London, Nov 11 American actor Nicolas Cage is said to be going through a financial crisis after owing 3.5million pounds in back taxes.

Cage, 45, put a large portion of his property empire up for sale earlier this year, including a 4million pounds island in the Bahamas and homes in Nevada, California, Rhode Island and Louisiana, reports the Daily Express.

He also sold his Bavarian castle to his German adviser, lawyer Konrad Wilfurth.

Midford Castle, an 18th-century property that sits in 47 acres of parkland and woodland in Somerset, is also on the market after being bought for 5million pounds three years ago.

Cage has filed a lawsuit against his former financial manager Samual Levin for 11million pounds, claiming he was "led down a path of financial ruin" but it has emerged that he made some bizarre acquisitions over the past decade - most of which are now sold, for sale or in foreclosure.

Among his mansions, his Bel Air home in California features a billiard room with a 1955 Jaguar parked inside it, and according to New York magazine the room is accessorised with an array of "shrunken heads".

He also owns a dinosaur skull for which he reportedly outbid Leonardo DiCaprio at auction in 1997, winning it for a mere 165,000 pounds, and of his 50-odd cars the most he paid was 296,000 pounds for a Lamborghini once owned by the Shah of Iran.

Also, while portraying an alcoholic for his Oscar-winning role in 1995's Leaving Las Vegas, Cage, who owns a jet and two yachts, apparently hired an "on set drinking-consultant-poet". (ANI)