NIC CAGE HOUSE SALE FALLS THROUGH

There will be less Christmas cheer for financially strapped actor Nicolas Cage with news that the sale of his Bel Air mansion has fallen through.
The lavish estate, previously owned by Rat Pack legend Dean Martin and later by Welsh superstar Tom Jones, was believed to have been sold last month, after he slashed the price in half from the $35 million he was asking three years ago.
At one point he tried to off-load it in a sealed-bid auction, with bids starting at $9.95 million.
According to a celebrity property blog, it sold for just under $15 million.
Now it is back on the market with an asking price of $17.5 million.
The house, built in 1940 and featuring eight bedrooms, a cinema, wine cellar and library, is one of several properties in Cage's real estate empire he is selling or has sold, including a castle in Bavaria, mansions in England and New Orleans and a home in Rhode Island.
Cage, 45, who makes up to $20 million for films like National Treasure, was sued in September for defaulting on a $2 million line of credit from a bank, and a month later by US tax authorities, who claim he owes more than $6 million.
Last month he sued his former financial manager, Samuel Levin, for $20 million, claiming that his recklessness and mismanagement had left him on the brink of financial ruin.
Levin has countersued, saying Cage was already on a mad spending spree when he was hired in 2001, and that he spent years trying to rein in the actor's excesses.