Treasure hunter, skull-faced motorcyclist and now vampire: Nicolas Cage really can do it all.
After playing himself in last year's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, the actor is now stretching his legs a bit more by venturing into the new, bloodsucking role of Dracula in the upcoming title Renfield.
The comedy-horror has The Menu's Nicholas Hoult in the titular role; a man who plays henchman to Dracula until one day he falls in love and sets out for a life on his own in modern day New Orleans.
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It's a pretty dramatic spin-off from the original Dracula story Bram Stoker presented us with in his 1897 book, but Cage was keen to bring something fresh to the iconic role.
"I looked at some what’s been done before and done well and sort of cherry picked what I liked about the Dracula’s that have worked," Cage said while speaking to Variety about the new movie.
"Then, I tried to break through that and find something new to do with what I learned.”
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Cage is depicted as 'the boss from hell' to Renfield, and he explained that the film is all about focusing on 'a toxic relationship between Renfield and Dracula'.
"Usually when you see Renfield in the movies, he’s portrayed in a sort of a grotesque manner. Nick is a very charming, handsome, elegant, funny and witty actor. So this is a unique take,” Cage said.
Though Cage was keen to portray his version of the blood-sucking monster, Dracula's recognisable look apparently didn't make things easy for him.
He explained: “I had the ceramic teeth in my mouth the whole time. I was trying to speak with some some level of eloquence when it’s hard to form any words at all, but I had a lot of help - a great costume department, great makeup artists. We all sort of powwowed and coalesced this character together."
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Renfield isn't set to be released in cinemas until next month, so we don't know how viewers will receive it just yet, but that hasn't stopped Cage from thinking about a potential follow-up in the form of a prequel.
"This is the perfect amount of time for Dracula in this movie. But I wouldn’t mind exploring how did Dracula become Dracula? How did you become that guy? I want to take the time to portray that, to see how he got there,” Cage said.
“To me, Dracula was always [about] love and exile. He’s unrequited love, and ultimately, if you don’t get love back, you’re gonna go bad. I want to look at that.”
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Whether Renfield proves to be a hit or not, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would love nothing more than to see Cage playing a lovesick vampire. Twilight eat your heart out.
Renfield will be released in theaters on 14 April.
Topics: Nicolas Cage, Film and TV, Celebrity
Emily Brown