Nicolas Cage Charms as Count Dracula in New Look at 'Renfield'

By Stephen Andrew

Nicolas Cage's Dracula might be a bloodthirsty menace, but in a new look at Renfield the cloaked vampire is delivering remarkable charm. Total Film shared new images from the forthcoming horror-comedy, in which Cage's iconic monster emotionally torments his devote lackey, Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult. In one of the photos, Dracula is seen taking the hand of a smiling woman who is clearly smitten by his magnetism.

The new film stars Hoult (The Great, X-Men: First Class) as the titular character. The character of Renfield was introduced in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. In the original text, Renfield is an asylum patient who has a blood-drinking obsession and is coerced by Dracula into being a henchman. With the prospect of immortality dangling in front of him, Renfield dedicates his life to being of service to Dracula, only to be treated poorly and fed rats and insects. In the new horror-action-comedy film, Renfield is modernized as an ass-kicking right-hand man struggling with the emotional weight Dracula has saddled him with.

Renfield is directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The Lego Batman Movie) and written by Ryan Ridley (Ghosted, Rick and Morty), who scripted it from an original story outline by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead). Notably, this is not Cage's first time starring in a vampire film. He previously appeared in the 1989 cult-classic Vampire's Kiss.

After Renfield, fans might look forward to seeing Cage in a new kind of project. In early 2022 it was reported that Cage is set to voice a vodka-drinking dragon in a new streaming series that has moved to Paramount+. According to Deadline, the "True Detective-meets-Pete's Dragon project" was initially in development over at Amazon Prime Video, but is now said to have switched streamers. 

The new show is titled Hellfire and is based on an adult thriller novel by author Eoin Colfer. It's being adapted for television by Davey Holmes, who also created the Get Shorty TV series for Epix, and MGM is currently the producing studio. Additionally, Holmes and Cage will be executive producers, alongside Andrew Mittman of 1.21 via his exclusive MGM production deal. If the series does ever manifest, it will mark Cage's first time as a main cast member of a TV series. Those interested in trying out a free trial of Paramount+ can do so by clicking here.

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