Nicolas Cage has made every character he’s ever played feel like his own unique creation, though the upcoming Renfield will see him putting his own spin on the iconic Dracula. The actor recently revealed that, were he to have a shot at bringing another of the Universal Monsters to life, he’d be interested in tackling the Wolf Man, though he admitted that he had delivered a similar character that largely felt tortured by a supernatural curse when he played Johnny Blaze in two Ghost Rider movies, while also expressing the unlikelihood of any Wolf Man movies being made in the near future. Renfield lands in theaters on April 14th.
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“I kind of did it with Ghost Rider, but I think the Wolf Man,” Cage shared with Screen Rant of another monster he’d like to play. “The Wolf Man is the scariest and I think just powerfully tragic. But I think it’s been done many times, I don’t think we’re making Wolf Man movies anymore. But for what I would like to explore, that works for me.”
The first The Wolf Man came in 1941 and starred Lon Chaney Jr. as a man cursed with transforming into a werewolf, with the film earning a handful of genuine follow-ups as well as inspiring countless other werewolf-infused adventures. Back in 2010, Benicio del Toro starred in an attempt at a more authentic revival of the source material, with that The Wolfman being a disappointment both critically and financially.
Back in 2017, Universal Pictures announced its Dark Universe, which was set to be a shared cinematic universe comprised of reboots of their iconic roster of monsters. The franchise kicked off with The Mummy and was confirmed to feature characters like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Invisible Man. Sadly, The Mummy earned an underwhelming response and the Dark Universe has yet to earn another installment.
Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man in 2020, however, served as a standalone reimagining of the core concept, which was met with financial and critical success, igniting reports of new projects featuring Universal Monsters. One such report was that director Derek Cianfrance was developing a new take on The Wolf Man with Ryan Gosling set to star, though in the years since that project was announced, no official updates have emerged about when, or if, that project could be moving forward.
Renfield is set to hit theaters on April 14th. Stay tuned for details on the future of the Universal Monsters.
Would you like to see Cage play the Wolf Man? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!
