We’re still pinching ourselves that “Nic Cage playing Dracula” is an actual thing that our eyeballs will soon be able to witness. New photos from the set of Chris McKay’s horror comedy Renfield, which stars Nicholas Hoult as the put-upon assistant of a certain famous vampire, now make us even more eager to see Cage in action.
Take a look, courtesy of People magazine, which got the Cage fan’s scoop of the century right here (click through for more images):
The red velvet suit: classy, retro, good for hiding blood stains. (People also has an on-set snap of Hoult that suggests there’s definitely gonna be plenty of red stuff in Renfield.) The gaudy gold medallion and fingers full of chunky rings: essential vampire accessorizing. The grooming, or lack thereof (those fingernails!), feels all-around appropriate—the slicked-back hair with just a hint of a widow’s peak is very Bela Lugosi, and the make-up is perfect, with those pointy eyebrows, purplish lips, and sallow complexion befitting a member of the undead. It’s a classic vampire look with a Cage twist. We haven’t even heard him speak yet (will he do a Transylvanian accent?) and we don’t know much about the story (will it transcend being what sounds a lot like a riff on What We Do in the Shadows?), but we’re absolutely certain Cage is going to nail this role 100 percent.
Cage never really went away—if anything, he’s only become more prolific in recent years. But there seems to be a bit of a renaissance happening; it started probably in 2018, with his chainsaw-slinging lead performance in Panos Cosmatos’ art house-horror-whastit Mandy and his delightfully inspired turn as Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Last year brought the well-reviewed Pig (which sparked genuine albeit unrealized Oscar buzz for Cage, over 25 years after he won for Leaving Las Vegas), and his performance (as “himself”) in meta-action flick The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent just earned raves at SXSW.
Renfield has a 2023 release date.
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