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Dream Scenario is a 2023 American surreal satirical film comedy-drama film written, directed, and edited by Kristoffer Borgli. It stars Nicolas Cage as a mild-mannered university professor whose life is thrown into turmoil when people begin telling him that he keeps appearing in their dreams. Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, and Dylan Baker also star. The film was produced by Ari Aster, Lars Knudsen, Cage, Jacob Jaffke, and Tyler Campellone.
Dream Scenario premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2023, and began a limited theatrical release by A24 on November 10 before expanding on November 22. It grossed $12.4 million at the box office and received positive reviews, being nominated for awards such as a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Cage.
When Paul learns that a former colleague is writing an article on a topic he had discussed with her many years earlier, he seeks to confront her but instead begs her for some recognition. Paul's journalist ex-girlfriend Claire spots him with his wife Janet and tells him he appears in her dreams. With his permission, she writes an article about the experience. Soon, hundreds of strangers come forward to name Paul as the man they see in their dreams. Paul enjoys the media coverage this brings, but is frustrated by consistently being depicted in the dreams as passive and uninteresting. In interviews with some of his students, he learns that their dreams sometimes feature disasters occurring or the dreamers asking Paul for help, only for him to remain emotionless and unhelpful.
Janet asks Paul why he does not appear in her dreams, and describes her fantasy of Paul rescuing her while wearing the oversized suit worn by David Byrne in the 1984 Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. Later that evening, a mentally ill man who has seen Paul in his dreams breaks into their house with a knife, raising concerns about the risks of his fame. Paul meets with a public relations firm in the hopes of securing a book deal, but they instead attempt to convince him to advertise Sprite on social media. Molly, a young assistant at the firm, tells Paul that she has erotic dreams about him; he attempts to re-enact them for her, but prematurely ejaculates and leaves her apartment in shame.
Paul is enraged to learn that his former colleague has published a high-profile paper on the subject about which he was thinking of writing his book. His presence in people's dreams becomes violent and sadistic, and he becomes vilified, being placed on leave after students refuse to attend his classes. Bystanders are bothered by his presence in public, resulting in a brawl at a diner. After Janet's career is affected, she asks Paul to issue a public apology, but he angrily refuses. Paul has a nightmare in which he is hunted and killed by a version of himself wielding a crossbow and subsequently releases a self-pitying apology video. Humiliated, Janet throws him out of the house. Paul forces his way into his daughter's school play but accidentally injures a teacher in the process and is restrained, becoming Cancel culture.
Some time later, Paul ceases to appear in people's dreams. His own dream experience is revealed to have led to the discovery of a shared , and dreams have become an advertising space through the use of technology. Janet is separated from Paul and is dating a co-worker. Paul travels to France for a book tour to promote his book Dream Scenario, which he learns has been retitled Je suis ton cauchemar ( I Am Your Nightmare) without his consent. The book is pitifully thin in the translated volume and his signing event has been moved to the dingy basement of the bookstore. Nevertheless, fans line up for his signed copies. Paul uses "dream travel" technology to enter one of Janet's dreams and rescue her while wearing the oversized suit. As he floats away, much like Sophie did in her first dream, Paul declares that he wishes the dream were reality.
Principal photography commenced in Toronto in October 2022 and wrapped that November.
The movie was shot on analogue 16 mm (Super 16) film with the Arriflex 416 Plus camera before being transferred to a 4k digital intermediate in postproduction. IMDb: Dream Scenario-Technical Specifications
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote that the film is "often funny and frequently surreal" but said that Borgli had "more ideas than space to execute them," leading to a third act that feels "overloaded and indecisive of where it wants to land." Catsoulis also wrote that the erotic scene between Paul and Molly "could make you want to put your eyes out."
Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote that the film was a “clever, adroitly executed taxonomy of contemporary fame.” Yet, Hornaday followed up with some criticism of the film's screenwriting. “The more far-out "Dream Scenario" gets, the more viewers might wish that Borgli would simply keep his focus on the warp and woof of the Matthewses' marriage."
Filmmakers Joe Dante, Chloe Domont, Chad Hartigan, Matt Johnson and Karyn Kusama all cited Dream Scenario as among their favorite films of 2023.
| + Awards and nominations for Dream Scenario ! scope="col" | Award ! scope="col" | Date of ceremony ! scope="col" | Category ! scope="col" | Nominee(s) ! scope="col" | Result ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | |
| Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical | Nicolas Cage | |||||
| Best Actor in a Film | Nicolas Cage | |||||
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