CWhat would happen if an ordinary man entered the dreams of millions of people, first as a peaceful figure, then as a threat? This absurd premise is the basis of Dream Scenario – Have you ever dreamed of this man?film starring Nicolas Cage. A ruthless satire that spares no one, on air tonight on Rai 4 at 9.20pm.
Dream Scenario on Rai 4 and RaiPlay, plot and cast of the film on TV tonight 17 December
Paul Matthews is a full professor of biologyfrustrated by not having any recognition and unable to keep his family together. He has been planning to publish his book for some time, but he hasn’t started writing it yet, and other colleagues are stealing his ideas. One beautiful day, suddenly, he begins to appear in the dreams of many people, who begin to recognize him.
Paul thus becomes a viral case, an opportunity to emerge from anonymity, finally feel important and receive indecent proposals. However, fame soon turns into hatred, when man begins to become a dangerous element in the dream dimension.
The review of Dream ScenarioI
Dream Scenario tells the story of a rapid rise followed by an equally rapid descent, depending on the perception of the community, online and otherwise. The latter takes little to transform an ordinary man into a star and just as much to make him an outcast. The target of the film is therefore cancel culture, which condemns without a court, and the ease in making any story become a viral story. But even the protagonist himself does not go unscathed, interested only in his own gain and incapable of learning anything from what happens to him.
In a fantastic setting, very concrete and current themes emerge, told with grotesque tones and eccentric characters (such as that of an entrepreneur eager to commercially exploit the man’s fame in the most unlikely ways). Director Kristoffer Borgli inserts disturbing elements into the staging (for example crooked angles of the shots), which could suggest a horror atmosphere but which instead slip into more immediate comic situations. Direct in its speech and very focused, the film leaves its mark and a sense of strong bitterness, behind the laughter.
The true story behind the film
Although unofficially, the plot of the film is inspired by the urban legend of‘man of dreams. In January 2006, the patient of a well-known New York psychiatrist, Andrea Natella, drew a portrait of a man who appeared in her dreams, and who she swore she didn’t know.. The psychiatrist then spread the portrait among his other patients and then publicly: with many people from all over the globe swearing to have met him in their dreams.
Nicolas Cage in “Dream Scenario”
A site is therefore created, where anyone with information, or who has seen the man, is asked to contact the sociologist, and to spread the portrait to reach as many people as possible. The operation achieved great success and media coverage, until 2010Natella reveals that it was actually a viral marketing move for a film that was being made but never completed.
The cast
Absolute star performer Dream Scenario And Nicolas Cage, an actor now subscribed to eccentric roles, often a source of memes online, in tune with the protagonist of the film. We recently saw it in The talent of Mr. C, where he plays himself, and then in horror Longlegswhere he plays the role of a ruthless killer. Playing Paul’s wife we find Julianne Nicholson (Operation Revenge); Michael Cera, Tim Meadows and Dylan Baker also complete the cast.
The director of the film, Kristoffer Borgli, also deserves a few lines. Of Norwegian origin, in 2022 he creates the black comedy Sick of Myselfwith which you earn your ticket to Hollywood. Next March he will return to the big screen with TheDrama, new bizarre comedy, this time with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, which promises to be one of the most talked about films of 2026.