Nicolas Cage to Portray Dracula in Universal's 'Renfield' Movie
Cue the Nicolas Cage vampire memes again.
The Oscar winning actor and cult icon has landed his first major studio role in over a decade and it’s a role fans will no doubt be excited to sink his teeth into. Cage will be playing the legendary Count Dracula in Universal’s monster movie “Renfield”, the studio’s latest attempt to mine their trove of monsters. Nicholas Hoult will play the title character, the unhinged henchman to the legendary vampire and Chris McKay (“The Tomorrow War”) is the director.
“Renfield” is expected to be an origin film set in the present day yet still remain faithful to Bram Stoker’s classic novel. For those unfamiliar with the character of R.M Renfield, he was a mental asylum patient in the Dracula novel that has an obsession with eating live creatures and drinking their blood in the hopes of gaining immortality. The relationship between the characters was very much a toxic master vs. servant relationship with Dracula being the dominant leader and Renfield being the obedient worker pleasing his master to avoid punishment.
The film marks one of many horror movies in development at Universal that reimagines the studio’s library of classic monsters for new generation of horror fans. Their attempt at starting a big budget universe flopped with 2017’s “The Mummy” forcing Universal to drop the idea of having a Marvel like interconnected franchise and instead go for a more modestly budgeted approach giving filmmakers who know the genre the ability to make standalone features with a unique vision. This approach succeeded with Leigh Whannell’s “The Invisible Man” which grossed an excellent $143 million worldwide on a mere $7 million budget. Other monster movies in development include “The Invisible Woman” from Elizabeth Banks and Derek Cianfrance’s “The Wolfman” which is set to star Ryan Gosling.
Cage’s casting comes at a unique time in the star’s career. Having gotten his start in the 80s in quirky movies like “Birdy”, “Raising Arizona” and “Moonstruck”, he hit the mainstream in 1995 with “Leaving Las Vegas” which earned him the Oscar for Best Actor. This success elevated Cage into the A-list as he spent the next several years balancing blockbusters like “The Rock”, “Face/Off and the “National Treasure” movies with more personal dramas like “Bringing Out the Dead”, “Adaptation” and “Lord of War”. After a career slump and financial woes that haunted him for almost a decade, Cage has reinvented himself by ditching tentpoles and returning to his indie roots that give him the freedom to stretch his acting skills. This approach has seen him earn awards buzz this year for his performance in "Pig” and he will next be seen playing a fictionalized version of himself in “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”, due out in April.
“Renfield” is clearly shaping up to be an important project for Universal and getting an actor of Cage’s caliber who has a huge following is certainly the right approach to get audiences excited. With the tone expected to be comedic, there should be plenty of opportunities for both Cage and Hoult to be over the top yet stay true to their respective characters’ origins. As production gears up for “Renfield”, this will no doubt be a project fans will be keeping an eye on.