10 Actors Who Just Gave Their Best Performance Ever

Nicolas Cage has had something of a renaissance this past half decade, starring in as wide a variety of films as ever, and turning in performances that both affirm and totally defy fans' expectations of him. Enter Dream Scenario, where he manages to run the gamut in a single film.

Kristoffer Borgli's follow-up to masterful influencer satire Sick of Myself has Nicolas Cage in post as Paul Matthews, a neurotic but decidedly safe and all-but invisible biology professor whose skin is thin and achievements are few. His life takes a sharp left turn when people start seeing him in their dreams all over the world, shooting him to immediate and unearned global fame as he goes viral via his uncontrollable night-time adventures.

It's a big-budget, action-horror premise worked into a lower-budget, indie black comedy, and, as it turns out, Cage (a some-time darling of both worlds) is the only man for the job.

The beard and bald pate go some way to ensuring our immersion, but this is far from the first time Cage has undergone a significant physical change for a role. No, the power of his performance in Dream Scenario seems to stem from a comprehensive understanding of himself as an actor. He has always known the memes, he has frequently understood the appeal of Cage Rage, and he has occasionally known when to play things straight, but only here has he fully mastered all the different sides of Nicolas Cage and put them to their full, uncompromised use.