Casting can be absurdly easy, or at least it seems that way when you marry an actor like Nicholas Cage to a role like Dracula. Some of you may have been waiting for this sort of dynamite collaboration to take place, which is why the next announcement is something we take great pleasure in breaking. Get ready, as Nicolas Cage has scored the perfect role in an upcoming Universal Monsters movie; and yes, it’s Count Dracula himself.
Freshly announced by THR, the Academy Award-winning eccentric has landed the role of Vlad the Impaler in Universal’s Renfield. A more modern take on the relationship between author Bram Stoker’s legendary bloodsucker and his titular familiar, Cage will be paired with another Nicholas, as The Great’s Nicholas Hoult will be playing the central role of Renfield. Not only does this seem like a perfect fit for Nic Cage’s resume, but pitting Castor Troy against a War Boy in a presumably comedic story about vampires absolutely feels like a recipe for excitement.
Combining the two Nics under the watchful eye of The Tomorrow War director Chris McKay, as well as a script that’s seen both Rick and Morty’s Ryan Ridley and Invincible/The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman work on its development, Renfield looks like it’s ready to get crazy. Specific plot details are, naturally, not being revealed just yet. But do you really need them when Renfield boasts such an eclectic grouping of team members? Just hearing that Nicolas Cage is a modern Dracula alone has us thinking about one of the most legendary Cage freakouts in history, and one of the actor's personal favorite films in his canon, 1988’s Vampire’s Kiss:
Then, of course, there’s Nicholas Hoult, whose brand of crazy can range from quite feral to absolutely refined. Both Mad Max: Fury Road and The Great respectively define those poles for Hoult’s acting output. As Renfield’s lead character happens to be, in most incarnations, an inmate in a psychiatric ward, that’s a possibility for tons of on-screen instability to take place. That might be a bit tempered by the tone of the “modern-day adventure story” mentioned in the report cited.
Adventure and Nicolas Cage calls another movie into question, as the oft-delayed fan favorite franchise National Treasure just might find its way into the pot of influences. So instead of Nicholas Hoult and Cage facing off on varying levels of bombast, we might just see them operate as a pair of friends on a big quest for glory. This is what happens when you land a great team of talent, and provide little plot details: imaginations run wild and people start dreaming up all sorts of movies. It’s enough to drive you batty, isn’t it?
Renfield doesn’t have a production schedule or a release date just yet. With that in mind, check out the 2021 release schedule to see what else is on the horizon in a theater near you. Meanwhile, you can watch Nicholas Hoult on the recently returned series The Great, and Nicholas Cage in his critically acclaimed performance in Pig; both of which are currently streaming for Hulu subscribers.
