Nicolas Cage is Dracula—but RENFIELD is “Really Nicholas Hoult’s movie”
Cage says he especially borrowed from one legendary Dracula for his version in RENFIELD.
Coming soon to theaters, horror comedy movie Renfield finds Count Dracula’s manservant taking on a new perspective in modern-day New Orleans—even attending a support group—-when he falls in love with a traffic cop. Scheduled to be released April 14, 2023, Renfield stars Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies and X-Men: First Class) as R.M. Renfield, the long-suffering servant of Dracula. Nicolas Cage portrays the legendary vampire Count Dracula, who is Renfield’s irascible boss. Awkwafina plays touchy traffic cop Rebecca Quincy, who is Renfield’s love-interest.
You can find out more about the movie here or scroll down for interview quotes and videos about the movie.
In an interview with Collider, Cage talked about the process of channeling classic Dracula films (especially Christopher Lee’s portrayal) to create his role in Renfield. But he was also clear that he was not the star of the movie:
“Well, first of all, I don’t know how you say no to Dracula, but two things come to mind. One, he’s a character that’s been done well many times and then been done poorly many times. So you want to be on the side of doing something well. And also you want to be on the side of doing something fresh and something that pops.
“To me, because the movie’s really not about me, Dracula rather, I don’t have a lot of screen time. It’s really Nick Hoult’s movie, and it’s about Renfield. I didn’t have the time, like the two-hour narrative to really dig deep into Dracula’s pathos per se. It’s not that. But I did have enough screen time to be able to try to develop a pop-art style to the character that hopefully will be a nice contribution to the other performers that have done it, that have had their take on this legendary character in both literature and cinema.”
Related: Find the latest Monster Complex articles about VAMPIRE FICTION here!
Nicolas Cage Channeled This Legendary Dracula for His Renfield Performance
In his interview with Collider’s editor-in-chief Steve Weintraub, Cage spoke about his personal approach to his Renfield role, which is a character that has been played so many times by all sorts of actors in several different genres. During the conversation, Cage revealed that there was no better influence than one of the most revered in cinema history: Christopher Lee in the Hammer Horror films that started in the late 50s.
Cage also revealed that his Dracula is hardly a solo creation:
“Well, I had a lot of help. There were a ton of super-talented people on that movie that helped design the look. We wanted it to be more homage, more Christopher Lee. I favored Christopher Lee as Dracula and I liked his kind of sixties hairdo, but the wardrobe, the costume, and no, I didn't come up with the idea for the rings. That all came out of a wardrobe. They came in with all that. Maybe they sent something in me that I would like that, but that was really their contribution.”
Universal Monsters revisits the Dracula films from a different—and hilarious—angle.
The upcoming horror comedy movie Renfield finds Count Dracula’s manservant taking on a new perspective in modern-day New Orleans—even attending a support group—-when he falls in love with a traffic cop. (Thanks to the trailer—which you can watch below—the film looks amazing.) The movie, based on an original idea by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, is directed by Chris McKay from a screenplay by Ryan Ridley.
Renfield | Official Trailer | Universal Pictures
JoBlo says that Kirkman talked about Renfield with Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin’s podcast Fatman Beyond. “We’re doing this cool movie for Universal that's a focus on Renfield. It’s a story about him being Dracula's henchman and how shitty a job that is. It’s a fun, extremely violent comedy, because I’ve got a crutch and it’s violence.” (Renfield movie will be a fun, extremely violent comedy, says Robert Kirkman)
Renfield stars Hoult, Cage and Awkwafina are joined by Ben Schwartz as a mob enforcer, Adrian Martinez as another traffic cop and Quincy’s co-worker, Shohreh Aghdashloo as a mob boss, Bess Rous as a support group member, and Brandon Scott Jones as a support group leader.