There is no one who can deny that Nicolas Cage has had a wildly varied career. From blockbusters such as Con Air and Face/Off, through indie movies like Pig and the bonkers The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, to his upcoming turn as Dracula in Universal’s Renfield and western The Old Way, Cage has constantly delivered performances that are never the same twice. In a recent interview with ScreenRant, he revealed that one of the reasons for this is down to advice given to him by music legend David Bowie. Discussing approaching his latest role as a challenge, Cage said:
“I see myself as a student of film performance and I need to challenge myself. And I need to find things in my past, in my memories, in my imagination, in my dreams to get to a place where I don't feel I'm acting. I want to have it feel authentic, so that the audience is with me. And what I will say is I'm a student and I want to find characters that challenge me. Maybe they don't all work. But maybe when they do work, I will have learned something. Or I will have learned something even if they don't work. The idea is to never stay comfortable, and that's what keeps people going, I think.
I even asked David Bowie once, 'How did you do it? How did you keep reinventing yourself?' And the wise man said, "Well, I just never got comfortable with what I was doing." And I took those words to heart. So when I have a project in front of me, I have to know I can bring something. But to answer your question, where does it really come from? And that's also a bit of a mystery. There's some magic to it. I don't really know.”
Nicolas Cage Will Play 'Bad Boss' Dracula in Universal’s Renfield
The recent trailer for Universal’s new take on their Monsters franchise, Renfield, revealed a first look at Nicolas Cage’s creepy but comical Count Dracula. As another left turn for Cage, becoming the latest actor to take on the iconic role was one that required plenty of work for what is reportedly a short amount of screen time. Previously, Cage told Collider about the inspiration behind his unexpected appearance, saying:
“Well, I had a lot of help. There were a ton of super-talented people on that movie that helped design the look. We wanted it to be more homage, more Christopher Lee. I favored Christopher Lee as Dracula and I liked his kind of sixties hairdo, but the wardrobe, the costume, and no, I didn't come up with the idea for the rings. That all came out of a wardrobe. They came in with all that. Maybe they sent something in me that I would like that, but that was really their contribution.”
Renfield will be released on April 14, while The Old Way is out now.