Everyone’s fave fictional ex-boyfriend of Cher, Nic Cage will be (presumably) donning fangs and pectoral glitter when he takes on the role of Count Dracula in a new production.
It’s the skin of a killer, Bella.
Cage will be taking on the befanged mantle in a new Universal Pictures film called Renfield. It’s being billed a monster movie – makes sense – and is set to focus on one of Dracula’s familiars, the titular Renfield.
In the OG Dracula book by Brahm Stoker, Renfield is an inmate at an asylum under Dracula’s control, who suffers from delusions that make him eat living creatures to absorb their life force. Really hoping that they don’t show that on screen, tbh!
However, this adaptation of the film is apparently going to be set in the present day. Get me Dracula in a pair of platform Crocs and a Kathmandu puffer jacket, stat.
Starring alongside Nic Cage is fellow Nick, Nicholas Hoult. You might remember from OG Skins, X-Men, Mad Max: Fury Road and Warm Bodies, or from when he was Jennifer Lawrence‘s boyfriend. According to IMDB he’s also a Sagittarius, if that matters to you.
The director of Renfield is Chris McKay, who’s probably best known for directing The Lego Batman Movie. We can only hope Renfield hits the same emotional and psychosexual beats of his past works.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “the project is described as a modern-day adventure story that is comedic in tone”, so potentially more spoopy than genuinely scary. A win for those of us who love Nic Cage and hate horror films!
i can’t wait to hear nic cage’s dracula voice. it’s going to be iconic pic.twitter.com/ILkd3bLKIT
— laura 🦠 (@ecto_fun) December 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/BennyGesserit/status/1465805635258396678
NIC CAGE AS DRACULA!!!!!!! HOLY FUCKING SHIT HE WILL REACH HIS FINAL FORM
— ames (@synthscore) November 30, 2021
It’s also not the first time Cage has taken a vampiric turn. Back in 1989, he starred in A Vampire’s Kiss as a literary agent who becomes convinced he’s turning into a vampire. That’s just called working in the creative industries, babes.
Cage last appeared in a big budget flick back in 2011 for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, prompting some to ask “where the hell you been, loca?”
Since then he’s been largely sticking to the indie film circuit with appearance in Mandy in 2018 and Pig in 2021, but has recently signed on for a number of bigger projects.
As well as Renfield, Nic Cage will also be the lead in Lionsgate’s The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent.
He’ll be starring as a fictionalised version of himself, a down-on-his luck actor who “agrees to make a paid appearance at a billionaire super fan’s birthday party, but is really an informant for the CIA since the billionaire fan is a drug kingpin,” according to IMDb.
There’s a significant amount of hype around the film, which is set to be released in 2022. I get the feeling we might even see the Uncut-Gems-Adam–Sandler-fication of Nic Cage with this one.
Renfield doesn’t have a set release date yet, but Looper is guessing it’ll come out in late 2023 or early 2024. Plenty of to prep your ‘Team Nic’ or ‘Team Nick’ shirts and dig out the plastic vampire teeth from 2013.
