Renfield Director on Working with Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage

It’s not always easy to assemble a team that’s eager to be a part of a project, and even more so when enlisting big names in Hollywood who (understandably) aren’t looking to complicate their careers with difficult collaborators. However, regarding the recent supernatural comedy horror hybrid Renfield, its team of notable names was totally willing to do whatever was required to get the job done. Especially Renfield’s leading duo, Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult.

Renfield’s Hands-On Team of Actors

When speaking to /Film about the new movie Renfield and working with its two leading actors, director Chris McKay admits he was one of the lucky ones, explaining, “Oh, yeah. Yeah. You couldn’t ask for two better partners in Nick Hoult and Nic Cage. They both love making movies. Hoult works super hard. He threw himself into, obviously, the character but also the action choreography. He did a lot of his own stunts, and he doesn’t mind eating bugs [laughs] because he had to eat some real bugs at times. Also, we had a dance sequence that we ended up cutting, and he threw himself in the choreography for that, so a great, giving partner.”

When discussing what Hoult’s counterpart Cage brings to the film in particular, he adds, “And Cage is the most enthusiastic person. He’s filled with joy. He loves filmmaking, he loves movies, and creating characters, and being on set, and he’s fully committed. So he’s the guy who’s going to sit in the makeup chair for four hours to do some of the makeup because I want to do all this stuff practically. He’s going to sit there for four hours and do that and then do a 12-hour day, and he never complains or anything. He’s just really inspiring to be around. So I was really lucky. I got really lucky that these guys wanted to do this movie.”

Renfield is exclusively in theaters now, courtesy of Universal Pictures.