Nicolas Cage Bares His Fangs as Dracula in 'Renfield' Trailer with Nicholas Houl

Nicholas Hoult is desperate to get away from Nicolas Cage's Dracula in the first trailer for their upcoming movie Renfield.

On Thursday, Universal Pictures released the trailer for the upcoming "modern monster tale of Dracula's loyal servant," which stars Cage, 58, as Dracula opposite 33-year-old Hoult's title character, according to an official synopsis for the movie.

Renfield's trailer showcases Renfield himself as he attends a group meeting in search of help ending a "toxic relationship" with his boss and struggles to escape from doing Dracula's bidding. Renfield's association with the vampire has its advantages, though — Renfield has supernatural powers that allow him to fight off criminals and save Awkwafina's character's life in the process.

The trailer saves its best reveal for last, teasing Cage's Dracula as he enters Renfield's meeting in a school gymnasium and floats menacingly overhead.

The film is set to follow Renfield as he sets out "to see if there's a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness" and "end his codependency" with Dracula, according to a synopsis.

In December 2021, Cage told Variety's Awards Circuit podcast that he wants to bring "something new" to the character, who has previously been portrayed onscreen by Bela Lugosi in the black-and-white Universal classic, Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 version, Frank Langella, Christopher Lee, Gerard Butler and Luke Evans, among others.

  I want it to pop in a unique way from how we've seen it played. So I'm thinking to really focus on the movement of the character. You know, I saw Malignant and I thought what she did with those moves — and even Ringu with Sadako [Yamamura]," he said at the time. "I want to look at what we can explore with this movement and voice."

What makes it super fun is that it's a comedy. And when you get that tone right — comedy and horror — like American Werewolf in London, it's a blast," Cage added to Variety during his podcast appearance. "It's got to be a bullseye. But that's what I'm looking for, something new to bring to the character and also that perfect tone of comedy and horror."

The new movie, directed by The Tomorrow War's Chris McKay, also stars Ben Schwartz and Adrian Martinez alongside Cage, Hoult and Awkwafin.