That's a wrap on Renfield. A horror-comedy movie following Nicholas Hoult as the titular right-hand man of Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage) himself, Renfield is scheduled for a release in April 2023. A full year ahead of its planned premiere, Universal Pictures has announced with an image from the set that the movie has wrapped. You can see the announcement post below.
"Principal photography on Renfield has officially wrapped! Only….*checks calendar* 365 days til it hits the big screen!" the studio noted.
Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War) directed Renfield using a screenplay by Ryan Ridley (Rick & Morty), which is based on a story by The Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman. McKay and Kirkman are also producing with David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst. The film stars Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies), Awkwafina (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Nicolas Cage (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent), Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog 2), Adrian Martinez (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Saddam), and Bess Rous (Ghostbusters: Answer the Call), and James Moses Black.
Reportedly, the film is an original take on Count Dracula that brings the iconic vampire into the present day. It follows Renfield, who's growing weary of his role as Dracula's lackey for centuries and finds a new outlook on life when he meets a feisty traffic cop (Awkwafina).
Nicolas Cage Plays Count Dracula in Renfield
One aspect of the film that has many fans excited is that it will introduce Nicolas Cage as a "funny and unique" version of Count Dracula. While fans have seen Cage playing almost every kind of character imaginable in his dozens of films, he has not actually played the Count, though he did play a man who believed he was turning into a vampire in Vampire's Kiss. Cage recently spoke about the challenges of taking on this character that's also been done so many times, while revealing that his father, August Coppola, influenced the portrayal.
"I thought that I could do something with my own enthusiasm about Bram Stoker's book, as well as Christopher Lee's performance in the Hammer films, as well as Langella's performance, as well as Oldman's performance, as well as Lugosi's performance," Cage said, per Post Cred. "I wanted to embrace elements of each of them, but also Orlok and Max Schreck; I wanted to get some of the German expressionism and body language in it."
Of his dad's influence, Cage added, "By and large, I am channeling my father, August Coppola who had a MidAtlantic accent... It's kind of amazing to me, how much he resembles Christopher Lee is remarkable. So I thought, okay, Dad looks like Christopher Lee. Dad kind of sounds like he's in a Hammer horror film. And I did Dad in Vampire's Kiss, so I'm going to bring him back from the afterlife as Dracula, combined with all the other elements I mentioned earlier."
Renfield will be released on April 14, 2022, exactly one full year from the date that the project officially wrapped filming.