Renfield is set to update the Dracula mythos into a modern workplace comedy, but that doesn't mean past incarnations of the character will be ignored. Dracula actor Nicolas Cage has revealed that he looked to previous performances to craft his take on the character.
Renfield stars Nicholas Hoult as the titular character, Dracula's lackey, who is enslaved to him. However, Dracula is the boss from Hell, and Renfield is no longer keen to serve him. Also joining the cast is Awkwafina as Rebecca Quincy, a cop with whom Renfield falls in love. Unlike most depictions of the character, this version of the Dracula story will be set in modern-day New Orleans.
In an interview with Collider, Cage talked about the actor he most wanted to embody when playing Dracula in Renfield. As it turns out, that actor was the legendary Christopher Lee, who portrayed Dracula in the 1958 Hammer Horror Dracula film. "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," Cage said. "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.”
Cage also partially credited his "Dracula accent" to Lee, with the other half of the inspiration going to his late father. However, Cage's performance as Dracula isn't only rooted in homages to the past. Renfield director Chris McKay previously stated that Cage's Dracula is different from past iterations because, in this version, Dracula doesn't just take on the role of a creature of the night: He is also a terrible boss.
The terrible boss angle is explored at length in the first Renfield trailer. The idea of Renfield re-examining his toxic relationship with Dracula is played to full effect in the horror comedy, and Cage's theatricality helps sell the role. Meanwhile, Hoult plays a harried "assistant" with a frantic energy fitting for one serving the greatest vampire of all time.
Cage had previously explained that he hadn't only taken inspiration from previous Dracula films when crafting his version of the character. Cage previously said he was inspired by the horror film Malignant and wanted Dracula to move unnaturally. While Dracula's movements aren't shown clearly in the Renfield trailer, Cage's theatricality and camp sensibility make him shine on screen, so there's little doubt he succeeded.
Renfield is scheduled to be released in theaters on April 7, 2023.
Source: Collider