Nicolas Cage is an Oscar winner and veteran actor, having starred in some truly brilliant films. Nicolas Cage can also count himself as a viral internet sensation: a meme, if you will, thanks to his reputation for bringing a feverish energy to his best movies.
An incredibly brilliant actor with enormous range, Nic Cage’s acting style is also extremely distinct. His line delivery and physical movement bring a touch of melodrama to all his movies. Whether it’s in his best drama movies or thrillers, whenever he’s on the screen you always know you’re going to be entertained. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, viral compilations of Cage’s over-the-top acting drew him fans from across the internet, making him one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces.
That experience, says Cage, is the reason why he took on the leading role in his new movie: Dream Scenario. Dream Scenario follows Cage’s down-and-out college professor Paul Matthews as he suddenly becomes one of the most famous men in the world after mysteriously appearing in everyone’s dreams. “I felt like I had the life experience,” said Cage at the Toronto International Film Festival, via Deadline.
“I might have been the first actor who woke up one morning and somebody put a montage of me having meltdown moments and freaking out, and cherry-picking from different movies and then put it online, I think it was called Nicolas Cage Loses His Shit,” said the Oscar-winning actor.
Cage continued, “And then it went viral overnight around the world and I kept looking at ‘What is happening to me?’ It kept growing exponentially… [there was ]nothing I could do [to] stop it.” He concluded, “I sat there, and it started going in this meme-ification, with photoshopping and T-shirts, and I said, ‘I gotta put this somewhere, and then I read Dream Scenario and I said ‘Yes, now I can turn this lead into a little bit of gold!’”
Cage’s comments make it clear that he was able to bring plenty of authenticity to the role, relating to his character’s bizarre experience.