Over the course of a 40+ year acting career, Nicolas Cage has proven he is capable of both quantity and quality in the various roles he has portrayed.

In 2019 alone, he appeared in 6 different films, and a quick scroll down his IMDb page will reveal that he's averaged about that many acting parts every year since 2007 (the year of Ghost Rider). As for quality, he won Best Actor at the Oscars for his role in 1996's Leaving Las Vegas and was nominated for another in 2003 for his performance in Adaptation.

Now, he's being praised for a different part by one of his co-stars in the upcoming Renfield movie, which focuses on the auxiliary creep from Bela Lugosi's heavily-adapted vampire novel — the part of Dracula.

Speaking in a recent interview with Collider, Brandon Scott Jones, who plays "Mark," said of working with Cage:

“One of the biggest takeaways I had when I came home from shooting that movie was, Nicolas Cage has been in 14,000 movies. He’s been acting forever. He’s one of the best. He’s so, so good. And there’s this maybe cynical side of yourself that you don't even know exists — and when I say yourself, I'm kind of talking about myself — where you kind of assume that maybe they're just sort of going on autopilot or whatever. And I watched this man come in to work, sit in the make-up trailer, get all made up as Dracula, and then show up on set and was so excited, and so — oh my god, I almost got a little emotional because it was really moving to see someone love the craft so much. And he had these really funny moments where I remember him being like, ‘Wait, wait, I just want to try something really quick,’ and then he would just make a facial expression into the camera just so they could have it."

Jones shared another glimpse into Cage's collaborative spirit on set: "He pitched me a line. He was like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait. I got an idea, I got an idea. Say this!" The actor added, "He pitched me a line, a joke to say, and it was really, really cool just to see him so in it and fun, and having the time of his life."

Related: Renfield Trailer Reveals Nicolas Cage as Count Dracula

'Cage Rage' Meme Continues to Haunt Actor

Vampires Kiss
Hemdale Film Corporation

The internet fondly remembers the last time Cage attempted to become a vampire, as New York literary agent Peter Loew in 1989's Vampire Kiss, where he literally cried the words 'boo-hoo' in a campy shriek and made the face that launched a million memes, much to the actor's chagrin.

While promoting the horror-action movie Mandy in 2018, Cage said:

“I’m sure it’s frustrating for [director] Panos [Cosmatos], who has made what I consider a very lyrical, internal, and poetic work of art, to have this ‘Cage rage’ thing slammed all over his movie … the internet has kind of done the movie a disservice.”

While Cage himself may be determined to escape his meme's shadow, his next acting turn lives entirely in the shadows. Audiences can see legendary actor Nicolas Cage play the legendary vampire Dracula in Renfield starting April 14.