Nicolas Cage reveals key inspiration for Dracula in Renfield

Nicolas Cage says he took inspiration from the late Christopher Lee for his portrayal of Dracula in Renfield.

The 2023 movie focuses on the character of Renfield from Bram Stoker's Dracula, who is the title character's devoted human servant.

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Lee's depiction of Count Dracula is probably the most famous of all time, so it was only natural that Cage looked to that when putting his version of the character together.

"Well, I had a lot of help. There were a ton of super-talented people on that movie that helped design the look," he told Collider.

"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.”

Cage not in Renfield a lot

Cage went on to reveal that he didn't fully get to immerse himself in the character as he doesn't actually have much screen time as Dracula, and that the story is very much focused on Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult.

"I don't know how you say no to Dracula, but two things come to mind," he continued.

"One, he's a character that's been done well many times and then been done poorly many times. So you want to be on the side of doing something well.

"And also you want to be on the side of doing something fresh and something that pops. To me, because the movie's really not about me, Dracula rather, I don't have a lot of screen time.

"It's really Nick Hoult's movie, and it's about Renfield. I didn't have the time, like the two-hour narrative to really dig deep into Dracula's pathos per se. It's not that.

"But I did have enough screen time to be able to try to develop a pop-art style to the character that hopefully will be a nice contribution to the other performers that have done it, that have had their take on this legendary character in both literature and cinema.”