Nicolas Cage's Dracula role in Universal Pictures’ upcoming monster movie Renfield gives him the opportunity to outdo his vampiric method acting in Vampire's Kiss. One of Nicolas Cage's earlier movies, 1988's Vampire's Kiss centers on a literary agent living with a mental health condition, that worsens when he believes he was bitten by a vampire. Vampire's Kiss is Cage in full-on mode, but now that he'll be playing a "real" vampire opposite Nicholas Hoult’s Renfield, he could push his performance even further.
While he'd go on to receive critical acclaim and even Oscar recognition for more prestigious roles such as in Leaving Las Vegas, and Adaptation, Nicolas Cage considers his role in Vampire's Kiss to be one of his favorite performances. Though the film was a critical and commercial flop when it was first released, it has since garnered a cult following, largely due to Nicolas Cage's gloriously over-the-top acting. Cage is an advocate of method acting and often takes it to the extreme in order to deliver his unique performances, and Vampire's Kiss was no exception. In probably the movie's most infamous scene, Nicolas Cage eats a live cockroach. Originally the script had Cage eat a raw egg, but he insisted that a cockroach would be more shocking to the audience. He was right, though has since stated that eating the cockroach was by far the "most disgusting, horrible memory" he's had on a movie set (and he had to do it twice).
On the surface, it seems that Nicolas Cage's Dracula is a natural fit. Notwithstanding this, Dracula has been filled by some of cinema's most famous actors over the last 100 years, and he'll need to do something that will make his interpretation stand out from the crowd (fellow method actor Gary Oldman slept in a coffin every night while filming Bram Stoker's Dracula and isolated himself from the rest of the cast). As Renfield will apparently be darkly comedic in tone and “extremely violent” according to writer/producer Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), there is potentially greater flexibility for Nicolas Cage to bring his brand of intense method acting he displayed in Vampire's Kiss to the role, and potentially exceed it.
Nicolas Cage is cast in roles as he isn't afraid to push the boundaries of acting, and he's imbued his method acting with his own unique style of performance, which he's dubbed "Nouveau Shamanic." His sensibilities could be perfect for giving the latest cinematic Dracula something new that will be shocking to modern audiences as much as the Vampire’s Kiss cockroach was back in 1988. Today, Nicolas Cage has become something of a caricature of himself, reveling in how big or odd he can make his performances. While the last decade has seen his output of movies swing wildly between hit and miss, he's almost always the best thing in them and is captivating to watch regardless of whether it’s a good or bad Nicolas Cage movie.
As well as Vampire's Kiss, Nicolas Cage's Dracula role has another connection that will help him inhabit the part in Renfield. He also produced 2000's Shadow of the Vampire, which fictionalized the making of the 1922 classic vampire film Nosferatu (which itself is an unofficial adaptation of the novel Dracula). Cage originally wanted to play the vampire Count Orlok, but relinquished the role when Willem Dafoe became interested. With Nicolas Cage's unique acting style and affinity for Dracula, he's no doubt got something special in mind for Transylvania's most favorite resident.
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