“Just make sure he’s very handsome”: Francis Ford Coppola Had the Weirdest Advice for Nicolas Cage after Taking on the Role of Dracula
- Nicolas Cage shares one advice he received from uncle and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola for playing Dracula.
- Cage mentioned that he basically played his father on-screen.
- Francis Ford Coppola praises Cage for his performance in Dream Scenario.
Directed by Chris McKay, 2023’s Renfield is an action comedy horror movie starring Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult in the lead roles. The characters in the movie are inspired by Bran Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula and tell the story of Dracula’s devoted servant.
Upon its release, the movie received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and the audience. But the actors were appreciated for their acting. Nicolas Cage shared one piece of advice he received from his uncle when he signed the movie.
Nicolas Cage on getting one advice from Francis Ford Coppola
Actor Nicolas Cage played the character of Dracula, Nicholas Hoult’s R. M. Renfield’s ill-tempered and selfish master in Renfield. During the promotion of the movie, the actors spoke to Kevin McCarthy, who asked Cage whether he was able to draw some inspiration from his uncle and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s vampire horror movie released in 1992.
Cage said he drew no inspiration from Gary Oldman, who played Count Dracula in 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, adding that his performance was brilliant. The actor mentioned that he thinks every frame or movie Coppola works on is a piece of art, so when he told his uncle about singing in Dracula for Renfield, Francis Ford Coppola said,
Just make sure he’s very handsome.
Cage added that he was playing his father on-screen. During an interview with Collider, the actor admitted that he had always wanted to play Dracula on screen, but he was never offered the part. He also added,
But I know that it is profoundly important to me that whatever I contribute as Dracula, it has to be on the side of doing something well because Dracula’s character has been portrayed many times in cinema. It’s been done a few times well, and it’s been done more often poorly, and I didn’t want to go in that direction.
The actor also shared that he worked very closely with the director when it came to his character. He noted that when there was something he wasn’t comfortable with, they would rehearse and modify it, which fit his vision, and Cage was comfortable with it as well.
Francis Ford Coppola has nothing but praise for his nephew Nicolas Cage
The filmmaker took to social media to thank his nephew and actor Nicolas Cage for his brilliant performance as a college professor, Paul Matthews, in Dream Scenario. The black comedy fantasy movie that was released in 2023 received a positive response upon its release. Coppola wrote,
My nephew Nicolas always pulls a wonderful performance out of his hat; even as a little kid, he could imitate a computer. His work as Michael Sarnoski’s Pig and his most recent performance in Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario is beyond an old uncle’s praise.
In his recent conversation with The New Yorker, Cage touched upon the subjects of his children, explaining that they are all different and have different mothers, which is why his experience with them is also different. He added,
It’s not what I had originally thought would happen when I fell in love or got married—that I would have three children with three different moms—but that’s what happened.
Cage shares Weston Coppola Cage with ex-Christina Fulton; Kal-El with ex-wife Alice Kim; and lastly, August with Roki Shibata. He shared that being a father is like breathing for him.
Renfield is streaming on Peakcock.
