Stephen Pretak’s Facebook profile picture has been Photoshopped into famous movie and historical scenes more than 50 times.
Stephen Pretak’s race photo from the a half-marathon looked like the perfect profile picture. At the race, his feet float above the dirt on a single-track trail slicing through flowing wild grass. Pretak’s face appears stoic behind a well-trimmed beard, and his purple shorts billow from the speed of his stride.
Pretak, who’s 31 and ran competitively at school, posted the image to Facebook on February 3. In less than three weeks, his Facebook friends have Photoshopped his profile picture more than 50 times into iconic movie and historical scenes.
“I really cannot believe how much this has snowballed,” Pretak said.
The gag started with Pretak’s real-life and Facebook friend, Zak Leavy, who saw the running photo and immediately thought it looked like the famous meme “Strutting Leo,” in which Leonardo DiCaprio jovially paces toward the camera.
Pretak and DiCaprio
Leavy used his minimal Microsoft Paint skills to mash a crude cutout of DiCaprio next to Pretak. Other friends quickly piled on with the creative edits.
“I guess I am flattered that so many of my friends are taking the time out of their day to do this,” Pretak said. Though he is surprised at the technical proficiency shown by many of the images. “I had no idea so many of my friends were this adept at Photoshop.”
Below is a selection from the growing canon of Photoshopped running Pretaks (all photos courtesy of Stephen Pretak):
He joins marauding pirates in pursuit of Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
Pretak escapes Storm Troopers in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
He rushes through the airport with the McCallister family in Home Alone.
He replaces Godzilla to terrorize a city.
He charges with the Scottish army in Braveheart.
He runs the Philadelphia streets in Rocky.
