Nicolas Cage is an actor who isn't afriad of trying something strange and new. Most of the times, his choices elevate a story, landing him an Oscar nomination for his performance, or his over-the-top acting lands him in the meme-spher, where he continues to live as an iconic figure online.
While I grew up with the leading-man era of Cage (think movies like Con Air, National Treasure, and Ghost Rider), but I have come to appericate the actors' smaller indie roles from early in his career that would layout the actor's ethos. Recently, that ethos has lead him to Kristoffer Borgli's Dream Scenario.
In a editoral piece for The New York Times, Cage said that the latest A24 film is a movie that interested him for its "analysis about the experience of fame," and became one of the five best scripts Cage has ever read.
So, what makes the screenplay of Dream Scenario stand out? Let's get into it.
Dream Scenario | Official Trailer HD | A24
Dream Scenario follows the boring family man Paul Matthews (Cage) as he discovers that he has appeared in millions of strangers' dreams for an unknown reason. When his appearances takes a nightmarish turn, Paul attempts to navigate his newfound stardom.
Borgli's script was brilliantly written for someone else, but Cage read the script and pitched what he could bring to the character of Paul. Cage, having spent well over three decades in the limelight, has had to experience navigating stardom most of his life.
In Dream Scenario, there are many times when people pull out their phones around Paul in hopes that they will capture a viral. moment that could help them piggyback off his own fame. "I’ve had things happen to me where I go to a bar in Sin City on a Saturday, and I have no idea that someone’s videotaping me and it goes on TikTok. It’s like, 'OK, no more bars for me, man,'" Cage said. "But it’s a new world. And that’s another reason I like this movie: It’s relevant. This is the way it is in the 21st century. This isn’t the way it was when [Humphrey] Bogart was making movies."
'Dream Scenario'
Credit: A24
Relevancy is one of the reasons why Cage has enjoyed working on the indie level for the last few years with Pig, Mandy, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. The other reason is working with extraordinary talents who are not afraid to experiment.
"That was the deal, that I was always going to go back to the well of independent drama, my roots," Cage said. "With the bigger movies, there’s too many cooks in the kitchen, too many people giving you notes. But with an experience like Dream Scenario, I’m with my director and we have the floor and we’re experimenting together. It’s important to have that intimacy to get to the really truthful expression of film performance. That’s harder to do on a big movie."
When working with new talent, Cage says he is grateful to work with a different generationthat respects his talent, is willing to try new things, and "haven't had their dreams whipped out of them yet."
"They’re still full of potential and imagination of what they can accomplish, and that keeps me fertile," Cage says.
It's no suprise that Cage's four other favorite scripts, (Leaving Las Vegas, Raising Arizona, Vampire's Kiss, and Adapation) are also indie films that come from some of the greatest filmmakers in modern cinema.
Source: The New York Times
- Has the Three-Act Structure Destroyed Indie Film? ›
- Learn How to Become the "Total Filmmaker" from Nic Cage and John Carpenter ›
