He’s given us zombie carnage by co-creating The Walking Dead comic book series, but Robert Kirkman has always had his eyes on bringing an even more terrifying horror villain to the screen.
“I wanted to become a part of the Universal Monsters and get to play in that world”, he told Zavvi. “And I was trying to think of a different way to do a Dracula story, a different angle to show Dracula from, as he is a great iconic character that can be placed in any kind of story and still be appealing.
“I thought it’d be cool to push the envelope and do something that had a lot of action and was very funny, but still maintain to that horror core that you really need to do an effective Dracula thing.”
Universal
This is where Kirkman’s movie pitch for what would become Renfield was born, reimagining Dracula as the toxic boss from hell who doesn’t care about his employee’s work-life balance.
But Dracula (Nicolas Cage, in the role he was born to play) is very much a supporting character in this story, which depicts him from the lens of Nicholas Hoult’s put-upon protagonist, who after centuries of working for the Count can see no way of escaping from this co-dependent relationship.
For director Chris McKay, who previously gave us The Lego Batman Movie, this quirky twist on another pop culture icon was part of the appeal of signing on to make the dark comedy – and the fact that he was a diehard horror fanboy helped sweeten the deal further.
Universal
Speaking to Zavvi, he said: “This is an original take on the Dracula world, and this is always what I’m looking for – trying to do something different with something familiar and have some fun with it.
I’m a big horror movie fan, and the fact that Robert and (screenwriter) Ryan Ridley found their way into this world in a way that wraps it with action and slapstick comedy without losing that gothic feel was something I really responded to; they weren’t allergic to still having that element of horror in it.
“There were never any handcuffs on us in terms of how we were told to depict Dracula. We got to pick and choose the powers him and Renfield had, and Universal were generous by letting us put Cage and Hoult into a Bela Lugosi/Tod Browning movie at the beginning of our movie, letting us draw liberally from their Universal Monsters movies to build ours.”
Universal
One of the biggest changes the pair made was relocating Renfield and Dracula to New Orleans, which they felt was the only American city that would make sense as a home for the gothic icons.
As McKay explained: “New Orleans is perfect, because for me it’s the only city in the United States that feels like a European city. It’s got French and Spanish architectural influences in it, and there’s an incredible nightlife that you associate with vampires; above ground-cemeteries, vampire tours and even a vampire café – this culture is all out there on the city’s periphery.
“If you’re a vampire trying to hide out in a city, what better place to blend in that New Orleans? They’ve been kicked out of Europe and ran out of every other place in the world, they’ve settled in the last place with some familiarity – and a nightlife where there’s lots of people out, late at night…”
Universal
“And don’t forget the other crucial factor”, Kirkman interjected. “Dracula is a (New Orleans pastry) Beignet fiend! It’s the only city where he can get that constant supply of Beignets and stay happy.”
Although Cage is a die-hard fan of Dracula, he wasn’t just looking to previous screen incarnations of the character for influence on his performance, claiming that he was also influenced by The Graduate and other movies that depicted toxic relationships. This was something McKay urged both of his actors to dive into for research into their respective roles.
“We talked a lot about the idea that the way to make the movie funny is to take the supernatural out of it and play these as real relationships. This is the boss from hell, and the eager employee who just wants to please him despite his insane requests – we stripped their characters down to that.
Universal
“We discussed Anne Bancroft’s character in The Graduate with Cage, but with Nic Hoult, we talked about real world stories. There was an NPR report on people who worked for bad bosses in Hollywood which I gave him to listen to, as the employees were discussing why they chose to stay in those relationships and continued to work for those people who weren’t just being rude, but abusive, and we wanted to explore why people would choose to stay in those relationships.
“When people are in these situations they give away their power without realising that they’re doing it, and seeing that idea of being able to take your power back was such an important thing to me when I read it in the script. We hope people enjoy the action and the comedy – but for those who need it, there is a message in this movie.”
McKay would be eager to return to make a full-blown Dracula horror movie with Cage (“his love and knowledge of horror is really deep – plus, he’s not afraid to get in a harness and run up walls!”), but Kirkman has an alternate pitch for the horror movie he’d love to make next.
Universal
Universal previously tried to get a “Dark Universe” off the ground, featuring all their classic movie monsters, but the writer has only one character he wants Renfield to cross paths with in a future movie.
“I think the Dark Universe was an awesome idea; I think that everyone needs to acknowledge that the Universal Monsters was the first shared universe in movie history, there’s a tremendous legacy there.
“But as far as another character that I would want to see Renfield interacting with? I’m going to say Dominic Toretto. Who wouldn’t want to see that movie?”
Renfield is released in UK cinemas on Friday, 14th April.
