Following rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) earlier this month, A24 has released a new trailer for Dream Scenario, which stars Nicolas Cage (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Sympathy for the Devil).
In the dark fantasy comedy, Nicolas Cage stars as a college professor specializing in Behavioral Science named Paul Matthews, who desired a certain amount of fame in his profession but never achieved it.
Things change for the better when he becomes an overnight celebrity after turning up in the dreams of strangers. With each passing night, more and more strangers start to see Matthews in their dreams. However, things get dark when his nighttime guest appearances take on a nightmarish quality.
The film is directed and written by Norwegian helmer, Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself), who is making his English-language debut.
A24 recently gave the R-rated. 1h 40m film a November 10, 2023, domestic release date. The other notable film set for release on November 10, is The Marvels, the 33rd entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In addition to Cage, the film also stars Julianne Nicholson (Togo, Blonde), Dylan Baker (Trick r' Treat, Revolutionary Road), Kate Berlant (Duck Butter, A League of Their Own), Michael Cera (Barbie), Dylan Gelula (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, First Girl I Loved), and Tim Meadows (Saturday Night Live, The Benchwarmers).
Coming out of TIFF, Dream Scenario currently has a rotten tomatoes score of 86% from 28 reviews for an average score of 7.1 out of 10. The film currently has a 77 out of 100 score on Metacritic based on 12 review scores.
A24 is believed to be positioning the film for an awards season run but the ongoing Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) may prove a problem as the guild's strike rules prevent actors from promoting any upcoming films.
In a previous interview with Deadline, Cage stated that what attracted him to the role was his own real life experience with the internet and YouTube where people started memeifying his performances.
Said Cage:
"I felt like in the name of Thespis I had the life experience to play Paul Matthews. What happened to me as Nic Cage with the internet, nothing could have prepared me, there was no reference point to experience this minification that occurred with one person’s compiling of a montage of sequences, cherry-picking different episodes of meltdowns that I had in various movies — calling it ‘Nicolas Cage loses his sh*t’ and then it went viral around the world overnight. I think I might have been the first actor who experienced anything like that. It was confusing, it was irritating, it was stimulating, it was confounding. I didn’t what to do with it."
Are you enjoying Nicolas Cage's career resurgence? And do you plan on seeing Dream Scenario in theaters? Let us know in the comment section below.
Hapless family man Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom, in this wickedly entertaining comedy from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself) and producer Ari Aster.