Dracula’s Sidekick ‘Renfield’ Is Getting His Own Movie
The Tomorrow War director Chris McKay has set his sights on his next project, a Universal monster movie about Count Dracula’s infamous acolyte, Renfield. According to The Hollywood Reporter, McKay will direct and produce Renfield, alongside Skybound Entertainment producers Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst and Sean Furst.
While the story of Dracula has been told on screen many times, we've yet to see a full origin story of the vampire king’s most loyal follower. Renfield first appeared in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, an asylum patient who has been deluded into drinking blood as a way to achieve immortality. Dwight Frye played Renfield in the 1931 film adaptation Dracula, and Tom Waits stepped into the role for Francis Ford Coppolla’s 1992 version.
Renfield's story outline was created by Kirkman, who is the creator of AMC's The Walking Dead. Ryan Ridley, whose credits include FX’s Ghosted and Adult Swim's Rick and Morty, penned the script. Both Kirkman and Ridley are no stranger to monstrous subject matter, whether it be zombies or amphibious monsters. Now, they can add vampires to the list.
After the success of Universal’s The Invisible Man, the studio has taken more of an artful, filmmaker-driven approach to its cinematic monster universe. Renfield will provide an unconventional spin on the Dracula tale, focusing on the dark underbelly of the vampire's influence on his most vulnerable devotee.
Until McKay can sink his teeth into Renfield, you can watch his live-action directorial debut, The Tomorrow War, starring Chris Pratt on Amazon on July 2, 2021.
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