The first images from the upcoming monster movie Renfield have arrived, showing Nicolas Cage in full Dracula regalia. People scored these first shots, which showcases Cage giving off strong vibes reminiscent of Christopher Lee in the same role in 1958’s iconic Dracula.
Cage stars opposite Nicholas Hoult (The Great), who will play the titular henchman. Renfield will be directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War), and comes from a script by Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty)–which in turn is based on an original story outline from Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead). While no solid plot details have been released, the movie sounds like it might be a “modern-day adventure” and also satire on toxic workplaces and unhealthy work relationships. In the original 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, the character Renfield–a patient in an asylum–works as the vampire’s assistant and is gaslit into believing he will gain immortal life while subsisting on a diet of rats and insects.
Cage is continuing to build momentum off the strongest reviews and buzz in his entire career. In the upcoming The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (due April 22), he plays himself and gets mixed up with a drug kingpin and later becomes an informant for the CIA. In the recently-released Pig, the unpredictable actor mines surprising depth in his character’s relationship with–as the title suggests–a pig. Cage, 58, said in an interview this September that he will never retire.
Cage also previously played a literary critic who believed he was a vampire in the 1989 horror-comedy Vampire’s Kiss.
21 Truly Horrifying Vampire MoviesSee More