Dream Scenario and Postcinematic Celebrity

FQ columnist Caetlin Benson-Allott turns the spotlight on Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, whose films ask what it means to want attention and be subject to unwanted attention in the era of social media and viral fame. His most recent film, Dream Scenario (2023), is the third in a series of films that “interrogate twenty-first-century celebrity—the forms of social, cultural, and financial capital it generates and the rules that (fail to) govern it.” In Dream Scenario, Borgli makes good use of the US star system, exploiting the contrasting filmic reputations of his leading actors Nicholas Cage and Julianne Nicholson to add depth to his critique of postcinematic celebrity culture.