Haissam and Layla Yahya’s pet cat Simba was not ready for her close-up.
Last weekend, the two siblings from Lebanon spent about an hour and a half maneuvering their 1-year-old kitten into scenes from films like American Beauty, Titanic, and Psycho.
“He hated every second of it, scratched at every occasion and was hissing whenever the camera got too close,” Haissam told the Daily Dot in an email. “He still loves us though, as he got lots of treats afterwards.”
The temporary discomfort paid off, especially on Reddit.
In what can be considered a “cake day perfect storm,” Haissam posted the photos on the social news site Monday morning on his one-year anniversary since joining Reddit. The four photos reached Reddit’s front page, where Simba was crowned king.
“I’m going to recreate classic movie scenes with little cat-shaped lego pieces,” commented bunglejerry in reference to another redditor who used Legos to recreate similar movie scenes.
“In the ‘American Beauty’ one, I can’t tell if the cat is thinking ‘fuck you, die’ or ‘come hither, bitch,’” BoltInMyHead commented.
The photos were created for Layla’s high-school art project. She is attending Ontario College of Art and Design in the fall.
The siblings are working on more famous movie scenes, including some from The Lord of the Rings, Layla said. But in the meantime, the duo are enjoying all the Reddit karma.
“That was one of the best surprises I’ve had on Reddit thus far,” Haissam said.
“I’ve actually enjoyed my Reddit cake day almost as much as I enjoyed my actual birthday, and I had a pretty good birthday! All the suggestions were very clever, some were pure genius.”
Photos by Haissam and Layla Yahya