The actor Nicolas Cage spent three hours a day in the make-up for his latest film “Renfield”, which opens in German cinemas on May 25, 2023. He plays Dracula in director Chris McKay’s horror comedy.
The well-known vampire film character Dracula is characterized above all by his pointed canine teeth, with which he sucks the blood from his victims’ veins in a vampire-like manner. In the film “Renfield”, however, the makers faced a challenge. Not only should the actor’s canines be prominent, but all other teeth should also take on a pointed, sharp shape.
In an interview with Variety, makeup artist Tinsely admits that he faced a challenge as he wouldn’t have the time to make do with dental casts and dentures for the film. He wanted to be able to make quicker adjustments. The solution: a 3D printer. They formed the teeth for the vampire out of digital acrylic resin. Technological advances in 3D printing allowed the team to create different designs in minutes.
The use of the new technology also allowed the teeth to be made as thin as possible. Even if the dentures were to break during the shoot, the printer delivered replacements within a very short time. Nevertheless, Nicolas Cage’s natural teeth had to be ground down in order to use the dental veneers precisely and without linguistic interference.
Cage’s Dracula goes through four different stages of transformation in the film. Starting out as a depressed and downcast Dracula, he blossoms into a healthier version throughout the film. The first Dracula stage lasted up to three and a half hours in the mask from head to toe. “It was a complete head with prosthetics, dentures, full body, torso, arms, hands and nails,” explains Tinsley. The more the frustrated vampire regenerates himself with human blood throughout the film, the fresher he should look, the final make-up then only took about 45 minutes.
Sources: Variety, Unilad
