Real-life castles and two-headed snakes. Amidst the rumors of his eccentricity and the massive impact of his eccentric-leaning acting talents,Nicolas Cagehas done much to ensure that Life remains Art and Art remains Life.
It isn’t all luxurious, however. Currently on a press tour with Nicholas Hoult for the new release of his new Dracula film,Renfield, the actorrecently opened up to Yahoo! Entertainmentabout the sacrifices required for his art. He unearthed a few related facts about his previous roles. In one instance, Cage recalled a particularly regretful creative decision he once made to eat a cockroach for the filmVampire’s Kiss.
Playing the role of a character who believes he isturning into a vampirein the 1988 film, Cage says he took his inspiration from the classic Bram Stoker character Renfield, who eats insects and dreams of vampiredom in his service to Count Dracula. However, the plan for Cage to swallow a raw egg quickly devolved (or evolved, depending on your commitment to art pour l’art) into eating a live cockroach. “I saw it as a business decision, because when people see the cockroach go in my mouth… [they] really react,” explained Cage. Regrettably, after doing so, he had to do another take. “I ate [them] twice because the director did it as a prank. I’ll never do that again,” Cage emphasized. “I’m sorry I did it at all.”
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Getting Cage-esque About Insects
Improvisation aside, Cage currently plays Count Dracula in the 2023 flickRenfield, which centers on Nicholas Hoult’s role as the loyal servant who decides to upend his relationship with his bad boss. The dark comedy takes a cue from Streep’sMirandaand Oldman’sDracula, with Cage’s Count poised as the (literally) evil employer in a toxic personal assistant relationship from hell. More methodically, Hoult as P.A./servant R.M. Renfield in the film, was able to eat carefully planned, culinarily crafted faux insects for his role in this one.
Hoult detailed the palette of the edible practical effects for the movie. “The cockroaches I got to eat in this were caramel,” Hoult explained. “I also had crickets that were actually quite yummy; they were salt and vinegar flavored or barbecue smoky flavored.” However, Cage did have a Cage-esque comment about the merits of insect-eating to chip in.
“If you could get rid of your fear, your phobia of eating insects, you could solve world starvation. High protein, no fat, excellent nutrients, abundance. They’re everywhere! But nope — not gonna happen.”
Renfieldis in theaters and stars Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina, and Ben Schwartz.
