Nicolas Cage is ready for another vampire’s kiss.
After starring in a slew of indie films, Cage is coming back to the blockbuster scene.
The Oscar winner, 57, will star in Universal Pictures’ big-budget monster flick “Renfield.” Cage will play the infamous vampire Dracula with Nicholas Hoult, 31, playing the title character.
Renfield is the name of Dracula’s sidekick and henchman, first seen in Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic horror novel “Dracula.”
The novel characterized Renfield as a patient held at an insane asylum who had paranoid delusions.
“The Lego Batman Movie” director Chris McKay is at the helm and is directing the feature.
The Hollywood Reporter described the film as “a modern-day adventure story that is comedic in tone.”
Edward Van Sloan and Bela Lugosi in 1931’s “Dracula.”Courtesy Everett CollectionStars who have played Dracula on screen include Bela Lugosi in a black-and-white 1931 version and Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 adaption. Frank Langella, Christopher Lee, Gerard Butler and Luke Evans have also played the monster in recent films.
Cage was set to play “Tiger King” star Joe Exotic in a project based on the Netflix series for Amazon, however, those plans were scrapped earlier this year.
The “National Treasure” actor claimed that the streaming service stopped production due to lessened interest in the subject matter.
Cage’s last big-budget role was in 2011’s “Ghost Rider.Getty Images for Film Independen“We should clear the record. I read two excellent scripts, which I did think were excellent, but I think Amazon ultimately felt that it was material that had become past tense because it took so long for it [to] come together,” Cage told Variety in July. “They felt at one point that it was lightning in a bottle, but that point has since faded into the distance and it’s no longer relevant.”
His casting was first announced in May 2020 for the eight-episode series following the Netflix series’ March debut.
