Art imitating life, kind of, in a comical way

... not the commentary on celebrity life/cancel culture...

I actually had longtime coworker/friend, who, after years of working together revealed she has a legit phobia related to Nicolas Cage. Just seeing a picture of him causes intense fear in her.
I watched most of the movie without making the connection until [Spoilers]


everybody was having nightmares, and the students went to a group therapist session, and took off when he got close to them.

I felt like I was seeing a cinematic representation of my friend's phobia. I kind of questioned whether the film would be therapeutic to her, but I'm pretty sure it would just be traumatic.