Nicolas Cage could relate to going viral like his character Paul Matthews in 'Dream Scenario'.
The 59-year-old star features in the new movie as a biology professor who attracts attention online after featuring in the dreams of other people and drew parallels with the "memefication" of his acting work.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Nicolas said: "He's going through something that I felt I could relate to. I had gone through something with the internet.
"I might have been the first actor who experienced a kind of memefication where my scenes that were specifically designed to have meltdowns or nervous breakdowns had been cherry picked in such a way that it would just (be) meltdown after meltdown after meltdown without any linear narrative or without any chapter or act to lead up to.
"Then I saw it go viral and I saw it grow exponentially, compounding on itself into memes and t-shirts and what not, and I thought, 'Well, this isn't really why I became an actor. What the heck is going on?' And I couldn't stop it."
Despite the pair's similar experiences of internet popularity, Nicolas drastically changed his appearance to bring his character to life in the comedy film.
The 'Renfield' actor said: "Paul is nothing like me. By design, in terms of the physicality. A lot of thought went into the look, we wanted to – Kristoffer (Borgli), the director and I – wanted to get it as far away from my own so-called presentation, if you will, so you weren't thinking about so-called Nic Cage but that it was Paul Matthews.
"You know, a professor of evolutionary biology who works in a college teaching students. He's an academic, not a movie star. He has no interest in the limelight, has no interest in the spotlight."
Read the full Nicolas Cage interview on the Digital Spy website at https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a45624153/nicolas-cage-dream-scenario/
