The April 14th theatrical release date for Universal’s Dracula comedy Renfield, starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as his titular lackey, is swiftly creeping up on us – and with that date just three weeks away, a new trailer for the film has arrived online! You can check it out in the embed above.
Based on a treatment written by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Renfield was 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.
In this film, Renfield has been serving the bloodsucker for centuries, and now he has grown sick and tired of his centuries as Dracula’s lackey. The henchman finds a new lease on life life and maybe even redemption when he falls for feisty, perennially angry traffic cop Rebecca Quincy.
Cage and Hoult are joined in the cast by Awkwafina as traffic cop Rebecca Quincy, Adrian Martinez as her traffic cop partner Chris, Shohreh Aghdashloo as a feared crime lord named Ella, Bess Rous as “people in toxic relationships” support group member Caitlyn, and James Moses Black and Ben Schwartz in unspecified roles.
While Universal is developing several monster projects, they were excited to get Renfield into production first. According to Deadline, 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.”
Kirkman, who has described the film as “a violent comedy”, is producing Renfield with David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst of Skybound Entertainment, alongside McKay’s producing partner Samantha Nisenboim.
Renfield has been rated R for bloody violence, some gore, language throughout, and some drug use.
JoBlo / Arrow in the Head’s own Jessica Dwyer was able to visit the set of Renfield, and you can read her reports at the following links:
Everything We Learned From the Writer, Production Designer, and more!
Nicholas Hoult discusses playing the iconic character
Exclusive Interview with Nicolas Cage about Dracula
What did you think of the new Renfield trailer? Will you be watching this movie next month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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