Nic Cage’s Upcoming Dracula Movie Makes The Vampire A “Sh*tty Boss”

NICOLAS Cage’s Dracula movie, Renfield, reimagines the iconic vampire as a “sh*tty boss,” says director Chris McKay.

The upcoming horror-comedy boasts an intriguing team of creatives that includes Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The LEGO Batman Movie) at the helm with a script by Rick & Morty’s Ryan Ridley based on an original pitch by The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman. Cage stars as Count Dracula, though as the title suggests, the film instead focuses on his famous henchman R.M. Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult, who, after falling in love with a feisty traffic cop played by Awkwafina, decides to leave his line of work.

During a recent interview with Empire, McKay opened up about his oddball project. The director discussed how his objective was to do something different than what audiences expected from a Dracula movie, pointing out how his film is set in modern-day New Orleans and is told through Renfield’s perspective, allowing Cage to portray Dracula as a bad boss.

McKay’s recent interview reveals an extensive list of influences for his Renfield film and Cage’s performance as Dracula. Since the project was first announced, it was described as a comedic approach to Bram Stoker’s 1987 novel à la Taika Waititi’s vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, which McKay actually lists as one of his primary points of reference. This is in addition to John Landis’ An American Werewolf In London, Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, and Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead, which all combine horror and comedy to various extents.

Known for his off-the-wall performances over the years, Cage’s performance as Dracula is one of the most anticipated aspects of Renfield. Though it remains to be seen exactly what his performance will look like, McKay and Cage took inspiration for his physical acting from the silent films, The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu. Cage’s performance as Dracula drew from such a wide range of inspirations that McKay says audiences will see homages to Anne Bancroft, who famously played Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate.

When playing the iconic vampire, Cage would be remiss if he didn’t draw from the various Dracula performances in cinema history. This includes Max Schreck, who starred in Nosferatu as Count Orlok, a character heavily based on Dracula, to Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Klaus Kinski, who all went to play Dracula over the years. Cage surely took some pointers from Frank Langella and Gary Oldman as well.

A student of cinema, Cage’s inspiration for Renfield encompasses a wide range of influences from past Dracula actors to seemingly unrelated performances, including not only Bancroft but also David Bowie’s Thin White Duke persona.

Hopefully, the result will be something truly unique and amazing when Renfield hits theaters soon. (source: screenrant.com)

(ROHN ROMULO)