Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage became a daredevil while working in South Africa recently - by facing a great white shark.

The HONEYMOON IN VEGAS star took his new wife ALICE KIM and 12-year-old son WESTON with him to South Africa while he filmed his upcoming movie LORD OF WAR.

And he is still stunned that he was brave enough to get in the water and meet one of the giant sea creatures.

He says, "We went on a great white shark safari, and I was quite worried about it. I was up all night, very nervous, having nightmares about what Jaws was gonna look like when I met him face to face.

"The interesting thing about it is, on our way to... the boat, we passed a Kentucky Fried Chicken. I don't know really what a KFC is doing in Africa, but my wife said, 'I'd really like to pull over and just a bucket of KFC.' (I thought) 'I am so nervous right now that I'm gonna meet a great white shark face to face I can't even drink a glass of water and you wanna have Kentucky Fried Chicken? This is extraordinary.'

"The interesting thing about these cages is that they're open. So you get in this cage and they've got these great big open viewing windows, so if you panic, your leg can get through and be a tasty little morsel. And if the boat is rocking and it gets horizontal with the water, the shark can get into the cage and just bite your head off. He definitely could've gotten in... He went right up to me and said hello."

10/11/2004 09:08