Renfield: Awkwafina Joins Wacky Nicolas Cage-Led Dracula Horror Adventure

Awkwafina has flown into the Dracula re-imagining 'Renfield' in new role.

Awkwafina has flown into the Dracula re-imagining Renfield. Just days after Nicolas Cage was announced to play the Count himself, the addition of Awkwafina to the project signifies that it will be unlike any Dracula film we’ve seen before.

The film also stars Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, Hulu’s The Great) as the title character. He is set to portray the inmate at an insane asylum who comes under Dracula’s hypnotic spell, from the original novel by Bram Stoker. Chris McKay (director of The Tomorrow War and The Lego Batman Movie) is taking the directorial reigns for the project. Awkwafina is playing a character who joins Renfield to take on Dracula.

Awkwafina’s Next Unpredictable Role

Awkwafina burst onto the Hollywood landscape with a scene-stealing supporting role in 2019’s Crazy Rich Asians and Jumanji: The Next Level. She also made smaller appearances in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising and Ocean’s 8 and recently co-led Shang Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings for Marvel. She also voiced the dragon Sisu in Disney’s Raya & The Last Dragon earlier last year. However, there is more to Awkwafina than rapid-fire delivery and solid comic timing as shown by a dramatic turn in A24’s The Farewell, and even though she served as the comic relief in Shang-Chi, that role gave her some serious moments.

Apparently her partnering with Disney has yielded positive results as she’s also set to voice Skuttle in their upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.

While there’s little information surrounding her character in Renfield as of this writing, from what we do have it could go either way. If the film is a primarily comedic take on the cursed vampire story, then Awkwafina’s wry wit and snappy delivery could fit fantastically. If it’s a more dramatic role, then it’s another chance for her show her range as an actor, always a good thing to maintain star longevity. If all of those films weren’t enough, she’s also starring in her own Comedy Central series, Awkwafina is Nora From Queens.

Awkwafina has struck a chord with audiences. With Shang-Chi raking in over $431 million during the COVID-19 pandemic and her pre-pandemic films like Crazy Rich Asians and Jumanji: The Next Level both being massive successes too, she has solidified herself as an A-lister filmgoers can’t seem to get enough of. We’ll see how that success continues when The Little Mermaid arrives in 2023 and Renfield whenever it arrives. Her final upcoming project of note as of this writing is The Bad Guys, a DreamWorks Animation film based on the best-selling book series of the same name. Whether in physical or vocal form, Awkwafina is everywhere.

The original Dracula novel was written by author Bram Stoker and published in 1897. It was an epistolary novel told through letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings and told a wicked vampire named Count Dracula who sought to drain the blood of his victims. The character has been adapted to film many times over the years, with the classic 1931 film (part of the Universal Monsters franchise of the ‘30s and ‘40s), the 1992 film starring Gary Oldman and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the 2004 monster mash-up Van Helsing starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale, and even a short-lived Netflix series in 2018 among many others.

Dracula has been around a long time, and with new blood like Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, and Awkwafina joining his cinematic legion, we’re sure to get something special with Renfield.What are your thoughts on Awkwafina’s casting in Renfield? Are you excited to see her take on one of literature’s greatest villains? What’s your favorite Awkwafina performance? Who’s your favorite incarnation of Dracula? Let us know in the comments below and on our Twitter.

KEEP READING: RENFIELD: NICOLAS CAGE TO PLAY THE LEGENDARY DRACULA!

Source: THR