Following close on the heels of the awesome news that Nicolas Cage will be playing Dracula in Universal Pictures’ “modern day adventure story” take on Dracula’s henchman Renfield (with Nicholas Hoult playing the title character), Deadline has just announced that Golden Globe winner Awkwafina is joining the two Nics in the cast. Details on Awkwafina’s character were not revealed.
Awkwafina is the star of the Comedy Central series Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens and was recently seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Based on a treatment written by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Renfield will be directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War) from a screenplay by Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty). In Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula,
R.M. Renfield was an inmate at a lunatic asylum who was thought to be suffering from delusions but actually is a servant of Dracula. Plot details of the movie weren’t announced, but it’s believed to take place during the present day and is not a period piece.
Kirkman has said Renfield is “a story about him being Dracula’s henchman and how shitty a job that is.” While Universal is developing several monster projects, Deadline previously reported that they’re excited about Renfield because the story’s “mix of humor and action was something the studio was looking for because so many of the other properties have more of a horror element to them.”
Hoult was cast as Renfield back in August, but with Cage and Awkwafina’s involvement with the project being announced on back-to-back days it’s looking like Renfield might be close to going into production.
Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst of Skybound Entertainment are producing Renfield with McKay’s producing partner Samantha Nisenboim.
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