Soldiers at Vilseck, Germany, have a new celebrity neighbor — actor Nicolas Cage, who recently bought the 500-year-old Neidstein Castle. (Seth Robson / S&S)

VILSECK, Germany — Soldiers here have a new celebrity neighbor — Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage, who recently snapped up a nearby Bavarian castle.

The star of such blockbuster movies as “National Treasure,” “The Rock” and “Leaving Las Vegas” paid $2.3 million for the 500-year-old Neidstein Castle — 20 minutes’ drive south of Vilseck — according to Bavarian newspaper reports published on various Web sites.

Pvt. Walter Lilley of Company A, 1st Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, said he finds it strange that Cage bought a castle around the Vilseck area, but hopes he visits the troops.

According to the reports, Cage, who lives in a fake castle on the outskirts of Los Angeles and once planned to ship a real castle there from Europe, visited Neidstein Castle earlier this year and finally bought it last month.

The reports say the actor wants to use the estate, which boasts 28 rooms and comes with 400 acres of forests and grassland, as a retreat.

But before he can move in, Cage will have to renovate the castle. It has drafty windows, a leaky roof and the electric and sanitary facilities haven’t been updated since the 1960s, say the reports.

There have been no reports that Cage, who is half German and half Italian, plans to visit U.S. troops at Vilseck. However, several of his films feature the military, including “Windtalkers,” a 2002 movie in which he plays a U.S. Marine sergeant, and the 2001 film “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” where he plays an Italian captain.

Cage’s latest movie, the Oliver Stone-directed “World Trade Center,” has opened in theaters in the States.