The premise of the horror comedy “Renfield” is nuts and shoots it to the top of almost all Most Anticipated 2023 lists (including ours). Count Dracula’s famous devoted lackey Renfield finds a new lease on life in modern-day New Orleans when he falls in love with Rebecca Quincy, a feisty but perennially aggressive traffic cop. OK, so there’s that, but then cast Nicholas Hoult as the normally-obsequious Renfield, Nicolas Cage as Dracula, and Awkwafina as the traffic cop. Sold? Oh, hell yeah.
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But there’s more. The film is directed by Chris McKay, the filmmaker behind “The Lego Batman Movie” (2017) and “The Tomorrow War” (2021). Ben Schwartz co-stars as a mobster, and the film also features Adrian Martinez, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Bess Rous.
“What makes it super fun is that it’s a comedy. And when you get that tone right — comedy and horror — like ‘American Werewolf in London,’ it’s a blast,” Cage told Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast last year about the film’s tenor. “It’s got to be a bullseye. But that’s what I’m looking for, something new to bring to the character and also that perfect tone of comedy and horror.”
“I want it to pop in a unique way from how we’ve seen it played. So I’m thinking to really focus on the movement of the character,” he continued. “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.”
In April 2022, Cage said he’d be channeling his father, August Coppola, for his Dracula role. “August Coppola’s coming back,” he told GQ. “And he’s coming back as Dracula,” adding, “This isn’t really on my diet right now. I’m trying to become the Thin White Duke for Dracula.”
And well, now you see all the results, which looks wild, horrific, and hilarious. “Renfield” opens in theaters on April 14, 2023, via Universal Pictures.
