Nicolas Cage is Count Dracula in First Set Photos for Renfield

Universal may not be pushing forward with their Dark Universe, but that means they can now try different takes with their Monster IP. Last December it was announced that Nicolas Cage would be playing the part of Dracula in the movie Renfield, and now we have our first images of Cage as the immortal count.

These photos come courtesy of People (via @FreddyInSpace):

Props to People for scoring the first-look at Nicolas Cage's Dracula in the upcoming Universal Monsters movie Renfield. Loving what I'm seeing here. Reminds me a bit of Christopher Lee's Dracula! https://t.co/5Sg0CZfLlr pic.twitter.com/aAXapqzTNU

— John Squires (@FreddyInSpace) March 23, 2022

Back in December when Cage landed the role, he talked about the inspiration he would use to bring the character to life. He says, “I’m thinking to really focus on the movement of the character. 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.”

Though we have had endless interpretations of Dracula, this story will be focusing on the character of Renfield, who will be played by Nicholas Hoult. In the lore, Renfield was a human that was thought to have been crazy, but as it turned out, he was just possessed by Dracula to do his bidding. Probably the most famous depiction of Renfield is played y Peter MacNicol in Dracula: Dead and Loving It:

Though the “Dark Universe” has horror roots, Cage comments that this time, Renfield will be a comedy, He explains, “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. It’s got to be a bulls-eye. But that’s what I’m looking for, something new to bring to the character, and also that perfect tone of comedy and horror.”

Renfield is set to hit theaters on April 14, 2023.