Though it hasn’t been as widely seen, a 30-second television spot for “Renfield” reveals a black and white scene that is a callback to the classic meeting between Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and Renfield (Dwight Frye) in the 1931 version of “Dracula.” It’s a scene that Nicolas Cage, who stars as Dracula opposite Nicholas Hoult’s titular Renfield, teased in an exclusive interview with Looper in January 2023. What Cage didn’t reveal is the homage — at least in the “Renfield” TV spot — is a shot for shot recreation of the vampire’s introduction to his future servant.
Twitter user @onpurposevinyl snagged some of the black and white footage from the TV spot and featured it in a post. They still expressed their optimism for the film, despite some disappointments.
“I’m still giving Renfield a chance,” @onpurposevinyl posted, “but I really wish they would’ve filmed it in this style.”
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons “Renfield” will be presented in both black and white and color is explained in the TV spot. The recreation of the famous 1931 scene appears in black and white, but then the footage turns to color as the story fast-forwards 90 years to the present day where Dracula is still a pain in Renfield’s neck.
Fans will find out just how much footage in “Renfield” will appear in black and white when the film opens in theaters April 14, 2023.