Dream Scenario

What if an ordinary man starts to appear in the dreams of millions of people? Such an interesting premise. It could have been a masterpiece like ‘Groundhog Day’ if only Kristoffer Borgli had handled the character’s transformation better and hadn’t rushed the ending. Still, it’s brilliant.

I can’t help but wonder how it would turn out if Charlie Kaufman were to rewrite ‘Dream Scenario.’ I have a feeling that he could instantly improve it since this story reminds me of his material. He might delve deeper into exploring collective consciousness, rather than focusing on astral projection and marketing as Borgli did in the second half of the film.

Anyway, Borgli tells how he came with the idea for the story: “I was writing it at the beginning of 2020, at the same time as there was a global pandemic ramping up, which felt uncanny and strange because I was writing about a dream pandemic. I was thinking about massive cultural response to a phenomenon, and here it was, happening at the same time, in a very physical way. But the very first seed of the idea came from the character. I was thinking about a middle-aged academic who felt entitled to recognition for work he hadn’t even done. I thought that was a funny character, but I didn’t know what to do with that. I didn’t have a story. I was reading about the collective unconscious, the Carl Jung idea of how we are metaphysically linked in a cosmic way, and it felt like a high-concept horror movie. I wanted to rip that idea out of the genre that it belonged to and place it somewhere where it didn’t belong: in the hands of a suburban American dad.” (Why ‘Dream Scenario’ Director Kristoffer Borgli Dreamed of Nicolas Cage With K-Pop Hair | GQ

“Why do zebras have black and white stripes? In order to better its chances for survival, the zebra doesn’t need to blend in with the landscape, just with the herd. Predators won’t attack a whole herd. As long as a zebra matches the herd, and doesn’t stray away and call attention to itself, it’s relatively safe.” Telling all these and making that ordinary man look like a zebra with window shades? Come to me with those more, please!