Kristoffer Borgli’s new film “Dream Scenario” posits that the man of your dreams could be the stuff of another person’s nightmares. In the darkly funny and often tragic movie, Nicolas Cage plays Paul Matthews, an unremarkable professor and family man who achieves sudden fame in the most unique way. People the world over — strangers, students, friends — find Paul appearing in their dreams. At first, he enjoys the attention — until some of the dreams turn sinister.
The Norwegian director blended a seemingly surreal premise with an all-too-realistic execution in his short films and his 2022 feature “Sick of Myself,” which focused on a couple who go to great extremes — including disfigurement — for attention. As in that film, the performances are remarkably grounded outside of the dream sequences. The subtle, humane turn from Cage is all the more surprising considering the actor has never been afraid to go big. But, as Borgli says, “I told my actors the characters they’re playing don’t know it’s a comedy, the characters are stuck inside a drama.” To that end, he adds, “We didn’t let the actors break the integrity, or make fun of the characters.”
Casting Cage in the role of a man who enters the worldwide zeitgeist has a certain poetry, considering the actor is no stranger to being memed. But Borgli says the part wasn’t penned for anyone specific. “I don’t write with anyone in mind because I’m a humble person who doesn’t think about reaching the Nicolas Cages of the world,” he notes. “But once he was a possibility, it was very easy to see the sort of meta layer that it could take on.”
Borgli references the esoteric concept of an “Egregore,” which he says “is what happens when a community of people sort of will a spirit into existence and that spirit comes to sort of haunt that community.” He adds, “I think Nic Cage is like an Egregore that was willed into existence that has come to haunt his life. And I think this movie was sort of him grappling with his Egregore.”
Once Cage was cast, Borgli says he took advantage of the actor’s own expertise on fame, including dealing with stalkers. The director had written a scene where Paul wakes up to find a stranger standing in his bedroom, only to learn that the same thing had happened to Cage. “The lines in that scene were very different,” Borgli reveals. “But when I learned he’d lived it, I said, ‘You know better than me — what would you say?’ He was an expert of how these strange events can feel.”
The process between director and star was extremely collaborative — it was actually Cage’s idea for Paul to be bald. When asked why, Borgli notes: “He said, ‘I just see him as bald.’” Though Cage began having second thoughts right before shooting, the director says he found himself egging the actor on. “At that point, I had fallen in love with the idea.”
The film’s cast includes a slew of great actors, from Julianne Nicholson as Paul’s wife to Dylan Baker and Tim Meadows as colleagues. Asked about how he kept a consistent tone with so many different actors, Borgli says he’s been fortunate to work with people “who want to make the same movie I am making.” He adds, “I think where you can get into trouble is when you’re having discussions before shooting and someone says, ‘I don’t know if my character would say that.’ But I’ve never had someone who had a completely different idea of what a scene should look like.”
He does point to one exception on an earlier film: An extra was supposed to tap on a window and the actor couldn’t stop mugging for the camera. “It was just an extra and I hadn’t thought much about the casting because I figured anyone can realistically knock on a window. But I found the one guy who couldn’t do it.” After multiple tries, they had to reshoot the scene with a different actor.
And though he made a movie about the power of dreams, Borgli isn’t particularly interested in hearing about yours. “The thing is, it’s impossible using language alone to communicate what a dream feels like,” he reasons. “But placing a camera inside of a dream does the trick, so that the only way to communicate a dream is actually filming it.”
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
