Renfield: Nicolas Cage Dracula film has wrapped filming, reaches theatres in one year

Universal Pictures has announced (via Twitter) that filming has officially wrapped on their Universal Monsters violent comedy Renfield, which stars Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as his titular lackey. Renfield is set to reach theatres exactly one year from today, on April 14, 2023.

Based on a treatment written by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Renfield is 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.

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’s co-stars include 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.” Now we’ll have to wait and see which Universal Monsters project goes into production next. Ryan Gosling is attached to star in a new version of The Wolfman, director Chloe Zhao is developing a sci-fi Western version of Dracula, and Paul Feig is struggling to get a greenlight for his project Dark Army.

Kirkman is producing Renfield with David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst of Skybound Entertainment, alongside McKay’s producing partner Samantha Nisenboim.

Which monster movie are you hoping to see? Are you looking forward to Renfield? Let us know by leaving a comment below.