‘Renfield’: Star-Studded Dracula Film Begins Production!!

The horror genre has seen a resurgence in the last decade and Universal has been in the middle of that with such hits like the remake of their monster movie classic The Invisible Man. Now the studio best known for their gothic monster movies of the mid 20th century look to strike again while the iron is hot with their new Dracula film Renfield directed by Chris McKay. Based on the Count’s famous sidekick of the same name, a ton of information about the project has slowly come out in the last couple of months. It has all led to this moment as today comes the announcement that the film, which is starring Nicholas Hoult as the crazed title character and Nicolas Cage as Dracula, has just entered production.

Universal Pictures made the announcement on their various social media accounts with the simple caption of, “And it begins”, and with a Dracula emoji for good measure. The post also came with an image of the official film slate showing off the logo which has the Renfield title in the same blocky font as Universal’s original Dracula movie back in 1931.

The yellow and red color scheme is identical as well. However, that is not the only first look we got of the film’s production as the cinematographer of the new monster movie, Mitchell Amundsen, took to his Instagram to show off one of the sets. There is no caption or context given, but they appear to be filming on a basketball court and the brick walls around the court give off this old-timey vibe. However, this film is supposedly going to be set in modern times and maybe Dracula hilariously took up basketball.

With Cage behind the fangs you never know, but in all seriousness, everyone involved in the production seems very excited. Hoult also shared the same slate image that Universal did and McKay, who is best known for The Lego Batman Movie and The Tomorrow War, has been sharing the cast and crew’s excitement on his Instagram story. He even changed his profile picture on his Instagram to the Renfield film slate.

The film is being pegged as an original new take on Bram Stoker‘s Dracula that looks to show Hoult’s Redfield, who most famously was portrayed by Dwight Frye in the 1931 classic, as someone who is sick of being manipulated by Cage’s Prince of Darkness. This all leads to him falling in love with a fiery traffic cop played by Awkwafina, giving the henchmen a newfound purpose in life. This star-studded film also features Adrian Martinez, Ben Schwartz, and the recently added Shohreh Aghdashloo and the screenplay was written by The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman and Rick and Morty’s Ryan Ridley.

In a world where Michael Myers and Ghostface are once again stabbing people on the big screen, it is nice, after many failed attempts, to see the Universal Monsters back in a big way as well. Along with Renfield, Universal also has a Wolf Man remake in development with The Invisible Man’s Leigh Whannell directing and Ryan Gosling in the starring role. For all the latest news on Renfield, including an impending release date, stick with Collider. Check out the slate for Renfield below: