Nicolas Cage is probably some kind of vampire in real life, so the fact that he’s about the play the most famous one ever makes perfect sense. The Oscar-winning star of Face/Off and Mandy and many, many other strange films is set to play Dracula in the upcoming film Renfield. Which means, no, Dracula isn’t the main character, but yes, he’s gonna kill it.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of Cage’s involvement in the project, which is being directed by Tomorrow War and Lego Batman Movie helmer Chris McKay. Nicholas Hoult (X-Men First Class, Mad Max: Fury Road) is playing the title character in a film described by the trade as “as a modern-day adventure story that is comedic in tone.” Previously we’d heard that “this take on the project is described as a comedic, lighthearted approach in the vein of Taika Waititi’s vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, in which Renfield realises he is in a bad, co-dependent relationship.”
Which is perfect because when you think of Renfield, Dracula’s henchman, you immediately think of how the character of Guillermo follows Nandor on FX’s What We Do in the Shadows. This is a big budget adventure horror film, though, so you’d imagine that kind of mentor-mentee relationship with a bunch more action and swashbuckling. And, now: Nicolas Cage almost certainly hamming it up in a way only Nicolas Cage can. The script was written by Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty) from an outline by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman — a pairing that definitely suggests a blend of more serious horror with smart silliness.
Though Cage hasn’t appeared in a big budget studio movie in over a decade (not since the sequel to Ghost Rider, though he occasionally adds his voice to films like The Croods and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), in that time he’s been getting some of the best reviews of his career for smaller films like Pig and Mandy. In between there are always a handful of stinkers like Prisoners of the Ghostland and Jiu Jitsu — but even when the scripts are borderline incomprehensible, Cage brings an undeniably fun charisma to every role. (Worth noting: much earlier in his career, he also starred in 1989 cult horror comedy Vampire’s Kiss.) Put him into a Universal Monsters movie as the greatest vampire ever? Well, that sounds like a deadly combination.