Nicolas Cage stayed in character as Count Dracula while filming ‘Renfield’
Nicolas Cage has revealed that he stayed in character and even “drank his own blood” while filming Renfield. He plays Count Dracula in the forthcoming new film.
The movie also stars Nicholas Hoult as the titular character. It comes with the following synopsis: “Renfield, the tortured aide to his narcissistic boss, Dracula, is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding. However, after centuries of servitude, he’s ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of the Prince of Darkness.”
Cage was keen to pay homage to Christopher Lee’s portrayal of Dracula as he donned the famed cape. So, in order to stay in character, Cage took to wearing his fangs off-set to help him retain the accent throughout.
“Whatever scene we did he would still be 100% living in that attitude after we stopped shooting,” director Chris McKay told Insider. “So if he’s a little frosty in the scene he’s going to have a little bit of that between takes. But still up for whatever we were doing.”
Apparently, you could even have a normal conversation about sports or mortgage rates with Cage, and he would interact with you as Dracula while the content of his response would be simply in keeping with the conversation.
Cage has since revealed that this led to him consuming large quantities of his own blood. “No reason in terms of method,” he said of the blood consumption, “but the fangs were genuine fangs, they were ceramic and quite pointy.”
He concluded in the Reddit Ask Me Anything: “So, I did bite my lip a few times which made me drink my own blood.” While Hoult joked that Cage liked the taste prompting Cage to quip: “There is something warm and fuzzy about it.”
Renfield will hit UK theatres on April 14th.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.