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In Nicolas Cage's delightful new slasher Willy's Wonderland he plays the Janitor, a protagonist who doesn't speak at all during its entire run time. Somewhat inspired by the video game Five Nights at Freddy's, Willy's Wonderland sees Cage's character tasked with cleaning the abandoned, titular restaurant where the animatronics come to life and kill whoever is trapped inside. Meanwhile, a group of teenagers led by Liv (Emily Tosta) tries to end the animatronic reign of terror once and for all.

The Janitor in Willy's Wonderland is a mysterious character who the audience gets to know very little about. Along with not talking he's given no backstory, and viewers can only extrapolate his history. It's known that he drives a nice car, consumes a lot of energy drinks, is a miracle worker of a cleaner and is apparently unbothered by the existence of murderous animatronics.

It's an interesting choice for Cage to not speak for Willy's Wonderland's runtime, and writer G.O. Parsons originally penned the script with no dialogue for the character as he imagined a no-budget version where he would play the role. Still, Cage's Willy's Wonderland performance pulls from two main inspirations, with the first being the archetypal wanderer and the second being the silent video game protagonist. The wanderer travels from town to town getting into trouble and solving the local's problems before riding off into the sunset again. Notable genre examples include Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo or westerns like Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name" trilogy starring Clint Eastwood.

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The beginning of Willy's Wonderland borrows heavily from western aesthetics. The town of Hayesville, Nevada is small, isolated and run down. The outdoor scenes are sunbaked and those who run the town are crooked. Like most western heroes Nic Cage's character doesn't say much, but his actions speak loud and clear. He silently fulfills his end of the bargain and cleans the disgusting restaurant, showing his unique sense of honor. If he is given a task he completes it and he's so focused on cleaning up Willy's Wonderland that even killer animatronics won't keep stop him.

The other inspiration is likely the silent video game protagonist. Since games are not yet at a place where players can speak through their characters when interacting with NPCs, the only options are either scripted responses or a dialogue tree. To get around this, designers often just make their protagonists silent. Willy's Wonderland is heavily inspired by the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, which also features a silent character facing off against evil animatronics in a restaurant with a horrifying history.

There are lots of little nods to games throughout too; the opening credits are 8-bit, and Cage's regularly consumed cans of Punch Soda act like powerups. He always drinks them before fighting and his pinball breaks resemble the mini-games that can be played after dying in Five Nights at Freddy's. Even without dialogue, Cage's performance in Willy's Wonderland is a delight. He may not talk, but his blasé behavior is so bizarre audiences can't help but be sucked in. When he rides off to the sunset like a cowboy, it becomes clear that the world may never know... at least until the sequel.