Renfield, the henchman of Dracula, is going to be the subject of a new film. The Hollywood Reporter reports that actor Nicholas Hoult will play this character, who was originally created in 1897 by author Bram Stoker. Renfield was an inmate at a mental hospital, and he had been obsessed with drinking blood, which leads him to believe that it would give him immortality. He bows down before the king of vampires, who feeds him insects and rats for food. Chris McKay will be directing this movie, and all details on the plot are still pending release date has not been announced yet.
“Renfield” Plot Summary
Renfield is a patient at an insane asylum. He has been obsessed with drinking blood, which he believes would give him immortality. Dracula and Renfield form a pact: Renfield will serve the vampire king by becoming his spokesperson to the world, while in return Dracula will allow Renfield to drink as much human blood as he wants from patients at the mental hospital where he lives.
The inmates are terrified of this man who drinks all their food so they throw it away when no one’s looking, however after weeks of going without eating anything but rats and insects, they start finding that even these things can’t satisfy him anymore.
Nicholas Hoult Biography
Nick Hoult was born Nicholas David Stretton-Holt on November 24, 1989, in Wokingham, Berkshire. His mother is a teacher, and his father was an IT consultant.
Hoult first became known as the young man who played Tony Stonem in the British teen soap opera “Grange Hill” (1997 – 2002). In 2001 he made his feature film debut in Joe Cornish’s sci-fi comedy horror-thriller “Creep,” playing Tom Bowen, one of three boys terrorized by bogeyman Mr. Jones played by Ray Winstone.
In 2011 Hoult starred opposite Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron in Snow White And The Huntsman, directed by Rupert Sanders from a screenplay written by Evan Spiliotopoulos and released on June 30th, 2012 to mixed reviews but with worldwide box office success and Hoult’s performance winning several co-starring awards.
In 2013 he starred in the film adaptation of John le Carré’s “The Secret Service” as Gary Oldman’s son who is recruited into MI-Five to combat a wave of anarchist terror attacks by an extremist group called The Network, with Colin Firth playing his mentor.
In 2015 played Beast (a prince cursed under appearance) alongside Emma Watson in Disney live-action remake of Beauty And The Beast directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay written by Stephen Chbosky and released on March 17th, 2017, to near-universal acclaim for reinvigorating interest in both the original material as well as Disney movies.
“Renfield” Cast Details
Currently, Nicholas Hoult is the only star attached to “Renfield.” Per Deadline, Hoult will play the titular character first made famous in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” This is yet another major role for Hoult in a recent hot streak of projects. In the last few years, Hoult has been quietly dominating both movies and television, appearing in “The Favourite,” “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” “Tolkien,” as well as “The Great” and “Crossing Swords,” both on Hulu.
These days, it seems the actor, who broke out in the early 2000s with his charming performance opposite Hugh Grant in “About a Boy,” apparently is keen to stick with the darker, dramatic fare. Just one day before his role in “Renfield” was announced, Deadline also reported he’d signed on to star in “The Menu,” a psychological thriller set in the world of “eccentric culinary culture,” alongside Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes.
Although no other casting announcements have been made, with Hoult now attached, it should be easier to assemble a cast around the star. This means we should be hearing more about who’s joining Hoult in the Universal Pictures project in the coming months.
Release Date of “Renfield”
Currently, the Chris McKay-directed “Renfield” has no set release date. However, given the subject matter of the project and the fact it’s being announced in mid-2021, we have some clues about which release window Universal Pictures will try to lockdown. Because “Renfield” will be part of Universal’s monster movie catalog, we can expect the studio to set a late September or October release date to coincide with what will probably be a spooky feature film.
