James Moses Black joins Renfield cast

James Moses Black has been added to the cast of 'Renfield'.

The 59-year-old star is the latest addition to the Universal monster movie that is being directed by Chris McKay.

James joins an ensemble that includes Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shoreh Aghdashloo and Bess Rouss.

The movie is based on an original story from Robert Kirkman – the co-creator of the TV series 'The Walking Dead' – and centres on Renfield (Hoult), who has grown sick and tired of his centuries as Dracula's (Cage) servant.

The henchman gets a new lease of life when he falls for the feisty and perennially angry traffic cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina).

Ryan Ridley has penned the script for the movie – which is shooting in New Orleans – with McKay producing with Skybound Entertainment. His producing partner Samantha Nisenboim is serving as an executive producer.

Cage recently revealed how he spent time studying previous Dracula performances before beginning work on the film.

The 58-year-old actor said: "I can tell you that it’s amazing. It’s a really fun and exciting opportunity. I looked at Bela Lugosi’s performance, and then I looked at Frank Langella’s performance. I looked at Gary [Oldman]’s performance in uncle’s [Francis Ford Coppola] movie, which I think it’s just so sumptuous. Every frame is a work of art."

Despite taking inspiration from past works, Nicolas believes that 'Renfield' will be a unique film.

He said: "I want it to pop in a unique way from how we’ve seen it played. So I’m thinking to really focus on the movement of the character. You know, I saw ‘Malignant’ and I thought what she did with those moves — and even ‘Ringu’ with Sadako [Yamamura] … I want to look at what we can explore with this movement and voice."