Nicolas Cage Says He “Didn’t Get Into Movies to Be a Meme”

Nicolas Cage may have found himself at the center of viral memes that constantly flood social media, but that was never his intention.

In a recent interview with The guardto promote A24’s upcoming film Dream scenariothe Oscar-winning actor admitted that he initially “didn’t understand how to process what was happening” with all the memes and video mashups of him and the characters he’d played for projects.

“I started acting because film performance touched me more than any other art form. I didn’t get into movies to become a meme. That was new. “I made friends with it, but it was an adjustment,” he said. “I thought maybe they would force someone to go back and watch the movies. But I had no control over it. The same thing happens with Paul in it Dream scenario: he has no control over this inexplicable phenomenon.”

The Kristoffer Borgli-directed film follows Paul Matthews, a down-on-his-luck family man who finds his life turned upside down when he starts appearing in the dreams of millions of strangers. But his newfound fame becomes complicated when the dreams turn into nightmares.

Earlier in the interview, Cage said he believes he may have been “the first actor to go through a kind of meme-ification,” which was difficult for him to understand.

“One person had chosen from all these different movies where I had a meltdown, but without any regard for how the character got to that place,” says the Renveld actor remembered one of the video compilations he saw. “I was frustrated because I didn’t know what else people were getting out of the movies.”

Cage also recently made headlines for his thoughts on the use of artificial intelligence in films. “AI is a nightmare for me,” he said Yahoo! Entertainment. “It’s inhumane. You can’t be more inhumane than artificial intelligence… I would be very unhappy if people took my art… and appropriated it.”

He also noted that his brief cameo in Warner Bros.’ The flash was very different from what he actually shot for the film.

“Going into the picture, I was fighting a giant spider,” Cage explained. “I didn’t do that. That wasn’t what I did.”

Dream scenario can be seen in cinemas from November 10.