Dream Scenario

2023 film by Kristoffer Borgli

Dream Scenario

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Kristoffer Borgli
Written by| Kristoffer Borgli
Produced by|

* Lars Knudsen
* Ari Aster
* Tyler Campellone
* Jacob Jaffke
* Nicolas Cage

Starring|

* Nicolas Cage
* Julianne Nicholson
* Michael Cera
* Tim Meadows
* Dylan Gelula
* Dylan Baker

Cinematography| Benjamin Loeb
Edited by| Kristoffer Borgli
Music by| Owen Pallett

Production
companies

* A24
* Square Peg
* Saturn Films

Distributed by| A24

Release dates

* September 9, 2023 (2023-09-09) (TIFF)
* November 10, 2023 (2023-11-10) (United States)

Running time

| 102 minutes[1]
Country| United States
Language| English
Box office| $12.4 million[2]

Dream Scenario is a 2023 American satirical comedy-drama film written, directed and edited by Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli. It is produced by Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen under their Square Peg banner, alongside Nicolas Cage, Jacob Jaffke, and Tyler Campellone. It stars Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, and Dylan Baker. Cage plays Paul Matthews, a mild-mannered evolutionary biology professor who begins appearing in the dreams of others.

Dream Scenario premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2023, and began a limited theatrical release by A24 on November 10, 2023, before expanding on November 22. It received positive reviews from critics and was nominated for awards including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Cage.

## Plot

[edit]

Sophie, a teenage girl, has a dream in which a man is raking leaves by a swimming pool. As Sophie starts floating up to the sky, she cries for help from this man whom she calls Dad. Her father, Paul Matthews, is a professor of evolutionary biology at a local university.

When Paul learns 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 recognize Paul from their dreams. While Paul enjoys the media coverage this brings, he is frustrated by his depiction in the dreams as passive and uninteresting. In impromptu interviews with some of his students, Paul learns that in the dreams, oftentimes calamity occurs or the dreamers ask for help, but Paul is passive or emotionless and does not intervene.

Paul's wife, Janet, asks why he does not appear in her dreams. She describes her fantasy: Paul rescues her while wearing the oversized suit worn by David Byrne in the 1984 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, hoping to get a book deal, but they attempt to convince him to advertise Sprite on social media. After a beautiful young assistant at the firm, Molly, tells him about her erotic dreams about him, he attempts to reenact them for her but suffers premature ejaculation and leaves, humiliated.

Paul is enraged to learn that the former colleague has published a high-profile paper on the subject he was thinking of writing his book about. His presence in people's dreams becomes violent and sadistic, and he becomes vilified. He is placed on leave after students refuse to attend his classes. Bystanders begin to notice Paul in public and are bothered by his presence, resulting in a brawl in a diner. After Janet's career is affected, she asks Paul to issue a public apology, but he angrily refuses.

After Paul has a nightmare in which he is hunted and killed by a version of himself wielding a crossbow, he 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. He becomes further vilified.

Sometime later, the dreams have stopped. Paul's dream experience led to the discovery of a shared subconsciousness, 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. He learns it has been retitled Je suis ton cauchemar ("I Am Your Nightmare") without his consent, that the book is pitifully thin in the translated volume, and that 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 attempt to enter one of Janet's dreams and rescue her while wearing the Byrne suit. As he floats away, much like how Sophie did in the very first dream, Paul declares that he wishes the dream were reality.

## Cast

[edit]

* Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews, a college professor[3]
* Julianne Nicholson as Janet Matthews, Paul's wife
* Michael Cera as Trent, the head of a viral marketing firm
* Tim Meadows as Brett, the dean of Paul’s college
* Dylan Gelula as Molly, Trent's assistant
* Dylan Baker as Richard, a colleague of Paul
* Kate Berlant as Mary, Trent's business partner
* Marnie McPhail as Claire, a journalist and Paul’s ex-girlfriend
* Lily Bird as Sophie Matthews, Paul's daughter
* Jessica Clement as Hannah Matthews, Paul's daughter
* David Klein as Andy, Paul's student
* Cara Volchoff as Candice, a therapist
* Noah Centineo as Dylan
* Nicholas Braun as Brian Berg
* Amber Midthunder as Haley
* Lily Gao as Realtor

## Production

[edit]

A24 announced the film in August 2022,[4] with Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Kate Berlant, Dylan Baker and Dylan Gelula to be included in the cast.[5]

Principal photography commenced in Toronto in October 2022 and wrapped that November.[6][7]

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.[8]

## Release

[edit]

Dream Scenario premiering at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival

Dream Scenario premiered as the opening film in the Platform Prize program at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2023.[9][10][11] A24 distributed it in the United States with a limited release on November 10, 2023, followed by an expanded release on November 22.[12][5] Distribution in Canada, New Zealand and Australia was handled by VVS Films.[13]

## Reception

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 233 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Come to Dream Scenario for career-highlight work from Nicolas Cage—and leave mulling over everything it has to say about pop culture's fickle whims."[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[15]

Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal called the film "a bold statement that is bound to make a name" for Borgli.[16] Peter Bradshaw, in his review of the film in The Guardian, called it "very enjoyable" and a "smart film about the uncanny experience of fame."[17] Peter Debruge of Variety noted that "Borgli shoots the dreams no different from the waking moments, creating a kind of mind game for audiences, who must determine at any given moment whether the scene in question is real or imagined."[18]

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."[19]

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."[20]

Filmmakers Joe Dante, Chloe Domont, Chad Hartigan, Matt Johnson and Karyn Kusama all cited Dream Scenario as among their favorite films of 2023.[21]

## Accolades

[edit]

Awards and nominations for Dream Scenario Award  | Date of ceremony  | Category  | Nominee(s)  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

Critics' Choice Super Awards | April 4, 2024 | Best Actor in a Horror Movie  | Nicolas Cage | Won  | [22]
Golden Globe Awards | January 7, 2024 | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Nominated  | [23]
Satellite Awards | February 18, 2024 | Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical | Dream Scenario | Nominated  | [24]
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical | Nicolas Cage  | Nominated
Saturn Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Independent Film | Dream Scenario | Nominated  | [25]
Best Actor in a Film | Nicolas Cage  | Won

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Dream Scenario (15)". BBFC. October 31, 2023. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
2. ^ "Dream Scenario (2023)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
3. ^ "One Pager" (PDF). A24 Press. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 10, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
4. ^ Kroll, Justin (August 30, 2022). "Nicolas Cage To Star In A24 Comedy 'Dream Scenario' With Ari Aster Producing". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 24, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
5. ^ a b D’Alessandro, Anthony (August 14, 2023). "A24's TIFF Nicolas Cage Comedy 'Dream Scenario' Sets Fall Release". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 29, 2023. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
6. ^ Atad, Corey (November 1, 2022). "Nicolas Cage Goes Bald For New Comedy Shoot In Toronto". ET Canada. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
7. ^ Harris, Peter (November 18, 2022). "Oscar winner Nicolas Cage finds filmmaker dreams in Aldershot - Ontario News". Canada Today. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
8. ^ IMDb: Dream Scenario-Technical Specifications
9. ^ Hazelton, John (August 2, 2023). "Toronto unveils 2023 Platform line-up; 'Dream Scenario' with Nicolas Cage to open". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on August 8, 2023. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
10. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 2, 2023). "TIFF Platform Lineup Includes Nicolas Cage Comedy 'Dream Scenario' On Opening Night; Barry Jenkins, Nadine Labaki & Anthony Shim To Serve On Sidebar Jury". Deadline. Archived from the original on August 4, 2023. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
11. ^ "Dream Scenario". TIFF. Archived from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
12. ^ Welk, Brian (August 30, 2022). "Nicolas Cage to Star in Comedy Dream Scenario for A24". The Wrap. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
13. ^ Frater, Patrick (October 18, 2023). "Canada Distributor VVS Films Expands to Australia, New Zealand With Nicolas Cage's 'Dream Scenario' Set as Debut (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
14. ^ "Dream Scenario". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
15. ^ "Dream Scenario". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved November 19, 2023.
16. ^ Smith, Kyle (November 9, 2023). "'Dream Scenario' Review: Nicolas Cage in a Fable of Fame". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
17. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (November 10, 2023). "Dream Scenario review – Nicolas Cage's Nicolas Cagiest performance yet in viral fame comedy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
18. ^ Debruge, Peter (September 10, 2023). "'Dream Scenario' Review: In a Career of More Than 100 Credits, This Nightmare Ranks Among Nicolas Cage's Best". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
19. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (November 9, 2023). "'Dream Scenario' Review: Space Invader". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
20. ^ Hornaday, Ann (November 15, 2023). "In 'Dream Scenario,' Nicholas Cage is the man of everyone's dreams". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 11, 2025.
21. ^ "38 Directors Pick Their Favorite Films of 2023". IndieWire. December 31, 2023.
22. ^ "Nominations announced for the Critics Choice Association's 4th Annual "Critics Choice Super Awards" honoring Superhero, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Horror, and Action Movies and Series". Critics Choice Association. March 7, 2024. Archived from the original on March 7, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
23. ^ "Golden Globe Awards: The 2024 nominations in full". December 11, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
24. ^ IPA (December 18, 2023). "IPA Reveals Nominations for the 28th Satellite™ Awards | International Press Academy". Retrieved December 31, 2023.
25. ^ Hipes, Patrick (December 5, 2024). "'Dune: Part Two', 'Fallout' Lead Saturn Awards Nominations". Deadline. Retrieved December 6, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Dream Scenario at IMDb
* Dream Scenario at Rotten Tomatoes

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* France
* BnF data
* Poland