RENFIELD: Nic Cage Reveals 'MALIGNANT' and 'THE RING's Sadako' Inspired His Movements As DRACULA!
It’s no secret that Nicholas Cage loves movies and as a cinephile, he harkens back to past actors or performances to influences his own work.
As we revealed before the New Year, Nic Cage will be playing Dracula for Universal Pictures in a new film entitled Renfield.
Cage reveals in a new interview with Variety that he not only looked back at several prominent Dracula films for inspiration, but also Marina Mazepa‘s performance as Gabriel in James Wan’s Malignant and Samara from the original Japanese Ringu.
“I looked at Bela Lugosi’s performance, and then I looked at Frank Langella’s performance,” Cage said of the 1931 and 1979 films, also nodding to Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 version — Coppola is Cage’s uncle. “I looked at Gary’s performance in uncle’s movie, which I think it’s just so sumptuous. Every frame is a work of art,” he said.
As for bringing his own interpretation of Dracula to the character: “I want it to pop in a unique way from how we’ve seen it played,” he noted. “So I’m thinking to really focus on the movement of the character. You know, I saw Malignant and I thought what she did with those moves — and even Ringu with Sadako [Yamamura] … I want to look at what we can explore with this movement and voice.”
Cage also talked about the humor of the new take on Dracula. “What makes it super fun is that it’s a comedy,” he revealed. “And when you get that tone right — comedy and horror — like American Werewolf in London, it’s a blast. It’s got to be a bulls-eye. But that’s what I’m looking for, something new to bring to the character, and also that perfect tone of comedy and horror.”
Renfield is based on an original pitch from “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman. Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War) is set to direct the movie, with Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, Mad Max: Fury Road) on board to star as Renfield.
Plot details are currently unknown, though it’s believed “to take place during the present day and is not a period piece.”
