A year ago, Nicole Kidman tried to save the films. She had no idea what was coming next.

So how did a commercial made with such sincere intentions by a bunch of top talent, morph into… all of it?

Moussa, the Australian who tweeted about the ad the day it went live, said he initially found the ad “stunning”.

“It was a minute of poetry about the power of film from a woman whose most prominent roles have been on Prestige TV over the past five years. She was all dressed up in that warm but empty theater. Her accent was everywhere; Some Rs were tough, some weren’t,” Moussa said. “It was just so unexpectedly constructed and so inexplicably constructed, but it was built around an actress, so naturally gay people paid attention to it.”

Moussa noted that the commercial is running nationally and in wide distribution to a captive audience, which helps propel the ad into people’s collective consciousness. But he said it’s the ad’s “infinitely online” fans — many of them gay — who’ve done the work over the past year to keep AMC memes flowing on social media.

Ironically, it’s the seriousness of the ad that makes it so silly, believes Gleason, who witnessed the mysterious man salute. “I think it’s Nicole’s seriousness. Everything she says and does is so serious that it almost feels—dare I say—camp?” said Gleason. “And people got into it. She didn’t mean to be funny, but the situation is so dramatic that she’s inherently funny.”

A commercial shot like an action movie with surging orchestral music, featuring Kidman in a glittery silver pantsuit while spouting cheesy lines, was destined to be a camp masterpiece Sam autumnthe creator of The Kid Manifestoa podcast dedicated to discussing Kidman’s “Movies, Wigs, and Accents.”

“There’s something mysterious about Nicole and a kind of sternness that I think is part of what makes the ad so fun,” Herbst said. “For example, there is no real wink in it. It’s a very seriously played commercial when you really think about it. I think it’s very sincere.”

Herbst knew the commercial had reached cult camp status when he found himself alone in an empty movie theater and posted an Instagram story that referenced the Heartbreak line. “If you are a gay person and follow me, dear [emoji] responded, you laughed, but I’ve had several people – mostly straight colleagues – who have DMed me, actually concerned that I’m heartbroken or that I’ve broken up with my partner,” Hernst said. “They were just embarrassed about it and I had to say, ‘Oh no, that’s like a commercial reference,’ which is incredibly embarrassing. and the is camp.”

Central to the ad’s viral success is Kidman’s status as an internet character himself. The actress is decidedly offline, save for an Instagram account that feels mostly curated, but still occupies a somewhat unique online position.

In fact, if you stop and count, there’s a surprising amount of Kidman memes and reaction images that tend to circulate. There’s the one where she awkwardly clap at the Oscars and the one where she looks at the Oscars in shock. There’s the one from The women of Stepford (2004) in which she can hardly contain her pain and the one in which she can hardly contain her joy at the official divorce from Cruise.

Now, with this AMC ad, we have two more: Kidman, who grins devilishly as she wanders the theater halls, and the actor, who looks like a backlit deity as she gazes in awe at something unseen. (This latter reaction shot joins others by Orson Welles and Shia LaBeouf that capture our position as audiences expressing wonder.)

Compared to other A-list actresses, Kidman’s memes aren’t usually about the roles she’s playing — like the frequent GIFs of Meryl Streep, for example The devil Wears Prada (2006) – or because she comes off as a relatable everywoman, like the endless Jennifer Lawrence GIFs that once dominated our timelines. Instead, the Kidman memes hinge more on the notion that their public image is so low-key, distant, and impeccable.

“I think the memes come because it’s kind of like those little cracks in someone’s facade that people want to know more about,” said Herbst, the podcast host.

“I think she’s above the internet too, right? There aren’t many celebrities left who feel like they really exist off the internet,” he said EmersonCollins, an actor based in Los Angeles. “You know they don’t see, you know they don’t know, and there’s something about it that makes it even funnier: you can tell her that and she has no idea what you’re talking about.”

“It’s like we’re all passing a note around under the goddess,” Collins added. (For the record, Kidman appeared to have first been briefed on the ad’s iconic status during an interview with Playlist in January.)