Dracula Spinoff Renfield Begins Filming & Universal Shares Cool Retro Logo

Every piece of information released about Chris McKay's upcoming "Dracula" spin-off, "Renfield," is an absolute delight. Between stellar actors being added to the cast and Nicolas Cage (who is donning the cape of Dracula) taking inspiration from Gabriel in James Wan's "Malignant," the anticipation surrounding "Renfield" is already palpable. 

Now, the official Instagram account for Universal Monsters has shared an uber-cool retro-style logo for the film's title. A behind-the-scenes shot of the "Renfield" slate was accompanied by the announcement that day one of principal photography is complete, while the slate itself reveals the red and yellow-tinted vintage logo.

"Renfield" will be taking a look into the toxic and often-codependent relationship between Count Dracula and Renfield, with Nicolas Hoult playing the titular character. Renfield first appeared in Bram Stoker's "Dracula," in which he was one of the inmates at the asylum overseen by Dr. John Seward. Renfield suffered from delusions that urged him to compulsively eat living creatures, including insects, birds, and spiders. Although Renfield is best known as Dracula's henchman and does not quite have an arc of his own, the upcoming horror-comedy will have plenty of opportunities to flesh out the character in interesting ways.

"Morbidly Excitable"

While the exact plot details of "Renfield" are unclear at the moment, the project has been described as a modern-day adventure story with a comedic tone, although it is expected to be extremely violent. As Hoult's Renfield is expected to answer Dracula's every beck and call in order to be able to gulp down insects to his fill, it will be interesting to see that dynamic play out. Cage, of course, is no stranger to vampire horror-comedy; the sequence of him running through the streets of New York shouting "I'm a vampire! I'm a vampire! I'm a vampire!" in "Vampire's Kiss" is both hilarious and iconic.

The script for "Renfield" was written by Ryan Ridley ("Rick and Morty") from an original story conceptualized by Robert Kirkman ("The Walking Dead"). McKay has helmed Amazon's "The Tomorrow War" and "The Lego Batman Movie" before this, and will also be acting as producer alongside Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst. McKay's producing partner, Samantha Nisenboim, will be executive producing the project.

Apart from Hoult and Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, and Shohreh Aghdashloo have joined the cast of "Renfield" so far.

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