Nicolas Cage Dishes On 'Dracula' And His 'Comical' Pet Crow!

Actor Nicolas Cage has found a role he can really sink his teeth into!

In 1989, Cage played a man convinced he was a vampire in the movie “Vampire’s Kiss.” However, he is ready to make the full transition into Dracula. He has been cast as the iconic vampire in the latest Universal monster movie titled “Renfield.” “Warm Bodies” actor Nicholas Hoult has been cast as Dracula’s titular henchmen.

“The Tomorrow War” and “The Lego Batman Movie” director Chris McKay is slated to direct this new monster movie. “Rick and Morty” writer Ryan Ridley has been tapped to write the screenplay. The film is expected to be a modern adaption that takes place in the present day.

Although not much is known about the film so far, Cage opened up to the Los Angeles Times about his role, including his own pet black crow!

During the interview, the “Pig” actor revealed that he keeps a black crow as a pet. Its name is Hoogan and it lives in his Las Vegas home inside of a geodesic dome.

“He has taken to calling me names,” Cage said. “It’s comical, at least, it is to me. When I leave the room, he’ll say, ‘Bye,’ and then go, ‘A--.’ Crows are very intelligent. And I like their appearance, the Edgar Allan Poe aspect. I like the goth element. I am a goth.”

The Oscar winner said that he was inspired to play the role of Dracula after watching James Wan and his horror movie “Malignant.”

“The key, I think, is movement,” Cage said. “I saw a movie called ‘Malignant’ and the director James Wan and the actress [Annabelle Wallis] created this choreography that was terrifying. So I’m hoping to do something like that where Dracula can either glide or move like Sadako in ‘Ringu.’”

In an interview with Variety, Cage insisted that the term “actor” is synonymous with the word “liar” and he wants to distance himself from that word. Instead, he said that he would like to be referred to as a “thespian,” even at the risk of sounding “pretentious.”

Cage explained that the word “always implies, ‘Oh, he’s a great actor, therefore he’s a great liar.’”

“So with the risk of sounding like a pretentious a–hole, I like the word ‘thespian,’” he continued. “Because thespian means you’re going into your heart, or you’re going into your imagination, or your memories or your dreams, and you’re bringing something back to communicate with the audience.”

Although some people have criticized Cage's acting as “over the top,” Cage doesn’t mind.

“Well, when they say that to me, I say, ‘You tell me where the top is and I’ll tell you whether or not I’m over it,’” he said.

Instead, Cage wants to present audiences with a new kind of acting that they may not be familiar with.

“It was my aunt Talia Shire who first said to me, ‘Naturalism is a style,’” Cage explained. “And I was also a big believer in arts synchronicity, and that what you could do with one art form you could do and another meaning. You know, in painting, for example, you can get abstract, you can get photorealistic, you can get impressionistic, why not try that with film performance?”

“Stanislavski said the worst thing an actor can do is imitate,” Cage continued. “Being a bit of a rebel, I wanted to break that rule.”

“So I tried with ‘Wild at Heart,’ a Warhol-like approach to the Sailor Ripley character,” he added. “In movies, like ‘Prisoners of the Ghost Land’ or even ‘Face/Off’ or ‘Vampire’s Kiss,’ I was experimenting with what I would like to call Western Kabuki or more Baroque or operatic style of film performance. Break free from the naturalism, so to speak, and express a larger way of performance.”

Although the “National Treasure” actor has received critical acclaim for his 1997 film “Face/Off” alongside John Travolta, Cage said that there was a moment when they were filming when he actually felt “scared.”

“There was a moment in there where I think I actually left my body, where I just got scared,” he said. “Am I acting or is this real? And I can see it when I look at the movie, that one moment, it’s in my eyes.”

Fans can't wait to see how over-the-top Cage's performance as Dracula will be in “Renfield,” but hopefully they won't have long to find out! There is currently no anticipated release date scheduled for the movie. It is possible that it could be released in 2023, but a 2024 release date seems more likely.