Renfield Star Nicolas Cage Is Already Hoping to Play His Dracula Again

Nicolas Cage is set to make his highly anticipated debut as Dracula in the upcoming film Renfield, but as the title of the film implies, the focal point of the adventure isn’t Cage’s character, with Cage admitting that he’s already hoping to get to explore more of this version of the character at some point in the future. With Dracula being an iconic character for decades and having been brought to life by a number of notable figures, Cage understandably faced some challenges when it came to putting his own stamp on the figure, which only ignited a deeper passion for the character. Renfield lands in theaters on April 14th.

“You know, there are some minor moments here where you get to see some of the pathos in Dracula’s eyes… and 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,” Cage shared with Total Film, per GamesRadar. “I didn’t really have the time to delve into that here.”

Whether or not more Dracula is in the cards for Cage, whether that be with a solo spinoff or a sequel to Renfield, is yet to be seen, but if the upcoming adventure proves to be a hit with fans, that could see the universe expanding in exciting ways.

In this modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men franchise) stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula (Oscar winner Nicolas Cage). Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.

Renfield is directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The LEGO Batman Movie) from a screenplay by Ryan Ridley (Ghosted series, Rick & Morty series), based on an original idea by The Walking Dead and Invincible creator Robert Kirkman.

The film co-stars Awkwafina (The Farewell, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings), Ben Schwartz (Sonic, The Afterparty), and Adrian Martinez (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Focus).

Cage previously clarified that, despite the excitement fans might have about his Dracula in the upcoming adventure, they should temper their expectations of how much he’s really in the movie.

“Well, first of all, I don’t know how you say no to Dracula, but two things come to mind,” Cage shared with Collider of what audiences can expect from the film. “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.” 

He continued, “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.”

Renfield lands in theaters on April 14th.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!