Publish date: 2024-03-27
Fans are used to watching Nicolas Cage in spooky, eccentric roles. Of the many such characters, his role as the mentally deranged literary agent Peter Loew in the 1988 film Vampire’s Kiss stands out as one of his most outstanding performances of all time. Cage played a literary agent who, after getting bitten by a vampire, turns into a bloodthirsty creature yearning for death.
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The viewers who are craving to see Cage in a similar role would not have to wait much longer as the Vampire’s Kiss star is set to appear in the upcoming movie Renfield, where he would take on the role of the Transylvanian count Dracula. Only this time, he won’t be cast as the key protagonist, but rather as the narcissistic boss of his tortured and manipulated assistant, Renfield.
The very name ‘Dracula’ is reminiscent of Francis Ford Cappola’s 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, starring Gary Oldman as Dracula and Winona Ryder as the key female protagonist, Mina. The movie introduces Renfield in the film’s initial sequence as a patient in a mental asylum who feeds on insects to satiate his bloodlust in the hope of acquiring immortality.
In the original novel in 1897, he is described as Dracula’s loyal servant who was promised immortality by his master and which the latter used to manipulate him. The upcoming film would see Renfield as the protagonist navigating his relationship with Dracula.
Helmed by Chris McKay and written by Ryan Ridley — based on the story of The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman — the movie is creating quite a lot of buzz and curiosity amongst the eager audience. This was heightened with the release of the movie’s official trailer, which provides a broader idea of the storyline. Let’s get to know more about it.
Details about Renfield: Release date, trailer, and cast
The movie is scheduled to release on April 14, 2022, in theaters. It would feature Mad Max: Fury Road star Nicholas Hoult as titular Renfield alongside Cage as Dracula. The trailer gives us a glimpse of the misadventures of the Count’s minion and his manner of handling the toxic power dynamic. It confirms that the movie is set in the present day and showcases his attempts to get out of the clutch of his evil master.
A major part of the trailer shows Renfield probably trying to free himself from the manipulations of Dracula. This is substantiated by the very beginning scene of the trailer, when we see Hoult’s character banging the door open to what seems like a therapy session and saying, “Sorry to interrupt…. I need to get out of a toxic relationship.”
Then, it advances to show the hierarchical relation between Dracula and Renfield, with the latter dragging human bodies to feed his master, thereby highlighting his subordination. After getting out of Dracula’s shadow, he encounters modern-day New Orleans and falls for the local cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), sharing with her the details of his past life.
It is not until the end of the trailer that viewers get to see what they have been longing for: Nicolas Cage’s entry into the session as Dracula, with his fangs on display uttering the famous phrase, “I am Dracula.”
As nothing solid about the story has been revealed yet, the trailer suggests a unique touch to the iconic tale, which infuses horror with comedy. Speaking to Variety in Dec. 2021, Cage said, “What makes it super fun is that it’s a comedy. And when you get that tone right — comedy and horror — like ‘American Werewolf in London,’ it’s a blast.”
The trailer confirms a fresh approach to all the Dracula-featured movies of the past. It would narrate the tale from a fresh perspective, where the fan-favorite antagonist is no longer the main guy anymore, but a blood-thirsty, manipulative phantom whose megalomania is contested by his tortured assistant.
So, unlike Bram Stoker’s Renfield, who was locked up in a mental asylum and who dined on insects to achieve the promised immortality, the present-day Renfield is ready to take matters into his own hands by challenging and fighting his masters, accompanied by his friends.
Along with providing an idea about the plot, the trailer also opens a window to the promising cast ensemble. Of course, the talented trio Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, and Awkwafina would appear as the key protagonists. Other actors in supporting roles include Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, James Mses Black, Caroline Williams, and Shohreh Aghdashloo, to name a few.
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