Unpacking claim 1998 movie ‘Snake Eyes’ starring Nicolas Cage predicted Charlie Kirk’s death

In the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10, 2025, a number of theories emerged across social media regarding his death. One of them suggested that the 1998 movie “Snake Eyes,” directed by Brian De Palma and starring Nicolas Cage, predicted the event.

One Facebook post (archived) pointed to supposed similarities such as the character Charles Kirkland being shot in the neck during a boxing match, the involvement of a boxer whose name partly resembled that of Kirk’s suspected killer and a date that allegedly matched that of the real-world assassination.

Similar theories spread on social media platforms including Reddit, TikTok and Facebook. Snopes’ readers turned to our site to verify the claim.

But there was no tangible evidence the film “Snake Eyes” predicted Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10, 2025. While the movie included some similarities to Kirk’s killing, such as a character named Charles Kirkland being shot in the neck, key details remained significantly different. For instance, the movie’s fictional assassination took place on Sept. 19, not Sept. 10, as some claimed. There was also no evidence that the suspect in Kirk’s assassination was inspired by the film, as some social media posts suggested.

What’s similar and what’s different

Some of the speculation about “Snake Eyes” was based on real parallels between the film and the killing of Kirk. For instance, in the movie, the victim’s name, Charles Kirkland, resembled Kirk’s. Like Kirk, the film’s Kirkland is shot in the neck. Additionally, one of the characters involved in the conspiracy is a boxer named Lincoln Tyler. Some users pointed out that character’s last name was the same as the first name of the suspect in Kirk’s killing, Tyler Robinson.

Some social media users also pointed to a fictional Hurricane Jezebel mentioned in the film, drawing a connection to the website Jezebel, which published a satirical article about paying witches to curse Kirk two days before Kirk’s assassination. As with other supposed parallels, this connection appeared to be purely coincidental.

In another example, multiple posts claimed the assassination in the movie occurred on Sept. 10, the same day as Charlie Kirk’s death in 2025. However, that was inaccurate. The movie included a poster showing the date “September 19th,” not “September 10th” (see image below).

(YouTube user @jazzblueszeitgeist7304)

The confusion may have stemmed from the poor video quality of versions of the movie available online, in which the number “19” could appear distorted or resemble “10,” especially in low resolution. Additionally, the poster in the film listed the event time as 10 p.m. ET, whereas Kirk’s assassination occurred at 12:20 p.m. MT (2:20 p.m. ET).

Another difference was that the Kirkland character was the U.S. Secretary of Defense in the film, while Kirk was a political commentator with no government position. Additionally, the fictional shooting happened during a boxing match, not in a setting similar to Kirk’s assassination, which occurred at an outdoor event on a university campus.

In the film, the investigation revealed a coordinated conspiracy involving multiple people in the plot to assassinate Kirkland. In contrast, as of this writing, authorities have identified only a single suspect in Kirk’s killing, with no evidence of a broader conspiracy. (Authorities reportedly detained two other people but later determined they were not involved in the killing.)

All in all, it’s true that the movie “Snake Eyes” includes a character named Charles Kirkland who is shot in the neck, similar to how Charlie Kirk was killed, and that a character involved in the film’s central murder shares part of his name with the suspect in the Kirk killing. However, viral posts exaggerated the connection by falsely claiming the film’s assassination took place on Sept. 10 (it was actually Sept. 19) and by ignoring other differences in the plot.

Finally, there was no evidence that Kirk’s suspected killer was inspired by, or even aware of, the movie “Snake Eyes.” Law enforcement sources have not referenced the film in their investigation, and no manifestos, statements or materials connecting the suspect to the movie have been reported as of this writing.

We’ve investigated numerous alleged predictions in the past. For instance, in July 2025 we looked at claims that animated show “The Simpsons” predicted a scandal in which a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert allegedly caught a tech CEO cheating with the company’s chief people officer.