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Nicolas Cage Reacts to Memes Using His ‘Freakout’ Movie Performances

Selected Features

February 25, 2024February 25, 2024

In his new movie Dream Scenario, Nicolas Cage plays a man named Paul Matthews, who becomes famous overnight when he randomly starts appearing in strangers’ dreams. The uninvited scrutiny soon takes a grip on Paul’s life, leading to nightmare-level consequences. Cage himself knows a thing or two about facing scrutiny in the public eye. In fact, he responded to the years of internet memes about him in a behind-the-scenes featurette available in the Dream Scenario home release.

In particular, Cage addresses YouTube video compilations that show his most unhinged or wild performances from his decades-long film career. (Many feature the huge swings Cage takes in Wicker Man and Ghost Rider.) He has very mixed feelings about the videos and the memes they spawned, noting it led to some moments of introspection.

“Nothing in my wildest imagination could have prepared me for what the internet — which, when it happened to me, it was brand new — with their meme-ification,” Cage recalls. “Someone had created this thing, a mashup/collage, called ‘Nicolas Cage Loses His S—.’ It was just cherry-picking freakout moments, out of context from different pictures. The thing went viral, around the world, overnight. And then the memes started, and the Photoshopping started, and nothing that I could do, legally or otherwise, could stop it. It just started compounding on itself and growing exponentially.”

He recalled his inner thoughts on the viral trend, saying “I’ve got to put these feelings somewhere. It’s confusing. It’s irritating. Is it stimulating? Is there a value in this or is it all bad?”

He finally harnesses this personal experience by performing in writer/director Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario, which A24 released in theaters back in November, with physical copies available on Tuesday.

“I read Dream Scenario and I said, ‘I can put it in this,'” Cage said. “No acting, please; I know what Paul Matthews feels like.”

How to order Dream Scenario starring Nicolas Cage

(Photo: Lionsgate Home Entertainment / Walmart)

If this movie sounds like something you’d like to see or gift to a loved one, Walmart is offering Dream Scenario right now so the movie can be in your hands as soon as it releases. Or you can purchase/rent the digital version of Dream Scenario and watch it right now.

The movie is all about how a university professor randomly starts appearing in strangers’ dreams, giving him fame and notoriety. But it all comes with a cost. The cast includes Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, Dylan Baker, Kate Berlant, Lily Bird and Jessica Clement.

A24, the studio behind the film, calls Dream Scenario, a “wickedly entertaining comedy.”

Dream Scenario is available on Blu-ray combo pack, and as a digital purchase.

Order ‘Dream Scenario’ at Walmart