Nicolas Cage is already jokingly seen as an immortal, with the viral photo of his Civil War-era doppelganger making people suspicious. However, it seems like kismet that the eccentric actor portrays one of the most famous vampires ever in Renfield. And as much of a blast as Cage had in portraying him in this movie, the Face/Off actor feels he still has more to explore. Variety is reporting that after playing Count Dracula, Cage would love to do a tried and true Dracula movie.
“You know, there are some minor moments here where you get to see some of the pathos in Dracula’s eyes. That made me think that maybe one day I might like to try for a whole movie where you’re really understanding the psyche of the character. I didn’t really have the time to delve into that here.”
Cage revealed that he took on the supporting role after being a fan of previous incarnations of the Count, including Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, Frank Lengella and of course, Bela Lugosi. “I also kind of always knew I had to do it at some point. I went back to Christopher Lee, in terms of his manner of speaking, but that was really only a starting point. I knew Christopher. I did a small scene with him in ‘Season of the Witch,’ and I liked him very much. We had a lot of nice conversations, and he reminded me quite a bit of my father, August. So from then on, my dad sort of became the main inspiration for me.”
Renfield is a horror comedy that has largely relegated Dracula to the background as the movie focuses more on his servant. The part that the trailer builds up to is the crowd-pleasing reveal of the Count himself. Throughout the trailer, Renfield, played by Nicolas Hoult, is coming forward to a support group about his unhealthy working relationship with Dracula. As Vampires can only be invited in, it spells doom to the members of the group as they tell Dracula to come on in on the meeting.
Renfield is directed by The Lego Batman Movie and The Tomorrow War helmer Chris McKay, and co-stars Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, and Adrian Martinez. Universal is releasing the movie in theaters nationwide on April 14.