In the days following the tragic assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, an unexpected topic began trending online: the 1998 political thriller Snake Eyes starring Nicolas Cage. The resurgence of this Brian De Palma film isn’t fueled by a critical reappraisal or a new director’s cut. Instead, social media users have become captivated by a series of eerie and seemingly prophetic similarities between the movie’s plot and the real-world events of Kirk’s death. The internet has been buzzing with theories, turning this decades-old film into a focal point for conspiracy and curiosity.
The parallels, once pointed out, are undeniably striking. From the name of the victim to the specific details of the assassination, the overlap has sparked widespread discussion about whether art can somehow predict life. While authorities have not drawn any connection between the film and the crime, the power of these coincidences has captured the public’s imagination, leading thousands to seek out the movie on streaming platforms to judge for themselves.
The Eerie Parallels Between Film and Reality
The core of the trending phenomenon lies in a handful of specific details that users on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have latched onto. The most immediate similarity is the name. In Snake Eyes, the character who is assassinated is U.S. Secretary of Defense Charles Kirkland. The real-life victim was Charlie Kirk, whose full name is Charles James Kirk. The closeness of “Charles Kirk” and “Charles Kirkland” has been a major point of discussion.
There are NO COINCIDENCES.
The 1998 Movie “Snake Eyes” with actor Nicholas Cage, the politician CHARLES KIRKLAND is shot in the neck.
In the movie, the shooting happens on SEPTEMBER 10th.
Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck, in real life on September 10th.
You just can’t make… pic.twitter.com/zNiqchI4mK
— The SCIF (@TheIntelSCIF) September 24, 2025
The similarities don’t stop there. In the film, Charles Kirkland is shot in the neck during a crowded boxing match. Videos and reports from the September 10th event at Utah Valley University suggest that Charlie Kirk was also shot in the neck. Furthermore, the film features a boxer named Lincoln Tyler who takes a fall, while the man arrested in connection with Kirk’s shooting is named Tyler Robinson. The shared use of “Tyler” has been cited by many as another bizarre link.
Adding more fuel to the speculative fire, users claim the boxing match in Snake Eyes is set on September 10th, the exact date of Kirk’s assassination, though this specific date within the film’s narrative remains unconfirmed by official sources. Other noted connections include the fact that parts of the movie were filmed at the Trump Taj Mahal Hotel & Casino, and one character is reportedly based on Donald Trump, whom Kirk strongly supported. Some have even pointed to a hurricane named “Jezebel” in the film, noting that the blog Jezebel had published an article about Kirk just days before his death.
Predictive Programming or Just a Coincidence?
The reaction online has ranged from stunned disbelief to full-blown conspiracy theorizing. Many users have described the similarities as evidence of “predictive programming,” a conspiracy theory suggesting that powerful elites use media to subconsciously prepare the public for future planned events. Posts with thousands of likes proclaim, “There are no coincidences” and that the event was an “inside job”. Others are simply baffled, with one user commenting, “I was just fresh out of conspiracies last month. now I’m all stocked up for the winter.”
“It’s always in the Movies”
“How did this Movie from 1998 called Snake Eyes predict everything that happened to Charlie Kirk?”
“The guy that gets shot – his name is Charlie Kirkland” pic.twitter.com/PxWLKSeWFL
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) September 25, 2025
However, a closer look introduces strong skepticism. The fictional victim is Charles Kirkland, a high-ranking government official, while Charlie Kirk was a political activist. The context of the assassination, a boxing match in Atlantic City versus a university event in Utah, is also vastly different. It’s also worth noting that Charlie Kirk was just five years old when Snake Eyes was released, which, for many, makes the idea of a deliberate plan implausible. In reality, the film’s director, Brian De Palma, has stated that the assassination scene was inspired by the killing of President John F. Kennedy and the classic film Rashomon, not by any vision of the future.
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The fascination with the film highlights a common human tendency to find patterns and meaning, especially in the wake of traumatic and senseless events. While the parallels are curious, no evidence has been presented by investigating authorities to suggest a link between the film and the crime. For now, the trending status of Snake Eyes serves as a testament to the power of internet folklore and the enduring urge to make sense of tragedy, even if the connections are, in the end, a matter of chance.
