When having a conversation about the most interesting actors in Hollywood, it shouldn’t take all that long for the names Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult to come up. Over the course of their respective careers, these two dynamic actors have given some of the most exciting and sometimes maddening performances in everything from high-octane and chrome-fueled action movies to modern cult classic horror movies, and just about everything in between.
In anticipation of Renfield, and as part of our ongoing partnership with AMC Theatres, where tickets are now available for the Dracula-inspired romp starring Cage and Hoult, we have put together a list of the three craziest roles from the two actors, which should get you all primed and ready for the April 14th release of the upcoming horror comedy movie.
Castor Troy - Face/Off
In the span of a year (June 1996 to June 1997), Nicolas Cage, who had already won an Oscar at this point for his lights out performance in Leaving Las Vegas, became one of the biggest action stars of the era, with three iconic tours de force with The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off. While we could go on about the first two movies, that’s for a different time, as we instead are focusing on the craziest Nic Cage roles, which happens to be his portrayal of the homicidal terrorist known as Caster Troy in John Woo’s 1997 sci-fi action thriller.
The movie, which follows FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) as he switches faces with Castor Troy to find a bomb hidden in Los Angeles, is over-the-top in every way imaginable, mostly thanks to Cage and his theatrics. Not only is Cage’s performance as Troy ridiculously unhinged, it’s also masterful in the sense he’s playing another character (Archer) trying to act like a terrorist, which only turns up the hysteria even more.
Nux - Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller’s 2015 adrenaline-fueled spectacle, Mad Max: Fury Road, will not only go down as one of the best action movies of the past decade, but also of all time. The simple yet effective “Point A to Point B” story, the awesome practical and visual effects, and the well-crafted characters all make the movie a high point in the Mad Max franchise. Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, and Hugh Keays-Byrne are all incredible in their respective performances, but the character who steals the show is none other than Nicholas Hoult’s Nux, a chromed-out War Boy.
Nux, who starts out as one of the most cartoonish characters in the entire franchise, slowly morphs into one of its most interesting and sympathetic, thanks in part to Nicholas Hoult’s outstanding performance. Without giving too much away about the role, it’s hard not to love Nux more and more as the movie goes on, and he honestly has one of the best arcs of all the characters. And plus, his now iconic “What a lovely day” line will not soon be forgotten.
Peter Loew - Vampire’s Kiss
The 1980s were an interesting time for Nicolas Cage’s film career. His decade started with a small role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and picked up with iconic movies like Raising Arizona and Moonstruck. But in the final years of the ‘80s, Cage would give one of his craziest, most memorable, and undoubtedly most interesting performances of his then-young career: 1988’s horror comedy, Vampire’s Kiss. And with the similarities with the upcoming Renfield, it’s just too good to pass up.
In the movie, Cage plays New York literary critic Peter Loew, who after being bitten by a woman during a one-night stand, believes he is turning into a vampire. And though none of Loew’s peers, or his psychiatrist, believe he is turning from a materialistic yuppie into a blood-sucking vampire, this is more of a mind over matter situation for the man slowly losing grip of his sanity. What makes this performance so great, and crazy, is the fact Cage’s character believes he is turning into a vampire, which adds so much to an already great performance.
Peter III Of Russia - The Great
A few years after co-writing the screenplay for Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2018 Academy Award-winning historical black comedy The Favourite alongside Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara drew from the well once more with his Hulu original series, The Great. The show, which primarily focuses on Catherine the Great’s (Elle Fanning) rise to power in 18th-century Russia, also happens to feature one of the most petulant, craziest, and incredible performances of Nicholas Hoult’s career: Peter III of Russia.
Throughout the series, which returns to Hulu in May 2023, Hoult’s character is at times callous and vindictive while others incredibly self-conscious and worried about how he is viewed by the world. Hoult, who played a similar role in The Favourite, shines with this type of character, and makes an objectively evil and cruel emperor a fun character to watch, even if you want nothing more than to see him suffer.
Edward Malus - The Wicker Man
Neil LaBute’s 2006 remake of the horror cult classic, The Wicker Man, is one of those movies you can approach in two different ways: a straight up earnest horror movie or one that was made to be intentionally campy and over-the-top. Either way, Nicolas Cage is firing on all cylinders in his portrayal of Edward Malus, a police officer who travels to Washington state to find a missing daughter, only to discover a sinister pagan community with strange and deadly customs.
What follows is one of the most ridiculous and amazing performances of Cage’s career, one that ends with what could be considered his most iconic line in a movie: “Not the bees!” Seriously, this movie is bonkers, and the craziness is turned up a few notches thanks to Cage and his outlandish and outstanding performance.
R - Warm Bodies
Over the years, there have been countless reinterpretations of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but few take as many chances as Jonathan Levine’s 2012 romantic comedy horror film, Warm Bodies. Based on a novel of the same name, the movie is set years into a zombie apocalypse and centers on R (Nicholas Hoult), a ghoul who begins to feel alive again after meeting a human named Julie (Teresa Palmer), eventually leading to a forbidden romance.
The idea of a zombie falling in love with a human (and vice versa) is admittedly far-fetched, but in the case of Warm Bodies, the concept actually works. And a lot of that is a result of Hoult’s apparent understanding of his character. There’s something genuine about R, and his motivations, throughout the movie, creating a fleshed-out character who quickly became one of the best on-screen zombies in recent memory.
Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult have had quite the careers, with each actor having their fair share of crazy and amazing roles over the years. But the only way to see what could be their craziest performances yet is by watching Renfield when it debuts in AMC Theatres nationwide on April 14th, so go ahead and purchase your tickets so you don’t miss out!
