David Bowie inspired Nicolas Cage’s ’Renfield’ costume
For Nicolas Cage’s performance as Dracula in Renfield to be successful, his wardrobe needed to he perfect. It has now been revealed that it was inspired by rock icon David Bowie. The film chronicles Dracula’s assistant Renfield determination to see what lies beyond working for ‘The Prince of Darkness’.
When talking about his clothing, costume designer Lisa Lovaas said there was “some David Bowie influence”, telling Variety, “I loved the monochrome style of that iconic red suit of his from the late ’80s. Such a bold and powerful look which I thought worked well for Nic. It just felt like a strong dramatic flourish for the end”.
Lovaas added that she wanted to remain faithful to the story of Dracula, but that Cage was interested in trying different looks, continuing, “I had all kinds of things for Nic to try on, capes that were furlined, capes that were bejewelled, and Nic Cage was 100% game for all of it”.
Aside from Cage’s turn as Dracula, Lovaas mentioned going in a different direction for Nicholas Hoult’s Renfield, saying, “There’s a kind of naïveté and innocence there, which ties into his character and the sense of hopefulness he has for the future. And there’s nothing like patchwork pastels to bring that all together”.
In a two-star review of the film, Far Out said: “But where Edgar Wright’s films were genuinely funny from beginning to end, Renfield suffers from a reliance on the performance of Cage to deliver its humour. There’s an interesting story in Renfield somewhere, but Chris McKay looks to have tried to cough up too much at once”.
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