Julianne Nicholson shares how she relates to her role in 'Dream Scenario'

WASHINGTON: American actor Julianne Nicholson’s psychedelic new film ‘Dream Scenario’ was inspired by personal experience. The A24 comedy, from Norwegian writer-director Kristoffer Borgli, stars Nicolas Cage as an ordinary man who for no discernible reason begins appearing in multiple people’s dreams, reported People.

“I do have scary acting dreams,” Nicholson, 52, told People when asked whether her own snoozes helped her prepare to play Janet, wife to Cage’s hapless Paul.

“Mostly I have recurring anxiety dreams [where I’m] right about to go on stage,” she recalls, “or about to film a scene, and you don’t know what the scene is!”

That “worst-case scenario” that plays out in her head while asleep speaks to deeper fears most performers can relate to, says the Emmy-winning ‘Mare of Easttown’ star. “I guess it’s just fear of not being prepared, not doing your work, not giving enough.”

Nicholson has provided more than enough as an actor, from outstanding work on the small screen in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Masters of Sex, and others to scene-stealing performances on the big screen, including last year’s Blonde and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

According to People, the Massachusetts-born actress and former model will next appear in A24’s Janet Planet and is currently filming the BBC series Dope Girls in London, where she lives with her husband, actor Jonathan Cake, and their teenaged son and daughter.

Did Dream Scenario cause her to have any dreams featuring Cage, as in the movie itself? “I guess daydreaming about him,” she says with a laugh. “He definitely pops up in my mind regularly.”

Nicholson has “loved Nicholas Cage forever,” praising his performances in Raising Arizona, Adaptation, and Moonstruck. “He’s endlessly watchable and interesting to me.” You never know how he’ll deliver a phrase or how he’ll put things together, and I adore that. It feels great to be surprised by someone.”

That was true “every day, face to face” on the set of Dream Scenario, she adds; even when playing a meek biology professor, Cage can keep costars on their toes. “It’s very exciting to know that you have to pay attention.”

Cage’s Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of Paul is effective because the resulting “wackiness,” as Nicholson describes it, originates from his and Janet’s “normal working longterm relationship.”

“I think we were both surprised by how much feeling came up in [filming] that, and it was really lovely to have that experience with him.”

Nicholson continues to be impressed by Cage’s ability to reinvent himself from project to project throughout the course of his long career.

Playing Dream Scenario’s unassuming family man — particularly after playing a mysterious kidnapper in the thriller Sympathy for the Devil, a wacky Dracula in Renfield and himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent — is “just the name of the game for him,” she says.

“He takes the work so seriously, but he still has a sense of humor about himself, and I find that a very charming combination.”

At the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Dream Scenario in September, Cage also reflected on his own dreams.

“I always like it when my father shows up,” the Oscar winner told People of the late August Coppola. “I haven’t seen him in person since he passed on. So when he shows up, that’s always a good thing.”

‘Dream Scenario’, costarring Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula and Dylan Baker, is out now, reported People.