According to co-star Adrian Martinez, Nicolas Cage literally worked on the set of “Renfield.”
“He was in that area when we made this movie,” Martinez told Page Six privately at the film’s New York City premiere last Tuesday. “For example, I couldn’t tell who was Dracula and who Nic Cage was. He was very serious.”
The 51-year-old “Focus” actor jokingly added, “She slept without being shown,” “I didn’t want to piss her off!”
Chris McKay, the director of the comedy-horror movie, previously revealed that the 59-year-old Cage embodied the Transylvanian character during filming.
The 49-year-old filmmaker told Insider: “No matter what scene we shot, he’d be living with that attitude 100 percent after we stopped shooting.” “So if it’s a little dull on stage, it’s going to have a little bit of that in between shots but still do what we’re doing.”
However, the Oscar-winning movie star immediately denied the claim.
“I just don’t have such a memory; I don’t know why Chris said that,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I laughed a lot between shoots with both Chris McKay and Nick Hoult, so maybe it was his experience, maybe it was because I still had teeth in my mouth that made me talk a certain way, but that wasn’t my experience.”
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This isn’t the first time Martinez has been working with Cage, who starred in 2016’s “Army of One.”
Martinez explained that when she saw her former colleague again on the set of “Renfield,” the “Leaving Las Vegas” star shouted, “‘Adrian, we found ourselves in interesting company again’.” Walter Mitty” actor replied, “’Yes, we certainly do.
Cage isn’t the only iconic actor Martinez has filmed with.
The NYC native has also worked with Bruce Willis twice, on “Cop Out” in 2010 and “Once Upon a Time in Venice” in 2017.
“He’s a good guy,” Martinez told Page Six of the 68-year-old “Die Hard” star, who was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia earlier this year. “I feel like he really reminded me to make the most of every day because for a time he was on top of the world, indestructible, saving buildings and people, but my heart is with him and his family.
“It is sad, but his legacy will live on. It made people smile for many years.”
Other stars at the flamboyant premiere included Cage, Nicholas Hoult, and Ben Schwartz, who arrived with wife Riko Shibata.
In “Renfield,” 33-year-old Hoult plays the tortured sidekick of his narcissistic boss, Dracula (Cage), who, after centuries of slavery, investigates whether there is a life out there working for the Prince of Darkness.
“It was a fun way of looking at ‘Dracula’ through the lens of interdependence, the lens of the boss from hell, the lens of a toxic relationship,” McKay said.