If you Google “quirky method actor,” you won’t have to scroll far before you find Nicolas Cage’s name. Few performers have had such a wide range of career choices or performance styles. He’s the drunken, suicidal television writer in Leaving Las Vegas (for which he won an Oscar) one day, and the hero and villain in John Woo’s Face/Off the next. Cage plays a treasure hunter in the popular, PG-rated National Treasure series one minute, then becomes wild in the gory revenge film Mandy the next.
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Cage is a Hollywood rarity because, despite his undeniable skill, his performances range from terrific to bad, often in the same picture. What truly distinguishes him as a celebrity, though, is that he is virtually always entertaining. to keep an eye on.
Therefore it’s no surprise that everyone is curious about how Cage will play his next part, the famous Count Dracula, in the 2023 film Renfield. Will his Count be sorrowful and somber, or insane and bombastic? Here’s all we know thus far about the flick.
When Is Renfield Coming Out?
Renfield currently has a theatrical release planned for April 14, 2023.
Is There a Renfield Trailer Yet?
Renfield’s first trailer was posted online on January 5, 2023. The trailer provides us with a solid sense of the film’s general comic tone. There’s also a lot of brutalities, Cage-ness, and bug-eating to look at. Renfield’s final trailer arrived on March 22, 2023.
In this trailer, we hear of an unexpected development. Renfield falls in love with a traffic officer called Rebecca Quincy after serving Dracula for over 100 years (Awkwafina). This unexpected discovery causes Renfield to reconsider his connection with his employer, prompting him to resolve to call it quits. Of course, when your employer is an evil lord, that’s easier said than done. The final trailer for Renfield may be viewed below.
How Closely Will Renfield Follow the Plot of Dracula?
In Bram Stoker’s 1897 book Dracula, Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to arrange a real estate transaction for the old Count. R.N. Renfield is only a minor character in the original story but is the quintessential vampire familiar. Renfield is the key character in this story, who is weary of his poisonous and co-dependent centuries-long connection with Dracula. He falls for a feisty traffic officer and runs afoul of some mobsters while attempting to carve himself a new existence in modern-day New Orleans. He still has to cope with the insatiably demanding and possessive Dracula. The film, which has been described as a “violent comedy” or “oddball horror,” was influenced in part by Taika Waititi’s vampire mockumentary series What We Do in the Dark, as well as other horror-comedy classics such as An American Werewolf in London, Evil Dead II, and Shaun of the Dead.
Who’s Making Renfield and What’s the Dark Universe?
Universal Studios sought to resurrect and modernize its most iconic Golden Age cinema monsters by producing films set in a linked world known as The Dark Universe. Unfortunately, the Mummy remake with Tom Cruise in 2017 and The Wolfman (2010) starring Benicio Del Toro flopped. The Invisible Man, produced by Blumhouse, received critical acclaim in 2020. Renfield now faces an uphill struggle with a script written by Ryan Ridley based on a pitch by Robert Kirkman. Christopher McKay, Samantha Nisenboim, and Skybound Entertainment’s David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst have come on to direct and produce the project. When we asked McKay about his approach to the project, he said:
“I fell in love with the character of Renfield and his relationship with Dracula. Renfield is basically a guy who wants to get out of this bad relationship, and doesn’t know how—he’s been in this relationship for 93 years, and he wants to get out of it. I looked at this as an opportunity, because it has a lot of black comedy in it, there’s a lot of action in it, and there’s a little bit of suspense and drama in it too. So that, to me, seemed like a really fun combination. It’s not something that comes around the table very often. Something that’s obviously still tied to one of the oldest IPs in the world and probably one of the most filmed IPs in the world when you look at it. Dracula’s probably up there with Sherlock Holmes and Hamlet as far as literary characters that you see in movie after movie.”
Who’s Starring In the Cast of Renfield?
Nicholas Hoult was cast in the major role of Renfield in August 2021. Hoult began his career at the age of 12 in the Hugh Grant film About a Boy, and he has been continuously working ever since. In addition to his roles in the X-Men films and Hulu series The Great, Paul Rudd has been a popular presence in films such as Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Tolkien (2018), and The Favorite (2018). He was most recently seen in the ensemble black comedy The Menu. Nicolas Cage was cast in the part of Dracula, Renfield’s boss and employer, in November of the same year.
Cage has starred in over 100 films since his first noteworthy cameo in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). His most intriguing recent film is his meta-autobiographical portrayal of Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Enormous Talent (2022). Butcher’s Crossing, a Western featuring the actor, debuted at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival.
Renfield also stars Awkwafina as Rebecca Quincy, a tough-talking traffic policeman who catches Renfield’s attention and inspires him to make a change in his life. She began her career as a rapper before starring in films such as Ocean’s 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and The Goodbye (2019). When we asked Awkwafina about her time with Holt and Cage, she told us:
It was really a dream cast. I had so much fun with them, and it was also really fun to be in New Orleans with them. I love Nic Hoult, he was the perfect scene partner, and also just a co-worker. And Nicolas Cage is obviously a legend, and I think I was really nervous to meet him. And when I did, I was really happy to find someone that was extremely professional and is everything you want him to be. And to also see him embody Dracula and have so much fun with it, and building who that is and what that looks like in the modern day, to see that, too, as a fellow actress was super cool. When he’s on set, it’s just a very cool experience, so I loved working with all of them.
Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse) and Ben Schwartz (The Afterparty) also appear as criminal leaders, who are most likely the film’s true antagonists. Adrian Martinez portrays Rebecca’s traffic officer pal, while Captain J. Browning is played by James Moses Black. Bess Rous plays Caitlyn, Caroline Williams plays Vanessa, and Brandon Scott Jones plays an unspecified part in the film.
Will Anyone Eat a Bug in Renfield?
Dracula has appeared in nearly 200 films, most notably as played by Bela Lugosi in the 1930s and 1940s and Christopher Lee in the 1960s and 1970s. Nicolas Cage’s popularity and critical praise have recently risen due to his exaggerated, even comical acting approach. In 1989, he starred in Vampire’s Kiss, a box office flop that became a cult classic due in part to Cage’s on-screen consumption of a live cockroach. Cage’s off-screen quirkiness and strange Method-influenced acting technique has garnered him fresh notoriety and appreciation. Will Cage’s next vampire role, though, live up to his first?
According to reports, the actor was inspired by silent cinema legends, his father August Coppola, David Bowie, and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate for his portrayal of the Count. Fans of Cage’s eccentric and offbeat performances will not be disappointed.
Will Renfield Get a Sequel?
While there is no official news on when we will see Dracula and Renfield again, Nicolas Cage has expressed interest in reprising the role. When we asked the actor if he’d be willing to reprise his role as the renowned vampire, he said:
If there’s room for it. I mean, I’m happy with the time that I had to play Dracula for Universal in this film, and I’m very happy I got to support Nic [Hoult]. I’ve been wanting to work with him for a while again. You know, I enjoyed our time on The Weather Man. I think it plays beautifully. I think what he brought to this character is totally brand new, and I’m very happy to be a part of that.
FAQs
Q.1 Is There a Renfield Trailer Yet? When Is Renfield Coming Out?
Ans. Renfield currently has a theatrical release planned for April 14, 2023.
Q.2 Where is Renfield filming?
Ans. The principal filming for Renfield took place in New Orleans, so it’s fitting that the film had its world premiere in that city at The Overlook Film Festival. The film was clearly a hit with the festival audience.
Q.3 What is Renfield movie about?
Ans. Renfield, the tortured aide to his narcissistic boss, Dracula, is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding. However, after centuries of servitude, he’s ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of the Prince of Darkness.
Q.4 Is Renfield a dark universe movie?
Ans. Unlike previous Universal monster movies, Dracula’s appearance in the upcoming film Renfield isn’t meant to kick off a new Dark Universe. Starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as the vampire’s servant Renfield, Renfield is a comedy-horror film that offers a new take on Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale.
Q.5 How old is Renfield?
Ans. Renfield’s age according to the novel is 59 years old.
Q.6 Does Renfield become a vampire?
Ans. Renfield is shot and killed by Van Helsing, but only to be awakened as a vampire by Dracula, only before he is killed for good.