there I just wanted something extraordinary happen and they kept it in the movie."
--IANS dc/rb
