Gofobo’s Renfield interview clips: The cast dishes about Dracula

If you subscribe to Gofobo emails, you may have seen the one where they shared three Renfield interview clips. They included an interview with Ben Schwartz (who plays “Teddy Lobo”), another with director Chris McKay and writer Robert Kirkman, and a third with Nicolas Cage (“Dracula”) and Nicholas Hoult (“Renfield”).

They’re not very long. Each one is only about three minutes and 30 seconds long. They’re interesting, especially if you like behind-the-scenes kinds of insights.

Schwartz, McKay, Kirkman, Cage and Hoult may be answering the same questions, but who knows? You don’t really know what question prompted their responses. That’s what you’re truly seeing: just clips of their answers.

Which is fun because then they’re all a little different, but they do share one thing in common: Dracula.

In Cage’s case, it’s how he brought the iconic character to life, including channeling his father to do it. In McKay’s case, it’s all the different versions he wanted to “synthesize” in Renfield. And Ben Schwartz talks about the comedic Dracula influences he grew up watching.

I’ve highlighted parts of their answers below. But I’ve also included each of the clips in case you’re interested in watching them in their entireties.

Ben Schwartz Renfield interview clip

Schwartz’s interview clip starts out with him talking about first seeing Cage doing a screen test, before they got in front of the cameras.

"“And then he came up looking like Bela Lugosi and it was…amazing. It was incredible. And he’s walking around and you’re like oh my God. But then you see him all like (scrunches up his face)…’cause he goes through so many different phases of Dracula. And then when I had my scenes with him and he’s kind of a little messed up, it was terrifying. It was so easy to react. All you had to do was look at him and act.”"

Schwartz also talks about some of his Dracula influences over the years. Of course he’s seen the classics, but he also shared how he’s a Mel Brooks fan, so Dead and Loving It was part of his viewing repertoire too.

And actually he leaned more towards the comedy side, admitting that he always avoided horror movies because they scared him. But as an adult he’s added some in.

Chris McKay and Robert Kirkman Renfield interview clip

Their clip starts off with McKay talking about Cage and how “he’s an incredible cinephile” who loves horror movies and Dracula. Then he talks about how the interpretation of the Renfield Dracula came to be.

“As we were talking about what Dracula should look like just in general,” McKay says, “you know, for me, I wanted to synthesize stuff, whether it was Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, uh…”

Then someone off-screen asks, “Gary Oldman?” and McKay agrees, yes, him too, and also elements of Dracula from Bram Stoker’s book.

“That’s why you have a top hat in one scene and a cane,” he says.

As for the teeth, he wanted to “mimic the Lon Chaney, Sr. London After Midnight all sharp teeth.”

Then when Cage came in, they described it to him as a “rock and roll Dracula. We wanted it to be kind of really flashy and big.”

So that’s where they got other elements of Cage’s outfit, like the rings and the fur.

And then Kirkman interrupts, joking, “And I just want to say I was absolutely essential to this process because I would go, ‘That looks really cool.'”

Which prompted a hearty laugh from the person off-camera.

Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult Renfield interview clip

“Well, the words, ‘I am Dracula,’ I wanted to channel a little of the Transylvanian voice,” Cage says at the start of his clip. “But by and large, my favorite Dracula is Christopher Lee.”

Which may give us a clue as to at least one question they were all asked to answer for these interviews, “Who’s your favorite Dracula?”

But then Cage goes on to talk about the different “sounds” of Dracula. Lee’s is British. Cage’s father, who Cage said was “the biggest influence for Dracula,” had a “mid-Atlantic” sound.

"“What I didn’t want to have was a goofy Transylvanian sound in the role. So I thought my father, whom I channel in a little movie I made called Vampire’s Kiss, was a great starting point for the way this Dracula speaks.”"

So now we have a peek into what Cage was thinking insofar as what his rendition of Dracula would sound like.

Renfield final trailer

Who’s your favorite Dracula? Or are you waiting to see Renfield in case Cage makes your list? Either way, leave a comment letting us know!