Director of ‘Renfield’ reveals he was worried people wouldn’t accept Nicolas Cage as Dracula
The director of Renfield, Chris McKay, has admitted that he had concerns that the bosses at Universal Pictures would need convincing about Nicolas Cage playing Dracula in his new horror comedy. Whilst he was confident about Nicholas Hoult playing the titular assistant to the vampire, Cage’s ability to be the fearsome villain was up for debate.
In a new interview with Metro, McKay revealed that whilst he was confident that the studio would be convinced by Holt playing Renfield, he was worried about their opinions on Cage in the role of The Count.
He said: “We were always given lists from the studio or from casting of people that could play this role. Cage had come up and I was worried that the studio wouldn’t get behind it. I just didn’t know if they would like ‘get it’, you know what I mean?”
“Because they were really big on Dracula [and] they kept talking about ‘menacing, menacing, menacing’ and Dracula had to be menacing,” the director continued. “A lot of people can play Dracula and they’ll probably do a really good job, but he’s the one person that I’ve got to see what that guy’s gonna do with Dracula”.
McKay then admitted that he is a big Nicolas Cage fan and has “a deep love of his performances” in early titles such as Valley Girl, Birdie and Raising Arizona. However, it was his role in 1995’s Kiss of Death that convinced McKay that he could take on one of the most famous roles in popular culture.
McKay said: “There’s a movie called Kiss of Death where Cage played the bad guy. This was in the 90s when Cage was really jacked up, so he was really physically menacing, and his performance was menacing.”
“But in that movie, he’s a guy who’s super menacing, and yet he’s an asthmatic, and he’s got a puffer, so he’s got this incredible sense of menace and vulnerability together – and I just knew he could do it”, he explained. “Plus, he’s super funny and he’s one of my favourite actors – he’s a movie star and he’s brilliant. I’ve been in awe of his performances my whole life.”
Luckily for McKay, the studio didn’t take much convincing: “When I talked to the studio about him, I was really surprised to find that they were really excited about it – and that the marketing team especially. So, it was really great that he had fit the bill perfectly.”
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