The South West is searching for answers this morning after Hollywood superstar Nicolas Cage managed to acquire his own set of Cape Naturaliste number plates – some of the most revered down south plates in the game.
Many locals in the Dunsborough to Yallingup area have sought the plates for years and aren’t too happy that Cage managed to snap a pair up. We spoke to a Dunsborough man who told The Times,
“A normal bloke would just rent a car but this Nic Cage character had to buy a V8 Mustang that he keeps calling Elanor. Then we see him doing laps around Dunsborough rocking Cape Nat plates. I’d give up my first child for those!”
Locals suspect that a Cape Nat owner sold the plates to Cage in an act of brown-nosing. Perhaps to try and get a role in the surfing movie he is filming.
Another theory is that Roger Cook personally oversaw the deal as part of a WA Tourism initiative. All we know is that there are plenty of people in the community hurting over it. A Yallingup woman told The Times,
“Who does he think he is! Locals only! He’s been here a week and he’s managed to the holy grail plates? Why didn’t he get some Busso Jetty plates? No one would’ve cared if he did that. These Hollywood big shots, I tell you”
A spokesperson for Cage told The Times that the silver screen legend had no intention of ruffling any feathers and only wanted to rock the plates to feel welcome in the community. Adding,
“Nic is obviously distraught that this has backfired on him. He knows the strong localism down south can be unwelcoming so he thought the gesture would let them know that he’s just one of them. I think that’s the problem in retrospect. These people really hold their geography like a badge of honour, don’t they?”
Yes, they sure do. In fact, a leading Douth expert has said that unless you were physically born on the sands of the cape and so were your parents (and their parents) you shouldn’t consider yourself “local enough” for the Cape Nat plates.
It remains to be seen whether Cage will continue rocking the plates or he’ll bow to public pressure and swap them for Perth plates so everyone knows exactly where he stands.
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