EXCLUSIVE: Chris McKay is in negotiations to direct and produce Universal Pictures’ Renfield, a monster movie centered on Dracula’s familiar henchman and based on an original story outline from Robert Kirkman. McKay’s producing partner Samantha Nisenboim will be joining the project as executive producer.

Ryan Ridley wrote the script. The film will be produced by Skybound Entertainment’s film team, including Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst and Sean Furst.

In the original Dracula novel, R.M. Renfield was an inmate at a lunatic asylum who was thought to be suffering from delusions but actually is a servant of Dracula. Plot details weren’t announced, but it’s believed to take place during the present day and is not a period piece.

While Universal is developing a handful of high-profile monster pics including Wolfman starring Ryan Gosling and a Van Helsing pic with James Wan producing, the studio has been high on this project since getting the first draft. While the character isn’t the flashiest among its other monster IPs, insiders say the story’s mix of humor and action was something the studios was looking to have more of because so many of the other properties have a more horror element to them like Universal’s box-office hit The Invisible Man.

Dexter Fletcher had flirted with the project before moving on to Paramount’s The Saint reboot, opening the job back up. After meeting with a number of directors, McKay’s ultimate pitch as his ability to balance those two things in his past projects ultimately won him the job.

Similar to what was done with the Invisible Man film inspired by Universal’s classic monster character, instead of pushing forward with the initial notion of an interconnected universe, the studio halted and reassessed and was reminded that passion and relevance have fueled these characters’ endurance over generations. Universal remains committed to creating compelling, filmmaker-driven projects based on characters from the studio’s vast monsters legacy. Instead of prescribing a mandated updating of these monster stories and making them all part of a larger scheme, the studio loosened these restrictions and open-sourced to filmmakers who were inspired to create their own unique stories.

McKay co-directed The Lego Movie and directed The Lego Batman Movie, which earned more than $312 million at the worldwide box office and was 90% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. He most recently directed live-action alien-invasion movie The Tomorrow War, which stars Chris Pratt and reportedly was sold during the pandemic to Amazon for over $200 million. It will be released on July 2.

AndyDursin wrote: ↑Tue Apr 13, 2021 5:34 pm Coming soon: DRACULA'S ACCOUNTANT.

Universal Pictures has enlisted Nicolas Cage to play Count Dracula in the upcoming feature film Renfield, based on an original pitch from “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman. Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War) is directing the movie, with Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, Mad Max: Fury Road) on board to star as the central character, Dracula’s henchman.

The film is said to be a “modern-day adventure story that is comedic in tone.”

“The film centers on Renfield (Hoult), who has grown sick and tired of his centuries as Dracula’s (Cage) lackey. The henchman finds a new lease on life and maybe even redemption when he falls for feisty, perennially angry traffic cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina).”

Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Bess Rouss also star.

AndyDursin wrote: ↑Sat Apr 15, 2023 12:42 pm Outgrossed by The Pope's Exorcist!