Nicolas Cage has always wanted to play Dracula

Nicolas Cage needed to play Dracula.

The 59-year-old star will take on the role of the legendary vampire in the upcoming film 'Renfield' and felt that he had to play the character at some point during his career.

Speaking to Total Film magazine, Nicolas said: "The concept of Dracula, in itself, is a challenge.

"It's been done so many times already. It's been done very well and it's also been done not very well. I certainly admire Christopher Lee and Frank Langella and Bela Lugosi and Gary (Oldman). But I wanted to see if I could bring something fresh to the character. And I also kind of knew that I had to do it at some point."

Nicolas revealed that he took inspiration from his father August Coppola and the late Sir Christopher Lee for his portrayal of Dracula in Chris McKay's horror comedy movie – which also features Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina.

The 'Pig' actor explained: "I went back to Christopher Lee, in terms of his manner of speaking, but that was really only a starting point.

"I knew Christopher. I did a small scene with him in 'Season of the Witch', and I liked him very much. We had a lot of nice conversations, and he reminded me quite a bit of my father, August. So from then on, my dad sort of became the main inspiration for me."

Nicolas also revealed that he would be tempted to play Dracula again as he only gets to touch the surface of the character in 'Renfield'.

He said: "You know, there are some minor moments here where you get to see some of the pathos in Dracula's eyes... and that made me think that maybe one day I might like to try for a whole movie where you're really understanding the psyche of the character. I didn't really have the time to delve into that here."