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Nicolas Cage Says He Channeled This Legendary Dracula for His ‘Renfield’ Performance

If you watched the trailer from Renfield that dropped this week, you know that Universal saved the best for last and only teased Nicolas Cage’s participation as the world-famous vampire Dracula at the end of it. Cage’s performance will undoubtedly be a standout in the film, and there’s no one better than the actor himself to tell us about the process of walking in the shoes of one of the most iconic characters ever created: Dracula.

In an interview with Collider’s own Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub to discuss The Old Way, Cage also 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.”

He May Be Dracula, But Renfield Is “Really Nicholas Hoult’s Movie”

In addition, Cage talked to Weintraub about why he decided to accept the role and commented that, as the trailer suggests, he doesn’t have a lot of screen time. He championed his fellow star—and lead—Nicholas Hoult and talked a little about what he could do with his limited time. Cage ended the interview by revealing his expectations for when Renfield comes out of the coffin:

“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.”

(from left) Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) in Renfield, directed by Chris McKay.

Renfield tells the story of a Dracula servant who decides to sever his bond with the supernatural creature after decades of service. The problem is, it won’t be an easy separation. The movie has a campy dark comedy and action-packed approach to the story that can only be understood when you consider who’s writing and directing the story: It is helmed by Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie), and co-written by Robert Kirkman (Invincible) and Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty), so you know you can expect a wacky story with an ambitious narrative style.

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